The Jerry Rumspringa Show

This summer, UPN will air a reality show about five Amish teenagers in the big big city, reports the Washington Post:

It's based on the Amish community's coming-of-age experience known as rumspringa (the word means "running wild") in which Amish teens leave the fold and intentionally subject themselves to temptation to test their religious convictions, before deciding whether to join the Amish church. If they return to the flock, only then are they baptized into the Amish church.

There are also some abrasive comments by CBS CEO Les Moonves (CBS oversees UPN).

I didn't know about this rumspringa business. I grew up fairly close to a large Amish community, but the only thing I know about their culture is that they love the Moon Pie®. Seriously. If I were ever to do a documentary film, that's what it would be about. I'd call it "The Amish Love the Moon Pie®".

Comments

[Daniel Punaniel]

Today, in what I thought was a moment of complete originality and ingenuity, I thought of a character for an Amish talk show, 'Jerry Rumspringa'. I was so excited, I googled the inarguably brilliant name, fully confident in my own awesomeness. Your site came up in the search, revealing that someone out there in internetland had come up with the name -- a full four years before I did! Thanks for the crushing revelation.
Cool blog.

[Claire]

I didn't know the Amish believed in opening plastic wrappers.