TLC’s New Reality Show ‘The Sisterhood’ Is Like ‘Real Housewives’ With Pastors’ Wives

Last updated on: December 13, 2012 at 11:03 am By Lilit Marcus

TLC really loves its reality shows about religious groups – they already produce Sister Wives and 19 Kids and Counting, both of which I enjoy covering exhaustively. They also produced the controversial-yet-extremely-boring Muslim in America, which got cancelled more because of the boredom than the controversy. Next up: a show called The Sisterhood, which is about a group of pastors’ wives in Atlanta. The show premieres January 1. The concept of the show seems to be The Real Preacherwives. There’s... Read more

‘Bachelorette’ Couple Ashley and JP Wed In Interfaith Ceremony

Last updated on: December 11, 2012 at 3:34 pm By Lilit Marcus

The Bachelor franchise just hit its third wedding. That’s one couple from The Bachelor (Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney), and two from The Bachelorette: Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter, and now Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum. I actually watched the entire Ashley season because I was recapping it then, and as much as I think the show can be annoying they really seemed like a good couple who were well-matched for each other. As per the show rules, Ashley and... Read more

Lisa Welchel Makes It to Final Six on ‘Survivor’ and Gets a Visit from Her Pastor Brother

Last updated on: December 4, 2012 at 7:17 pm By Lilit Marcus

Former Facts of Life star Lisa Whelchel joined the cast of this year’s Survivor, effectively launching her comeback. But how is the newly-divorced evangelical Christian doing on the show? Last week, another Survivor was voted off, leaving Lisa as one of the top six finalists. She’s not the only famous face in the group – former Survivor Michael Skupin is there too, and retired baseball player Jeff Kent was voted off two weeks ago. Later on in the show, contestants often... Read more

Meet the Polygamous Darger Family, Who Recently Appeared on ‘Sister Wives’

Last updated on: December 2, 2012 at 6:41 pm By Lilit Marcus

Just like the Duggars begat the Bateses, the Brown family of TLC’s Sister Wives has begat the Dargers. It seems like once every TLC reality show starts to get a little stale or repetitive the producers bring in another family for their stars to hang out with. Recently, the Dargers were featured on Sister Wives as a fellow polygamous family. On the show, we met husband Joe and wives Alina, Vicki, and Valerie. (The latter two are twin sisters, which... Read more

The Duggars Are Going to China

Last updated on: December 2, 2012 at 6:40 pm By Lilit Marcus

Want a spoiler about upcoming episodes of 19 Kids and Counting? A Duggar fan blog just posted this picture of the entire family at the Great Wall of China. Increasingly desperate for storylines now that Michelle isn’t constantly giving birth, TLC has sent the family to England, Ireland, and Israel, and they did an episode about the family’s mission trip to El Salvador. Hey, does anyone at TLC want to pay for me to go to China? I promise not... Read more

‘Liz & Dick’ and Unitarians

Last updated on: November 26, 2012 at 2:18 pm By Lilit Marcus

Last night, I watched the Lifetime “world television event,” aka the Liz Taylor and Richard Burton biopic starring Lindsay Lohan. The movie was not as awesomely bad as I was hoping, but Liz and Dick did contain some unintentionally hilarious moments, like this one: However, there was one good religion shoutout during the movie. When the actors’ affair is discovered, the Vatican goes on record criticizing the couple for adultery (both were married to other people at the time). When... Read more

Coming Soon to HBO: Benjamin Walker As a Hot Missionary

Last updated on: November 25, 2012 at 8:32 pm By Lilit Marcus

HBO is known for making cutting-edge TV like Game of Thrones, but they haven’t gotten into the religion realm since cancelling Big Love in 2010. Now, they’ve announced production on a new series called The Missionary, which is about (get this) a missionary. Benjamin Walker, star of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and husband of Mamie Gummer, will play the title role, “an American missionary who gets caught up in Cold War intrigue while helping a young woman escape East Berlin.”... Read more

Russell Brand Interviewed Members of the Westboro Baptist Church

Last updated on: November 25, 2012 at 11:36 am By Lilit Marcus

Two members of the Westboro Baptist Church – aka, the people who like to show up at military funerals with “God Hates Fags” signs – appeared on Russell Brand’s new talk show. Brand (who was wearing a necklace with a bunch of small crosses on it) was exceedingly fair, giving the guys a chance to talk about their views and their faith even though the audience clearly wanted nothing to do with them. I go back and forth on whether... Read more

So, Paris Hilton Is In Mecca Right Now

Last updated on: November 20, 2012 at 12:32 pm By Lilit Marcus

Mecca is the holiest city in Islam, so it makes total sense that Paris Hilton would go there. Or not. Although Mecca is a sacred, it’s also a place where people live, work, and shop. There’s a mall there, Makkah Mall, that is right next to the Grand Mosque. It houses everything from a Children’s Place to a Burger King, but when Paris Hilton announced that she was opening one of her handbag stores there, people went crazy. Some called... Read more

‘Modern Family’ and ‘Happy Endings’ Hit the Bar Mitzvah Circuit Last Week

Last updated on: November 20, 2012 at 11:03 am By Lilit Marcus

Not sure if it’s a coincidence or not, but last week two of TV’s best comedies – Modern Family and Happy Endings – both had storylines that revolved around bar mitzvahs, even though there was only one Jewish character on either of the shows. Happy Endings had a plot where Max (who is actually Jewish, as is his portrayer Adam Pally) started a gig as a “bar mitzvah hype man,” getting the kids excited and ready to dance. His big... Read more