Catholic-protestant reality show?

[Peter_J]

What would you think of the religious-themed reality show? It would have a mix of Catholics and protestants (and hopefully Orthodox), and they would also be of varying ages and levels of education and experience.

 

[Peter_J]

Note: Someone reading this is probably wondering “Why only Christians? Why not a religious-themed reality show with some Christians and some non-Christians?”

That is, of course, another possible show … it just isn’t what I’m asking in this thread.

 

[schaeffer]

Would they be interacting in some particular set of circumstances or situations? Or would we just be following them through their average week?

 

[House_Harkonnen]

What would you think of the religious-themed reality show? It would have a mix of Catholics and protestants (and hopefully Orthodox), and they would also be of varying ages and levels of education and experience.

I already hate it.

The media has a pretty dismal record for analyzing and reporting on religious issues, and it’s pretty blatantly anti Christian. I can’t imagine a Christian themed reality show such as this would do anyone any favors.

 

[EvangelCatholic]

Something like taking a camera inside a retreat center. I’ve participated in Cursillo retreats where Catholic, Anglican/ Episcopalian & Lutheran communed together at Mass. That is the best "reality in my opinion.

 

[benjohnson]

Clever! Mr. Peter J… very very clever! I see what you’re up to!

But you’r not going to get us grumpy LCMS types to be in the same room as other Christians lest we accidently worship together. :nope:

(Unless you also offer beer)

 

[Allegra]

You can’t take a camera into a retreat like that and expect reality.

 

[Faithdancer]

Clever! Mr. Peter J… very very clever! I see what you’re up to!

But you’r not going to get us grumpy LCMS types to be in the same room as other Christians lest we accidently worship together. :nope:

(Unless you also offer beer)

If there is beer you can only allow one Baptist at a time.

 

[MaryT777]

If there is beer you can only allow one Baptist at a time.

 

[MaryT777]

I’d watch a few episodes to see how it goes. Sounds interesting to me.
Mary.

 

[Peter_J]

Something like taking a camera inside a retreat center.

I guess I imagine it more like the way Catholics and Protestants interact on discussion forums, except changed to a reality show format.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I think it would be like watching grass grow. But then I don’t watch reality shows anyway.

I couldn’t think of anything more boring that watching my life. I sometimes wonder why God bothers - I mean He sees me get up in the morning, make breakfast, feed the dog, read the Bible, say some prayers, drive off to work, do my job, go home from work, say hello to the wife, have dinner, watch TV or read a book, log on to Catholic Forums, clean my teeth, have a shower, go to bed.

Then He’s got seven thrilling hours of watching me snore my head off.

And the next day I do it all over again.

So what does God get out of the reality show?

 

[lutheran_farmer]

In order to sell it to Hollywood, there would have to be at least one misfit extremist sort, one scantily clad woman, one adulterous relationship, and one easily offended gay male, who either provides comic relief or campaigns for gay rights. The end result would be that no one is represented with any form of dignity. Those executives all go by the same formulas.

A bunch of reasonable people discussing the pros and cons of various religions, without any regard to their personal sexuality, would never make it to TV. Sex sells in Hollywood.

 

[badnewsbarrett]

What would you think of the religious-themed reality show? It would have a mix of Catholics and protestants (and hopefully Orthodox), and they would also be of varying ages and levels of education and experience.

Reality shows have a lot of history behind them (a bit too much overall I think), but I feel like the more successful ones have established a pattern of what works really well and any new stuff that will be successful is likely to be a variation on an already successful theme. Wrt this idea, it’s not a bad one absent the history already in place- however, the history in place is that this type of show sees the most success when there is the most fighting between various parties involved. If it were presented as something much closer to actual reality, we would probably see that Catholics and Protestants (at least in the US) have gotten to the point where they behave as if they all belong to one family of denominations (which is not to say they actually do but that is how we tend to behave). I think we’d also see that people who know the most, who have the most training under their belt, and who possess the most expertise also demonstrate the greatest likelihood of emphasizing what we have in common and promoting brotherhood and cooperation.

But the history of reality shows tells me no one will want to watch that. What people want to watch is angry Protestants and Catholics who don’t know very much about their history or their beliefs and even less about one another, but they know (or think they know) just enough to fight with each other. People will watch them fight, and then maybe the people who fight each other will go through a gradual and overly-painful process of becoming less ignorant, but not before they broadcast their ignorance and hatred in a way that entertains us. There’s a healthy way to do this and a not so healthy way, but the less healthy way is the one that would actually be successful.

Now, I do have one idea that might be slightly related while sidestepping the likelihood of a bad outcome. We already have some reality shows about Amish people coming of age, leaving the community so they can check out the fast-paced secular life of New York City, and then deciding if they want to go back to being Amish. My idea is this- what if there was a group of young Amish people that broke off in different directions and made themselves a part of more religious-oriented communities? Instead of going to strip clubs on the east coast, they could audit classes at Notre Dame and Wheaton College, while volunteering their time with groups of people that do some type of social work in those communities. Instead of taking them out of a separatist religious community and putting them in the most secular society possible, see if you can match skills and interests to a different type of Christian community/ethos that is somewhat less separatist and see how that goes. You’d probably get more meaningful engagement from, for example, an Evangelical community of college students than you would from random non-religious people, too. Instead of thinking they’re weird and incomprehensible, they might see it as an opportunity to reconnect with a part of their own broader Evangelical movement that has been somewhat lost due to being so separate from everything else. That might be watchable and somewhat less fighty.

 

[benjohnson]

I guess I imagine it more like the way Catholics and Protestants interact on discussion forums, except changed to a reality show format.

It depends:

If it’s like CAF, we could have a lot of fun.

If it’s like (THAT-OTHER-SITE-THAT-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAMED), we’d have to hide all the kindling and matches first.