I… I don’t know what to say.
I hope Ariel is the first one voted off the island.
I’ve never been one for “reality TV,” but I did find this interesting. Though Ariel deserves a hard boiled egg in the back of her head. “Soy yoghurt isn’t good, but it’s better than regular yoghurt?” What was she eating at the sushi bar? “Milk is cow’s pus.” What sort of BS is that?
I like Moze. He’s cute and he has a take-it-as-it-comes attitude that is going to help him in the weeks ahead.
It was a guilty pleasure for me. I wasn’t going to watch it but…it pulled me in.
It one of the video diaries, I think it was Miriams, she was sitting in her room and there was an Amish boy doll, I didn’t think they were allowed dolls with faces like that. Anyone know the answer?
I’d be surprised if this show didn’t have hundreds of people showing up in placid, rural Amish country wanting to convert (and then being very surprised when the women are expected to be barefoot and pregnant, art is disallowed, and suddenly it’s 1700 again theologically).
Interesting how the Amish kids—most of them having worked for the “English”—are completely up-to-date on slang, cussin’, etc. Only “A Prairie Mose Companion” seems really agreeably out of it.
Could they have found more obnxious gay and veggie stereotypes?!
Reese was a total drama queen but he did quiet down after Kevan pushed his chair over.
And are all “city kids” so freakin mean?
I don’t think all the ‘city kids’ were blaming everything on the Amish. It was just that one tall Amish boy (the self-described ‘Amish bad-boy’ ex-boyfriend of the tall blonde Amish girl) who really is a slob.
Ruth stood up for him and said that “Boys and men don’t clean. That’s woman’s work.” She should have then gotten up and followed him around cleaning up after him instead of making it out to be the City Kids against the Amish.
Poor Mose almost drowned. He thought he was going to Hell for goodness sakes. Couldn’t anybody give him a little slack? Those city kids were probably lucky the Amish are non-violent because they all deserved a good ass-kicking for joking and laughing like that on the way home.
I like the coming attraction were Whitney is getting all headrolly on Ruth and Ruth give it right back “I don’t care!” And honestly, I hope all the girls stay ‘in the city’ and all the boys go back.
I don’t think either of them is obnoxious. Reese impressed me when he socked Kevan. He went out of his way to help Jonas. In other words, he won’t take anyone’s shit, but he’ll put himself out there to help people. Jonas thought highly of him, too. Ariel is a bit kooky, but I like her ethical judgment. She get its about the Amish. She understands that it is about perspective, and when she wore their clothes, it made a difference in her worldview. Incidentally, it might seem hokey and oppressive that the Amish women cook and clean house, but building barns and working in the fields all day is no picnic either. It’s a hard life for everyone, but character is born of the struggle.
One episode and I already hate these city kids (except Kevan).
As someone who was raised (and still lives) in the country, I’ve always found it sad that some people have never seen a cow or pig. Our local museum occasionally has people visit from big cities who still think Indians live in tipis out here. The city kids in this show make me really sad. I understand that not everyone has the opportunity to visit a farm, but that’s no reason to make fun of it. To the Amish people (and others of us), it’s just as pathetic that the city kids have never experienced such things as walking through a cornfield or milking a cow, as it is in the city kids’ minds that the Amish people have never been drunk in a club.
Hmmm … just realized I keep referring to Amish “people” and city “kids.” Maybe that’s because the Amish people actually seem like adults to me, unlike their new roomies. The Amish people really do seem like they’d be fun to hang around with, and their willingness to be open to new things is admirable.
One last observation: Justin seems to swear a lot for an Amish guy.
Ugh. That would be Randy, of course, not Justin. :smack:
I only watched the first 30 minutes. The city people were just too mean. I have enough ugliness in my life; I don’t have to waste my time watching it on TV.
Randy
Am I the only one who thinks his ‘I don’t even know her name’ behavior may be his overcompensating for being a closeted gay man?
