I really wouldn't say cheesy so much as sentimental, or at worst corny. Of course, I LOVE Frank Capra movies too -- which gives you an idea.
Touched by an Angel is more like a morality play, as they're not pushing any specific religious beliefs at people. In my opinion that's why it works so well. That of course and the ubiquitous good writing and good acting.
Of course that's qualities one could also find in DS, so I can even say this is on topic.
Reminds me of a lot of the old religious dramas you used to find on Sunday morning tv. A lot of familiar character actors used to do them. There's one I remember with particular fondness (I USED to have a copy, but was never sure if I caught it again to put on VHS after Quazar's Great Time Machine video format died, years before beta did the same). This one was from a show called
Insight, and the episode, called
The Day God Diedhad a group of the regular Trek guest stars on it: Mark Lenard, Diana Muldaur, Mariette Hartley. In addition, it had names like Carroll O'Connor, Lloyd Bochner, Beverly Garland, etc.
The episode was a particularly good one, especially in light of DS characters like Trask, not to mention their real life counterparts. The whole theme of the piece was the "Is God Dead" discussion (the piece was shot in 1970 according to our friends at IMDB.) It showed a grouping of people and told you somethign of their lives and how they conducted themselves. Of all the characters shown, the ones who were NOMINAL Christians were all the ones whose real life conduct caused them to see God as dead. The only one who did NOT see God in the Coffin was the atheist, who was the only one with ethics and morals, living life by the principles of God, thus the only one of the characters in whom God was truly represented.
Jeannie
Oh Darn, now I want to SEE this show again.