Controversial ‘Amish in the City’ still on track

A reality TV series about Amish teenagers will debut this month despite protests by members of Congress.

“Amish in the City” begins with a special two-hour episode July 28 on UPN. The series will offer a “unique look at the Amish journey of discovery” in which young adults leave their spiritually devout, rural communities to sample urban life, the network said.

The foremost concern is to treat the teenagers “with the highest respect,” UPN Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff said in a statement.

When the series was announced earlier this year, 51 Republican lawmakers — some representing districts with Amish communities — deemed it exploitive and asked for it to be shelved.

“The mentality reminds me of the old sideshows in the circus,” Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., said in February. “And it is wrong to do this to a minority group like the Amish.”

According to UPN, the series will chronicle the experiences of five young Amish men and women living in a Hollywood Hills home with six other roommates.

Members of the Amish sect are known for dressing simply and avoiding most technology. But at age 16 they’re allowed to break free of their strict code before deciding whether they want to be baptized as adults.

During the period of “rumspringa,” a Pennsylvania Dutch term that means “running around,” the teens often date, drink, drive cars and move away from home. Most then return to the faith.