Posted on 03/04/2004 4:32:07 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
LOS ANGELES, March 3 — Several weeks ago UPN, a sister network to CBS, announced a new reality series tentatively called "Amish in the City," in which Amish teenagers would face the shock and temptations of the big city for the first time.
The idea seemed similar to CBS's plan last year to fashion a reality comedy out of a 1960's sitcom, calling it "The Real Beverly Hillbillies." which was to follow the lives of a rural, lower-middle-class family as it moved into a luxurious Beverly Hills house. That plan foundered when rural groups protested that the show was intended to denigrate the rural poor.
"We couldn't do the `Beverly Hillbillies,' " Leslie Moonves, the CBS chairman, who also oversees UPN, told television critics and reporters in January. But the Amish, he joked, "don't have quite as good a lobbying effort."
Mr. Moonves may have been mistaken. Within the last few weeks a campaign to stop the show has been started by lawmakers, rural groups, Pennsylvania Dutch tourism officials and representatives of the Amish. The opposition to the Amish show seems even more powerful than the one that has grounded the prospects of a new "Beverly Hillbillies." Chris Ender, a CBS spokesman, said of the "Hillbillies": "It's an idea that's still being considered, but we haven't made a production commitment toward the show."
The Center for Rural Strategies, a nonprofit organization based in Whitesburg, Ky., has helped organize opposition to the Amish show, at the request of groups representing the Amish. Dee Davis, the president of Rural Strategies and a former documentary filmmaker, singled out Viacom, the owner of CBS and UPN. "Once again Viacom has created a reality show where rural people were going to be these curios," Mr. Davis said. "Viacom's got plenty of ways to make money without ridiculing rural people."
Tim Marema, vice president of the group, said: "From our perspective this is a replacement series for `The Real Beverly Hillbillies.' It's another way of attacking rural people and employing scorn and ridicule on a group of Americans because of where they're from, what they look like, what they sound like. What CBS and Viacom are saying about the Amish is they're rural and therefore they don't count."
UPN, in a statement in response to criticisms of the show, denied that the series sought to demean the Amish and said it would depict them with the "utmost respect and decency." No date has been set for the series. The statement said that since the show "is still in the early development stage, we sincerely hope that any judgment will be reserved until the show is produced." UPN and CBS officials declined further comment.
But what has clearly surprised CBS and UPN is the level of anger about the show. Fifty-one lawmakers, including Pennsylvania's two United States senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, both Republicans, have sent a protest letter to Mr. Moonves and Mel Karmazin, president and chief operating officer of Viacom.
"We know of no other reality series that singles out the beliefs and practices of a specific group of people as a subject for humor," the letter said. It added, "For almost three centuries, the Amish lived the way they do out of Christian piety and conviction, not out of ignorance. If, by producing this show, you fail to respect that, you will be opening yourselves to charges of bigotry."
Wendy Nagle, president of the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she was offended by the comments made by Mr. Moonves and urged a halt to the show.
Appearing with Dawn Ostroff, the president of UPN Entertainment, who picked up the show from New Line Television, Mr. Moonves insisted at a Hollywood press tour for reporters and critics in January that the series was "not intended to be insulting to the Amish, but to have people who have never had television, who will walk down Rodeo Drive and be freaked out by what they see."
"I think it will be somewhat interesting, but, yeah, this will not be denigrating in any way," Mr. Moonves said. He added that the idea behind the reality show was "fish out of water," similar to Fox's "Simple Life," in which two rich and pampered young women, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, worked on a farm. "This is in a certain way a reverse version of that," Mr. Moonves said.
Ms. Ostroff, in announcing the series in January, said it would involve five young Amish who go through a rite of passage called "Rumpspringa," a Pennsylvania Dutch term that means running around. During this period some teenagers elect to experiment with the world outside that is not otherwise available to them. In doing so, some of them drive cars for the first time, listen to current music, dress in contemporary style. Most return to the faith.
Herman Bontrager, secretary-treasurer of the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom, a group of lawyers, ministers and academics who support the Amish, said there are about 200,000 Amish in the nation, mostly in eastern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern Indiana. "The Amish are probably more knowledgeable about the world than the CBS and UPN people give them credit for," said Mr. Bontrager, an insurance executive from New Holland, Pa., who grew up Amish and is now a Mennonite.
Mr. Bontrager said emphatically over the phone, "I just find it reprehensible that corporations, especially media corporations in this country, would find it acceptable to make a mockery of a religious group. They just plain don't get it. For Amish people, their religious faith and everyday living are totally intertwined."
The Amish themselves dress simply, live quietly, often reject technology and automobiles and work in rural communities. The Philadelphia Inquirer, in an editorial in January about the show, said, "The Amish, young and old, aren't hapless innocents but in fact know a great deal about the real world (which is why they choose to keep a distance from it)."
Perhaps Moonves and Ostroff will try to tempt them with illegal drugs and bordellos, and take them to all night X discos in Las Vegas.
That'd be a real hoot. /sarcasm
It's beyond a simple judgement call. These TV execs are very sick people.
"The Amish are probably more knowledgeable about the world than the CBS and UPN people give them credit for," said Mr. Bontrager, an insurance executive from New Holland, Pa., who grew up Amish and is now a Mennonite.
There are a lot of misconceptions about the Amish among the media elite (WOW! Is that a newsflash?).
I grew up in Amish country - Crawford County, Pennsylvania. I return occasionally just because it’s a nice area in which to relax.
Yes, when a man marries he grows a beard. That makes it hard for a woman to say she didn’t know he was married. It makes it hard for the man to deny he’s married.
The forgo buttons and mustaches because they were seen as symbols of the military.
The forgo modern equipment and conveniences like tractors, cars and trucks, electricity etc., and guess what? They have the most prosperous farms in the county.
They are not prohibitionists. While drinking is not encouraged, it is not prohibited either. Many of the roadhouses have hitching rails - when the men have had a few they get into the buggy and tell the horse to head for the barn.
When I was in high school so long ago some of the teens would pool their money and buy a car, storing it at an outsider’s home. They would enjoy the local amusement park and other attractions. When they came to their senses they return to the fold and give up on what they learned was not needed.
It isn’t uncommon to see Amish families in the Big City on shopping and sight seeing trips. While not owning a car, travel by car, train, air and bus is allowed.
If the producers expect to find country bumpkins wowed by the Big City, they’ll have to hire actors to play the role.
The Amish I have known impressed me as generally being hard working, industrious and friendly - and no at all like “The Beverly Hillbillies”.
Yep. Got rid of mine over a decade ago. I put it right up there with quitting smoking as far as 'important things you can do to improve your life'.
If enough people would dispose of television it would accomplish a number of very positive things. For one, it would get rid of the Network News Media, thereby relieving ourselves of a constant negative pressure on our society. No more Peter Jennings saying 'Let Us Roll'. No more Katie Couric making ugly eyes at Republicans. No more Hillary sound bytes.
Another good benefit is you drastically reduce the amount of advertising you and your family are exposed to. This has many ecomonic benefits. Personally, I find that I don't want to go out and buy a lot of stuff. I drink about one Coca Cola per month whereas when I still had a television, I would drink several per week. I rarely go to Burger King or McDonalds. Maybe once every six weeks. There just aren't too many things I feel like I need to go out and 'Get it now, while supplies last!' This is a good thing.
It also brings a lot of peace into your life. You never have to get agitated because of some liberal running his/her mouth on the tube.
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
They could do a "trading places" thing and put some Hasidim from Brooklyn on a farm.
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