Amish – World’s Squarest Teenagers | TV Review
Submitted by Liam Tucker on 07/26/2010 - 11:48
From the outset, we can see they’ll disapprove of the activity they see, and given their alienation from wider civilisation, will be baffled by most of it. In fact, I worried that they might be overwhelmed and, faced with a shopping trolley or Community Police Officer, might’ve started kicking off or screaming. But that was my prejudice. In actual fact, their default setting was staring very intensely at whatever had been put in front of them, then looking deeply unimpressed when they’d got the measure of it.
My only previous experience of the Amish was the 80s Harrison Ford movie Witness, and to be fair, going on last night’s show, that gave a pretty accurate account. Decent people devoted to simple chores, they were utterly confused by street dance but also game enough to give it a go, unimpressed by the Nail bar they were taken to and, thinking they were off-camera, prone to re-affirming amongst themselves how they mustn’t be tainted by the City experience.
Despite the blank faces with which they greeted every new presentation, the experience seemed worthwhile for everyone involved and both parties ending up seeing much to admire in the other- be it the hard-working barn-based lifestyle or the Londoner’s coping with a stabbing tragedy. It seemed that lessons had genuinely been learned, and that a Channel 4 reality show had genuinely managed to bridge a divide, teach two groups of people a little something about other cultures and also, into the bargain, make a highly watchable hour of TV.
I’m concerned, however, about next week’s offering. This would have worked very well as a one off, but next week’s episode, trailed at the end here, shows the quintet travelling south east from London to hang around with drunk, middle-class stoner types. Having been exactly that kind of company myself around fifteen years ago, it’s possible they’ll run into far more trouble in the rural countryside of Kent than they would on the mean streets of the capital.
I’ll pray for them, and so should you.
Liam Tucker is the founder of Watch With Mothers
Hearing the phrase ‘new comedy from BBC Three’ used always to result in a chilly spine. Compound that with the addendum ‘featuring guest panellists James Corden, Sarah Beeny and Peaches ‘bloody’ Geldof ‘and you’re almost guaranteed an unwatchable show. But...
more >>
more >>
While watching Channel 4’s eye-opening three-part documentary, it strikes you just how fortunate the makers were in timing their filming. They seem to have started their cameras rolling at precisely the point at which a chain of sex trafficking began to delink, with all the separate strands unravelling simultaneously.
more >>
It's been just over a fortnight since the new team at The One Show settled on to the red sofa and into their new roles.
more >>
more >>
Channel 4 brought us more fish out of water docu-nonsense last night with Amish, The World’s Squarest Teenagers – basically The Undercover Princesses or Meet The Tribe but with a different set of aliens crash-landing in the back yard.
The premise is that five Amish teens - two girls and three boys – travel from their closed community in the American Mid-West to London for episode one, where they’ll be confronted by the modern nonsense with which we waste our lives. Internet fun-zones, iPops, crunk-dancing and stabbings – all that kind of caper.
From the outset, we can see they’ll disapprove of the activity they see, and given their alienation from wider civilisation, will be baffled by most of it. In fact, I worried that they might be overwhelmed and, faced with a shopping trolley or Community Police Officer, might’ve started kicking off or screaming. But that was my prejudice. In actual fact, their default setting was staring very intensely at whatever had been put in front of them, then looking deeply unimpressed when they’d got the measure of it.
My only previous experience of the Amish was the 80s Harrison Ford movie Witness, and to be fair, going on last night’s show, that gave a pretty accurate account. Decent people devoted to simple chores, they were utterly confused by street dance but also game enough to give it a go, unimpressed by the Nail bar they were taken to and, thinking they were off-camera, prone to re-affirming amongst themselves how they mustn’t be tainted by the City experience.
Despite the blank faces with which they greeted every new presentation, the experience seemed worthwhile for everyone involved and both parties ending up seeing much to admire in the other- be it the hard-working barn-based lifestyle or the Londoner’s coping with a stabbing tragedy. It seemed that lessons had genuinely been learned, and that a Channel 4 reality show had genuinely managed to bridge a divide, teach two groups of people a little something about other cultures and also, into the bargain, make a highly watchable hour of TV.
I’m concerned, however, about next week’s offering. This would have worked very well as a one off, but next week’s episode, trailed at the end here, shows the quintet travelling south east from London to hang around with drunk, middle-class stoner types. Having been exactly that kind of company myself around fifteen years ago, it’s possible they’ll run into far more trouble in the rural countryside of Kent than they would on the mean streets of the capital.
I’ll pray for them, and so should you.
Liam Tucker is the founder of Watch With Mothers
Latest Headlines
The King is Dead | TV Review
Hearing the phrase ‘new comedy from BBC Three’ used always to result in a chilly spine. Compound that with the addendum ‘featuring guest panellists James Corden, Sarah Beeny and Peaches ‘bloody’ Geldof ‘and you’re almost guaranteed an unwatchable show. But...more >>
My TV bugbears
TV is great, isn't it? Yeah. Except when it's really really annoying.more >>
The Hunt For Britain’s Sex Traffickers | TV Review
While watching Channel 4’s eye-opening three-part documentary, it strikes you just how fortunate the makers were in timing their filming. They seem to have started their cameras rolling at precisely the point at which a chain of sex trafficking began to delink, with all the separate strands unravelling simultaneously.more >>
The One Show - New Personnel
It's been just over a fortnight since the new team at The One Show settled on to the red sofa and into their new roles.more >>
Is the new Beyonce ad too sexy for pre-watershed?
Beyonce might look amazing, but does her new perfume ad have too much heat?more >>
confusing
Test
Y
FF