AMISH GONE WILD!!!!



From a UPN press release copped from www.velvetrope.com:

AMISH IN THE CITY Premieres Wednesday, July 28 at 8PM ET/PT

AMISH IN THE CITY, UPN's new reality series, will provide a unique look into the Amish journey of discovery, known as rumspringa, through a group of young adults who have left their spiritually devout, rural communities to experience life in the big city, with six roommates from various metropolitan areas. The series premieres with a special two-hour episode airing Wednesday, July 28 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.

AMISH IN THE CITY will follow the stories of five Amish young adults (three men, two women) and their six roommates from diverse backgrounds (three men, three women) as they come to Los Angeles and learn to live with each other in an ultra-modern Hollywood Hills home. The series chronicles how relationships develop and viewpoints collide in a house shared by young people from very different cultures, while also introducing viewers to the intensely personal Amish coming-of-age experience, called rumspringa (a Pennsylvania Dutch word loosely translated as "running wild.") During this religious rite of passage, young Amish men and women are allowed to leave their homes to explore the outside world, until they decide whether or not they want to join the Amish church and be welcomed back into their families or stay in the outside world.

From moments serious and significant to light and trivial, cameras catch everything as the Amish journey outside their quiet rural areas and are gradually introduced to both the delights and challenges of modern metropolitan life. At the same time, the Amish kids give their city counterparts insight into their beliefs, values and a lifestyle dedicated to faith, modesty and unadorned means.

The city roommates include a handsome swim teacher, a fashion-forward party girl, a colorful club promoter, a busboy/musician, an inner-city student, and a strict vegan. While these six people are surprised to learn they will live with the Amish, the entire group soon shares a California adventure, complete with wide-ranging daily activities meant to be fun, surprising and enlightening for everyone in the house. Some of these excursions include a first-time visit to the ocean for the Amish, working with the mentally disabled, a helicopter trip to a resort island and walking the red carpet at a Hollywood movie premiere.

AMISH IN THE CITY will regularly air on Wednesdays from 8-9PM, ET/PT.



(There was a really fascinating - and probably more genuine - look at Amish youth in the documentary "The Devil's Playground", which I would strongly advise everyone to check out. It's really an amazing documentary...read more about it here: http://www.npr.org/progra...may/amish/ - The pic up top is from this film, by the way.)

Anxiety said:

Wasn't there a movie also title Devil's Playground? It was about some boys in a seminary.

magnificentsynthesizer667 said:

Yah, there was some horror movie from the '70s with the same title. I dunno if that's what you're thinking of, but yeah.

i saw a 20/20, dateline, or one of those about major drug dealing and craziness going on with Amish youth. Very interesting.

While it's wholely manufactured, the premise seems like an interesting one. I may be compelled to actually watch.

UncleGrandpa said:

I'm sure they'll find SOME way to ruin the concept and make it entirely insulting and banal. But it's gonna take a lot of work to make Amish culture anything less than fascinating to me.

Anxiety said:

omg I went to Amish country in PA last year.... so strange! I might watch this show at least once.

Sweeny79 said:

i avoid reality television like the plague, but i'll tune into this one at least for the first week or two.

Rumspringa is a really good word.

I want to have a rumspringa.

CarrieMpls said:

i'm jealous i never got to have a rumspringa.

of course, maybe my life has just been one big long rumspringapalooza.

Anxiety said:

I think everyone should have a good rumspringa every few years. Go sample another life and see if you really want to go back to the old one.

oooh, that's a cool way of looking at it.