Pastor will attempt to convince prostitutes to quit in new reality show
Today in ill-advised reality TV programming news: A&E has reportedly greenlit eight episodes of a show tentatively titled 8 Minutes, in which a police officer-turned-pastor has eight minutes to confront working prostitutes and convince them to quit their jobs on camera.
The show's star, Kevin Brown, quit his police gig to devote himself full-time to his church, but uses his skills as a cop to confront prostitutes on his own time. "This is one of those great shows that was actually happening whether anybody was shooting it or not," Executive Producer Tom Forman told Entertainment Weekly. "Brown told his congregation that for 20 years he's had to arrest these women when what he's really wanted to do is help them. It launched a drive within his church to run these undercover operations. We read that and thought somebody should put a camera on this, it's the most incredible thing I've ever heard."
A&E is no stranger to controversial programming — the network came under fire last year for suspending and then reinstating a Duck Dynasty cast member who made inflammatory comments equating homosexuality to bestiality — so 8 Minutes will be in good company.
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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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