The District - Mormon Missionaries Reality TV
"The District" will premiere on BYUtv this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Mountain time and is, according to its creators, the first reality series to follow missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "This is the first time the church has really allowed this level of access to the process of being a missionary," said Scott Swofford, director and producer of the series and director of content for BYU Broadcasting. Ref. Source 6
I wouldn't mind seeing it but I doubt something like this will become a national interest because the church probably won't allow anything controversial to be shown and that's what bigs up the ratings.
I agree, MormonGirl, I watched the first episode, and the promotion for some future episodes, and I can see some directing and scripting. It's with all "reality" series, where the producers say over and over, that they don't tell people what to say, then admit once, that yes, there is some directing, and some, off camera, coaxing, to get the people to say, and do, what the producers want.
I didn't see it yet. What kind of scripting did you see? Is it one set of missionaries or different ones?
Well maybe not direct scripting, but there was some oblivious editing and as I said off-camera coaxing, which I would consider indirect scripting. What evidence would I state for that statement? The District, I"m sure, goes through an intense approval process to make sure there is nothing controversial said by the investigator, or by the missionaries.
Rehearsed or not it is a breath of fresh air that the church is willing to expose themselves more so I definitely welcome it.