There really is no reason for you to take me to task on my opinion, and your last comment is out of line. I just happen to see things differently than you do and have different preferences for programming, and I do not recall even mentioning Johnette Benkovic. We do travel in different circles–in my circle people express their opinions and disagree without getting snotty about it.
There is a way to cordially disagree, you know. Have a blessed day.
LOL, such a self-contradictory post.
Previously you stated that the women on EWTN “are from another world” and you knew “no one like them.” I replied that at least one of the shows often shows some pretty raw realism, and I itemized some of that. And since some people might not have those experiences I listed, the remark about “too real” should have been taken at the face value that it was meant.
But yeah, I’m too logical for my own good.
There were no malignant motives in my post.
My remarks were genuine in their disbelief, not because I cannot recognize that two different people can have VERY different preferences in programming, but because of your particular comments (and littlenothing’s recent comment as well) about “women’s shows” there. One of two things is possible:
(1) The episodes you and I (maybe others) have seen are very different episodes among women’s programming on EWTN. I don’t watch all of them, no question. It really is more a matter of happenstance. If I see it at the beginning of the week, and the topic (usually carried through throughout the week), I will watch the whole week, because I find the approach thoughtful, insightful, sensitive, and the guests to be the same, as well as realistic in terms of women’s lives.
It’s very possible that episodes I have not seen are not at all realistic about modern women’s lives, priorities, situations, and needs. That could explain that supposedly all of your friends and acquaintances have “absolutely nothing in common” with "women’s programs on EWTN (a category which includes realistic shows about women’s modern and very concrete lives), whereas my associates respond very differently to the collective “women’s shows” there.
(2) We have different understandings on what defines “a woman’s show.”
So maybe it would be best to define “women’s shows.”
Women of Grace, hosted by Johnette Benkovic,
while not exclusively about women, could certainly be classified as “a woman’s show,” and not just by title. Her other show, “The Abundant Life,” is not explicitly a “woman’s show,” even though Johnette brings her characteristic Catholic feminity to that show as well (which I believe most people, male and female, find attractive & refreshing). If she didn’t strike any authentic chords in women, I doubt very much that she would have the sustaining career that she has, which includes radio and speaking tours. Johnette is enormously popular, and it appears that although she is also popular among men, she is especially popular among Catholic women. It would be odd if she were able to achieve that status if most Catholic women “had nothing in common” with her.
Teresa Tomeo has a show. (Is it called “The Choices We Face?” I’m not sure.) In any case, I don’t watch it because I don’t care for her personality as much as Johnette’s. The former is not my style, and that’s why there’s vanilla and chocolate, and two people can react very differently to the same person.
I honestly can’t think of other “women’s shows.” Maybe I watch TV much less than some others here. What other “women’s shows” are there on EWTN, besides Johnette’s and possibly Teresa’s? (Since I don’t watch Teresa’s, I can’t verify that it’s a “woman’s show.”)
There are shows which are hosted by religious sisters, but I don’t think at all they’re “about” women. They’re about spirituality. Some are for adults, others for children.
Colleen Carroll Campbell’s show (again, a very modern, realistic, down-to-earth woman – someone every woman I know can relate to) is NOT “a woman’s show” exclusively or even primarily. She has an occasional woman on her show, but frankly most of the time she seems to have men. She’s comfortable around men; she used to work in the White House or something. Her show is on being a modern Catholic in contemporary culture.
In my opinion, none of the other shows hosted by women fit the category of “women’s shows” (as in, Chick Flick). They’re about travel, they’re about music, etc. but not “about women.” The theme of none of them is “women.”
So, you weren’t “even thinking about” Johnette. Then I am at a loss to understand which other “women’s shows” exist on EWTN.
