"My Catholic TV Diary" series by Tommy Tighe (CatholicMom.com) Image via Pixabay (2017), CC0 Public Domain; title added in Canva.[/caption] In the first entry, I shared the story of how my friend Steve and I somehow got the green light to create a show for CatholicTV.  And last time around, I shared just how hard it was for us to be as creative as we thought we were. This time, as I type this, we’re literally in Boston filming the show! We’re about halfway done (4 out of 10 shows are filmed) and we are having an absolute blast. The crew of CatholicTV is infinitely more amazing than we ever could have imagined. They’ve helped us feel at home, look better on camera than we do in real life (by a lot), and are gentle and polite when we totally mess up and flub the lines! Also, Boston is just an incredible city. The people, the history, the food: What’s not to love? At this point, you’re probably wondering (as are most people who hear that we’re filming a TV show): What is this show actually about?  Well, I’ll tell you! My buddy Steve The Missionary and I engage in light hearted debates, eerily similar to the conversations we have when we’re just sitting around drinking beer on any given weekend. We open up debating things like whether lay folks should dress in liturgically appropriate colors, whether people should or should not use their phones during Mass, and if the best “Catholic” movie that didn’t mention Jesus or the saints is The Lion King or Juno. After that, we move on to a little segment we call “The Ridiculous Argument of the Day” where we playfully present a silly thing people get angry about online, and follow that up with a nice little segment where we introduce the audience to a fantastic bishop they may not have heard of before (this is also the spot in the show where we try -- and fail -- to locate their diocese on a map without state lines included).  Steve and I take questions from our pals on Twitter, debate who is the absolute holiest in a little knock-down-drag-out segment we call “Saint vs. Saint,” and then highlight one of our favorite Catholic websites. We wrap things up with one final debate (we affectionately call this “Last Rites”), a more serious moment to help encouraged viewers to grow in their relationship with Christ and His Church, and then pepper questions back and forth to discover if certain things are or are not sins. You’ll laugh (hopefully), you’ll have a good time (again, hopefully), and you’ll learn that you most definitely can be seriously Catholic and still have a seriously good time talking about the faith.  Did I mention we hold masks of saint faces in front of our faces during Saint vs. Saint? And they’re absolutely terrifying … in a good way … hopefully.  All in all, Steve and I are very excited to have been given this unbelievable opportunity to create something fun for Catholic TV, and we’re excited for this Fall when you can finally join in on the good time with us and our incredible team! So, check to see if you get Catholic TV through your cable/satellite provider, and if you don’t, don’t worry! Catholic TV is way ahead of the game when it comes to streaming, and you can check all the action out on Catholic TV’s website or through their incredible app! All right, time to get back into the studio! See you soon!!
Copyright 2018 Tommy Tighe

About the Author

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Tommy Tighe

Tommy is a Catholic husband, father of four boys, and the author of The Catholic Hipster Handbook (available now!).