The BRAVO triple feature!

I was giddy when I saw that Bravo had these three shows lined up Sunday night. At 7 p.m. was "I didn't know I was pregnant.", At 8 p.m. was "Purity Balls", and at 9 p.m. was "Painted Babies at 17".

How is that for a great evening with a glass of wine.

I didn't know I was pregnant, really? Women who went 9 months and didn't know they were carrying a child. Mistaking movement of the baby with gas. GAS. That's one hell of a burrito or a serious case of IBS.

Purity Balls.

Now this one was a little freaky. Crazy-ultra-Christian Fathers take their daughters to Purity Balls and have them sign Contracts to stay "Pure" until marriage. They can not kiss a boy. The first Boy they kiss will be their husband on their wedding day.

It was a little weird. These fathers talking about their little girls being pure and clean. As if all teenage boys are evil and diseased.

The girls dress in formal dresses. The fathers are in tuxedos. The entertainment for the evening is a religious ballet dance. Girls of all ages dressed in white long tutus and leotards and dance into the room. The older ones are carrying a wooden cross that becomes the centerpiece of the room. The girls then dance a "choreographed ballet" around the cross. Like a Evangelical Swan Lake. The narrator even comments that the ball "is accompanied by background music from Hollywood movies".

It's a little scary. Almost like the fathers don't want their daughters to grow up. The minister who started this movement meets the young men his daughter would like to go on a date with. She was interviewed and said that on more than one occasion, "they decided that one particular young man was not the one for her". She is now engaged, at 21 years old and will have her first kiss on her wedding day.

What was interesting was that they also interviewed a "sinner". A former Purity Ball girl who (cue the music) got pregnant out of wedlock. She was a former Miss Colorado. Beautiful. Smart. A little sad. She talked about the culture shock she received when she entered college. How socially, she was at least 6 years behind the other girls. Very interesting.


They left the best for last. Child Beauty Pageants!

Painted Babies at 17. Yep, it's a follow up to a documentary from 11 years ago called Painted Babies. It was totally trastastic. One girl quit at the age of 7. She is in boarding school in Tennessee and has a normal summer job. The other (and she would have to be from Louisiana) is still in pageants. She is now training other girls for pageants on the makeshift stage in her backyard.

The best parts are the flashbacks to the earlier days. The Mothers and Grandmothers sitting in the audience doing the dance routines. Telling the girls to smile. Prompting them on when to turn and model. Ya'll, those women were nuts. The Grandmothers of these two girls are crazier than the mothers.

Must See TV!