Brainstorm: An Orthodox TV Channel

[Herman of Texas]

What would you want to see on the little screen? I have a few ideas.

- Homilies on the day's Scripture readings
- Saints and Feasts of the day
- Spotlights on missionary efforts around the world
- News about persecuted Christians
- Histories of monasteries and historic church buildings
- Profiles of Orthodox artists, musicians, authors
- Weekly screenings of <<Ostrov>>

What did I miss?

 

[JAYPT]

Id like to see the missionary efforts and news about persecuted Christians, history on buildings is kind of interesting.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Hello and welcome to CF! And to TAW.

I suspect you could get all sorts of answers. My thinking at the moment is that with all the richness of Orthodoxy, it might be nice to have a widely varied platform that put different things we might not be thinking about in front of our eyes.

I think fasting recipes might be helpful. And I'm very fond of taking short quotes from the Fathers and explaining them in the context of our daily lives. Something involving the musical traditions might be good. Maybe reviews pointing out some of the good points of especially good podcasts, and/or books.

I'm sure lots more but that comes first to mind.

From your list, I'd especially like to see more on missions. I see some of that already, but it's not where a lot of folks get to.

Again welcome.

 

[dzheremi]

Welcome to CF and TAW, Herman of Texas!

You guys don't already have a TV channel, or several? I find that a bit shocking, if true.

Anyway, yes to all. Especially the screenings of "Ostrov" , though I'm sure there are other movies about Eastern Orthodoxy, or at least partially set in monasteries, seminaries, etc. Вий comes to mind...if I remember correctly (which I might not; saw it only once 15 years ago, when they screened it in Russian class), the main character fights off a demon in a seminary at some point. Pretty tough.

Also big yes to reports of Christian persecution and histories of monasteries and church buildings. CYC (the Coptic Orthodox channel aimed at the youth) has a recurring segment where they visit monasteries, and another where they meet other churches and show something of their services and such (e.g., Syriac Orthodox, Armenian, etc), in an effort to get us to know each other a bit better (this might be less necessary in the EO world since you guys have more liturgical uniformity; I don't know). Both of those are pretty neat. Also they had a few seasons of "A Monk's Life" with Fr. Lazarus El Anthony, which was especially good since Fr. Lazarus is very well respected, has an interesting story (from atheist to Serbian Orthodox to Coptic Orthodox anchorite living in the cave of St. Anthony), and speaks English natively since he's Australian. I'm sure you guys have lots of people like that who would make good profiles and be good examples for EO people seeking the guidance and example of the monastic life while still living in the world.

Also, where's the "broadcasting divine liturgies" option? I want that! I'd definitely tune into EO liturgies, especially of the churches I have had less exposure to, like those of the Albanians or the ethnic Assyrians who are EO in Russia and Georgia.

 

[straykat]

Get "Trisagion Films" to make short stories (but with a budget). They're the people who made the Desert Fathers series I linked here the other day, but they do other profiles on many saints.

Chronicles of the Desert

 

[ArmyMatt]

a show that teaches catechism.

 

[dzheremi]

p.s. Yes a million times over to our friend Anastasia's musical traditions idea! This is something we have done in a series (I can't remember on which channel; there are several Coptic TV and internet channels) hosted by members of David Ensemble, probably the most famous Coptic music ensemble (they even had a CD released in France quite a few years ago, have performed at the opera house in Cairo, etc). From that, I think the Coptic Youth Channel was inspired to do its own series in English, "Coptic Melodies" with Fr. Antionos Samaan, who is blessed with a lot of musical talent on the violin and the flute (helpful when you're going to be teaching melodies, I imagine). You guys could do something like that teaching different hymns and explaining the different tones of the octoechos and the variations you may find throughout the year or based on regional traditions. I'd watch the heck out of that! (Music runs in my family, so I find it fascinating, but I'm too dumb to 'get it' on a technical level, so I could use that sort of thing. My particular church doesn't organize its music that way, but almost all of the rest of Christianity does, so it'd be helpful to everyone. )

 

[HTacianas]

What would you want to see on the little screen? I have a few ideas.

