'Rich in Faith' Brings Young Pastors to Reality TV Spotlight

As a MTV executive, Rod Aissa helped develop "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica." Now at Oxygen Media, believes he's found equally engaging young marrieds who will appeal to today's millennials. However, the couple featured in "Rich in Faith" are pastors, not pop stars.

The reality show features Rich Wilkerson Jr. and his wife DawnChere as they launch a youth-oriented Miami church, Vous, and grapple with balancing work and home life.

"What I liked about it for Oxygen is the overlay of the discussion of faith," Aissa said. "We know from brand research ... that traditional things like family and relationship to God and spirituality are still high on their (the audience's) list."

Rich Wilkerson brings a celebrity connection to the series: He married Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, but the Wilkersons say it's their relationship with God and parishioners that's important, not TV celebrity or its trappings.

"So often it's really easy, especially for people of faith, to sit around and report negatively about the status quo of where our nation is or where entertainment is," said Rich Wilkerson.

"Our idea was to do something that's encouraging, that's positive out there. We want to show people you can have faith, even in this busy, chaotic world we live in right now," he said.

Faith and reality TV have become close companions. A number of shows are based on families for whom religion is a visible part of their lives, including UP's "Bringing Up Bates," in its third season. Others focus on the clergy, among them Oxygen's "Preachers" franchise that started in Los Angeles.

"Preachers of LA" was criticized by some who said the show could foster the inaccurate idea that preachers are in it for fame and wealth.

Hollywood's fascination with pairing reality and faith has dubious roots, said Dave Johnson, a film and TV writer-producer.

"It's like the old circus, with the sideshow tent," Johnson said. "They'll use little people, they'll use Christians, they'll use tattoo people. It's a group of people (industry executives) don't really know or understand or are part of, and think they're interesting to watch."

That's fine, he added, if the show is created and produced honestly, citing "Bringing Up Bates" as an example. He had yet to see "Rich in Faith."

"If they chose someone who is genuine and true, who believes and lives that faith, then the show will reflect that faith honestly," Johnson said.

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Passing of “Bud” Paxson, Founder of HSN and Pax

Broadcast and cable pioneer Lowell “Bud” Paxson passed away last week. Among many other accomplishments, the devoutly Christian Paxson was the founder of the PAX television network, a broadcast channel devoted entirely to showing clean, family-friendly original programming.


When one of his radio advertising clients paid his bill with 118 electric can openers, Paxson announced on the air that he would sell the openers for $10 each, if the customers would come down to the radio station. All the openers sold in three hours. This event inspired Paxson to create the Home Shopping Network, which soon was doing $1 billion in sales. Paxson sold HSN in 1991, using the profits to buy television stations all over the country.

A deeply committed and outspoken evangelical Christian, Paxson was dismayed by the increasingly graphic and immoral content on broadcast and cable TV. Using his fortune and ownership of TV stations as a base, Paxson formed the broadcast network PAX TV in 1998 – a network dedicated to creating and airing original, clean, family-friendly programming like It’s a Miracle, Hope Island, Doc (starring Billy Ray Cyrus), and Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye.