Original Post
Anyone else check this show out? I usually don't like reality shows but this one sparked my interest because I've been thinking about the Amish recently. Basically, young Amish adults get a rite of passage called "Rumspringa" during which they can leave their community and go out into the world, and decide whether or not they want to come back and join the Amish church. The show Amish in the City takes five Amish kids in their Rumspringa and places them in a mansion with six kids from the city. The premier was on tonight (July 30, 2004) on UPN. Something interesting I noticed while watching the show: the Amish kids were very likable, humble, open minded and down to Earth people. The city kids were a bunch of annoying, haughty, back-stabbing, no good worldly bastards. When the show starts off and the city kids are first introduced to their Amish housemates, they immediately start laughing and making fun of them (the city kids are in their 20's, mind you). The oldest of the Amish kids, Mose, nearly drowns during his first time out at sea, and the kid from Boston, Nick, totally makes fun of him for it. The thing that pissed me off is that the city kids probably think they're so much more sophisticated than the Amish, but they act like your average Junior High kid. Later in the show there was a clash between the Amish kids and the worldly kids, because the Amish men had some trouble getting used to the fact that in the outside world, men aren't waited on by their wives and mothers and need to clean up after themselves. In the end the show kinda bugged me, because I'm thinking, "The Amish kids probably have the impression that everyone in the outside world is as obnoxious as these guys." The producers just picked out the six most annoying, stereotypical city kids they could find: the "holier than thou" vegan who goes out of her way to express her disgust whenever she's confronted with an animal product, the flamboyant homosexual who embodies every gay stereotype there is, a sassy black sista from the ghetto, and a loud-mouthed asshole from Boston with the intellect of a 3rd grader. Actually, I really liked Kevan, he seemed alright. The rest of them sucked. Well anyway, now I'm rambling. Anyone else check it out? Your thoughts?