A scene from Part 5 of the six-part series...
By Kevin Williams
Living With the Amish: Those of you who have been with me for a long time know that during the height of the Amish "reality TV" craze of several years ago, I had my own brush with it. Â That's a story I'll rehash another day for all the newbies on this site. Â But while I was working on that, I became acquainted with another Amish reality TV series. Â And unlike most of the garbage that has aired, this one was superb. Superb. To this day I'm not sure how the BBC pulled Living With The Amish off. Â The series never aired in the USA, but you watch it on YouTube.
Putting together a show like this with a people - The Amish - who don't care to be filmed is a Hurculean challenge,but they succeeded. My understanding is that the producer was just a really determined woman who combined a brash streak with a tender touch to cajole and persuade some Amish to participate. But, in my opinion, the end result was  a superb series that was respectful and showed many of the nuances found among the Amish.
Over the coming days I am going to share links to the series with some commentary of my own, so let's begin with Part I. Â Out of all the parts of the series, this was my favorite. It was also the one that confounded me the most. Â I am familiar with almost all the Amish featured in this series and Part I was filmed in Middlefield, Ohio at an Amish home of a young husband and wife (Jonathan and Marietta) who had no children. Â The Middlefield/Geauga settlement is very traditional, very wary of photography and media, so how in the world the BBC ever got this part filmed is a mystery to me. To my knowledge, few in the community knew it was being filmed and I hope Jonathan and Marietta didn't get into any hot water with their church hierarchy because I think the end result was a very poignant and authentic show. Â CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART I...well worth watching!
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