November 13 1995

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"She's the type of person most people don't believe is still alive and working in Hollywood," says Andy Hill, president of CBS. She has enormous intelligence, an equal amount of integrity, and something magical and spiritual about her at the same time."

It is appropriate, then, that Martha Williamson is writer and executive producer of the CBS television series Touched by an Angel, now in its second season.

The show, starring Roma Downey and Della Reese as angels come to earth to help humans see truth, had shaky beginnings at CBS. The original pilot, created by another producer, did not meet the network's expectations. But CBS gave the idea a second chance and brought in Williamson as writer and executive producer. She looked at the show and saw what was missing: the presence of God. "Instead, he was the butt of some jokes," she says.

Under Williamson's wing, the show has come to life with the message that God exists and loves us and wants to be part of our lives. "If you can get that simple, but absolute truth across every single week, you have changed television," she says.

What Williamson writes comes out of her own life experience. "Every difficult time I went through, every bad decision I made, every really dumb relationship I had has brought me to a point where I can write stories for Touched by an Angel that are ringing true in a lot of other hearts." Viewers have written to tell how an episode prompted them to write to a friend asking forgiveness or to reconcile with an estranged relative. One woman decided not to commit suicide after viewing an episode.

Last fall CBS was leaning toward canceling the show after its first season despite good ratings. When word got out, the network received more than 30,000 calls and letters ...