I've been hearing a lot about the UPN reality show Amish in the City - so I set the tivo to record the next few episodes.
Amish in the City puts five Amish and six city kids under one roof in Los Angeles. The Amish are on "rumspringa" - the time period when they're allowed to go out into the world and decide if they want to live there, or join the Amish church and live there for the rest of their lives.
Last night I watched an episode ... and it was pretty much The Real World - but five of them don't curse or have sex with everyone else in the house. The Amish girls have been given skimpy outfits, makeup ... and the Amish guys are dressed in muscle shirts and very open button down shirts. So - the Amish look exactly like the city kids. The show tries to make it easier by flashing up their names and whether they are Amish or not on the screen anytime they're talking. The city kids all seem to be total losers ... wanting their "15 minutes of fame" -- the Amish living there with them is just something they have to deal with as they try to be on screen as much as possible.
The Amish are admirably above most of the back-biting, attention-grabbing, self-absorbed city kids ... and they even resort to speaking Pennslyvania Dutch to marvel at some of the behavior of the city people.
The episode I saw last night featured the girls cooking a full Amish meal for the group ... they made everything from scratch - and the group loved it. I think it was a smart ploy on the part of the Amish girls ... eating a good meal is the only way to get all of the others to just shut up.
It will be interesting to see what they decide at the end of their time in the world ... will they decide to go back to the Amish life?
I saw a few eps of that show too. It is amazing how shallow the LA kids are.
And why is it that the token gay guy on these show are always SO flaming?