Mose
I don’t want to derail the thread into a theological debate. But, that bothered me. I wished he’d phrased that more clearly. Does he believe that any one who is Amish and leaves the community goes to hell? Or is he saying that being Amish is the only way to heaven?
Philadelphia magazine had an article on rumspringa a few years ago. Parents pay the children for the work they do. The kids have no need for the money and nothing to spend it on. By rumspringa, they generally have enough money to buy stereos, sports cars, and a lot of other things.
I really wanted to turn it off after the first 15 minutes or so…but I stuck around. I liked the show. Ruth’s reaction to the ocean was amazing! I wish I had the ability to still look at things that way. I’m hoping to start appreciating the things I take for granted now.
Also - did anyone watch the 10PM news that followed on UPN? Supposedly they were going to talk about why some people think we shouldn’t watch the show. I tried to stay awake but fell asleep around 10:30. I believe that cover story would have come on (in the New York area) around 10:45 or closer to 11.
I, too, can’t believe I watched this crap.
One of my friends made similar comments about how the Amish already seemed to be “with it,” knew the slang, had reasonably cool clothes, etc. I didn’t think it’d be much of a show if they kept to themselves the whole time and didn’t interact with the world.
But yeah, the city kids are just complete assholes. Although Kevan seems to be OK, and Ariel impressed me the way she saved Mose in the ocean. Looks like next week Whitney busts out the “angry black woman” schtick. Which pigeonhole is Meagan supposed to be in?
Meagan is supposed to be the “ultimate party girl.” The wild one.
Slutty, alcohol-drenched party girl.
I would like the record to show that (in accordance with TV law article 5 section 2 paragraph 40) Kevin Hill, as played by Taye Diggs, should be my baby daddy.
Not to Hijack the thread, but yes, the Pennsylvania Dutch are from the region that is now Germany, not from The Netherlands. (we would call people from The Netherlands “Holland Dutch” to distinguish)
The ancestors of the modern PA Dutch came to PA in the later part of the 18th century, at the invitation of William Penn. Some were looking for freedom to worship as they chose, some were just looking for a better life (they were coming from an area beset by wars and the attendent looting, famine etc.)
And before it comes up… Amish and PA Dutch are not entirely the same thing. Yes, all (or nearly all, they do accept converts) Amish are of PA Dutch ethnic background and they speak primarily PA Dutch. But not all PA Dutch are Amish. PA Dutch follow a vast variety of different christian sects, and the same was true when they originally came here. The Amish are simply a particularly picturesque variation, whose way of life attracts the attention of outsiders.
Pandora
(Born and raised PA Dutch, but certainly not Amish)
I think they really overplayed the whole “Mose drowning” gag. I have no doubt that he was pretty shook up, but the camera crew who was swimming with them was hardly going to let him drown.
I enjoyed the show, and agree that the Amish kids came off infinitely better than the mean, self-centered, obnoxious, ignorant, wacko city kids (cows are from outer space? Lock that girl up…) I could be friends with any of the Amish kids, and would enjoy just talking with them. But those city brats? Couldn’t get me to stay two minutes in the same room with them.
But realistically, there’s no way that the Amish kids had spent their lives sheltered. In addition to their language, there’s the one Amish girl who clearly had had lots of practice at putting on makeup. And the one (maybe the same one?) who was totally comfortable going out in public in a miniskirt and tight tank top, and also in a rather small bikini. And how about her line in the store about how everytime she tries on swimsuits she thinks she looks fat? How many bikini stores are there in the Amish community? Clearly, despite never having seen an avacado or parking meter or the ocean, they’ve had plenty of exposure to other aspects of the non-Amish world.
Actually, it was a lot like that. Miriam pointed out that she hadn’t seen a parking meter before and Mose was clearly shaken up at riding in the huge limo on a 6-lane highway.
I like the show and the Amish. The city kids were jerks. And I also got a gay vibe from Randy-who-can’t-find-the-right-girl.
The footage of Mose “drowning” looked like a complete re-enactment to me. I don’t think what we saw was the actual incident.