- Homilies on the day's Scripture readings
- Saints and Feasts of the day
- Spotlights on missionary efforts around the world
- News about persecuted Christians
- Histories of monasteries and historic church buildings
- Profiles of Orthodox artists, musicians, authors
- Weekly screenings of <<Ostrov>>

What did I miss?

Lifestyles of the Liturgical and Holy.

Sorry. I actually thought that in Robin Leach's voice.

There are a couple of Orthodox TV channels out there but I forget their names. There's a local Greek channel where I live that carries Church services on Sunday mornings.

But since we're brainstorming, how about "Liturgies around the world"? The entire liturgy from a different Church every episode.

I've worked in the television business for nearly thirty years and your idea is something I've always wanted to see.

 

[PittBullMom]

Lives of the saints

Edit:
Just re-read OP...you did list that. Sorry lol

 

[PittBullMom]

Or how about something for children?

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Gurney IS going to be a host on that channel!!! I could host the Orthodox music videos...

“And that was the latest from the band Theosis with their new song Tone Four from their most recent album, Pentarchy.”

 

[Herman of Texas]

You guys don't already have a TV channel, or several? I find that a bit shocking, if true.

As far as I know, there aren't any Orthodox broadcast channels (like you would get on cable or satellite). There are some internet-based channels, of course.

A streaming service of Orthodox programming is an interesting idea, but I like the idea of it being a TV channel better because a non-Orthodox scrolling the channels would have a chance at coming across it. Perhaps, in addition to the catechesis programming, there could be friendly discussions/debates with people of other Christian traditions.

 

[Knee V]

I think for this kind of thing to work, it couldn't follow the old method of being a normal TV network. That paradigm is fading away, and I think it would need to be an online network with an app. There would be a lot more flexibility to do a lot of stuff that way.

I like Anastasia's idea of fasting recipes. I think that a cooking show that showcases a variety of fasting meals would be a great show that would garner a lot of attention.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

We could have a cassock fashion show. Again, I will host.

Starting at midnight we could have Orthodox infomercials. We could sell incense, wine, vegan cheese, baklava by mail, bees wax candles, but no printed icons.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

We could have live councils of Orthodox bishops CSPAN style

 

[dzheremi]

We could have a cassock fashion show. Again, I will host.

Starting at midnight we could have Orthodox infomercials. We could sell incense, wine, vegan cheese, baklava by mail, bees wax candles, but no printed icons.

Question: Does it count as breaking the fast if you order food off the TV with the expectation that it will not arrive until after the fast is over? If it arrives early, do you wait? Do you go to confession?

Ooo...there's one: a call-in show! "Rehabilitating the Hyperdox with Fr. Spyridon" (or whoever)! They could teach people how to avoid the pitfalls of internet messageboards, Facebook mobs, those weird "True Orthodox Calendrical Old Style Deep Dish Continuing Right Believer" groups, and so on.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

During the Fast we’d only sell stuff without dairy and meat , etc.

“And now a word from our sponsor—-Gurney’s Old Fashioned Seitan Jerkey!! Lathed in barbecue sauce and rich hickory flavor, order now and get a can of Gurney’s Down Home Lentil Soup absolutely free. We’re talking lentils that taste so dang good, Esau would sell out his birthright for ‘em! Call now!”

Love the rehabilitation idea!!!

Question: Does it count as breaking the fast if you order food off the TV with the expectation that it will not arrive until after the fast is over? If it arrives early, do you wait? Do you go to confession?

Ooo...there's one: a call-in show! "Rehabilitating the Hyperdox with Fr. Spyridon" (or whoever)! They could teach people how to avoid the pitfalls of internet messageboards, Facebook mobs, those weird "True Orthodox Calendrical Old Style Deep Dish Continuing Right Believer" groups, and so on.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

For Orthodox movie night we can show the 30-second scene in the film Daredevil where an Orthodox priest is at Elektra’s dads funeral.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

We’d need to have some mystery shows on Friday night on Orthodox TV....

 

[prodromos]

For Orthodox movie night we can show the 30-second scene in the film Daredevil where an Orthodox priest is at Elektra’s dads funeral.

Make sure they fix the subtitles so it doesn't say the priest is chanting in Latin