BoomerGirl Diary

The premise for the TV show “30 Days” is to place individuals in a lifestyle that is different from their upbringing, values or profession.

In the case of Lawrence, Kan., resident Brenda Frei, an avowed atheist, that meant being sequestered for a month with a conservative Christian family in Frisco, Texas.

Frei had to follow three commandments when shooting the hourlong cable program:

1. Thou shalt find shelter under the same roof as a Christian family.

2. Thou shalt attend weekly church services.

3. Thou shalt join thy fellow worshippers in Bible study.

“This project is a lot about tolerance,” Frei said.

“I think it is somewhat groundbreaking for this topic to be treated in this manner. Although they didn’t focus on some of the ideological issues in depth at all, it was a good first step.”

The 47-year-old mother of four first heard about the FX Network show when she ran across a casting call on the Internet.

“We thought someone would come live with our family,” she said. “But we were told the producers didn’t think there was enough going on in an atheist family — which is really a joke, because we have four very active children who are extremely busy and vibrant.”

Raising awareness

“30 Days” is the brainchild of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who earned an Oscar nomination for his documentary “Super Size Me.”

“Each week we deal with a very serious social issue, much like we did in ‘Super Size Me’ with obesity,” Spurlock said.

“We deal with a different issue like religion, sexuality, poverty, and do it in a way to make it accessible to people. Hopefully, through this TV show we’ll be able to do just like we did with the movie, where when people turn off the TV they say, ‘Wow, I need to think about that!’”

Frei also had much to think about. She was concerned how her views might be perceived — she considers herself an “atheist, agnostic, rationalist, humanist, free thinker.” She also was unfamiliar with Spurlock’s work, and wasn’t entirely comfortable with the concept of “reality TV.”

Fortunately, the producers gave her copies of the first season of “30 Days,” and she was pleased with his work.

“In general, Morgan Spurlock tends to produce shows that are focused on raising social awareness,” she said

Despite how her episode is edited, Frei never met Spurlock. While she was taping, he was enduring his own 30-day experience being locked up in jail.

Eye to eye

Frei’s host family was Michael and Tracy Shores, fundamentalist Christians who attend a nondenominational Bible church in the Lone Star State.

The producers of the program guessed correctly that Frei and Michael Shores might not see eye to eye.

“One of the things that bothered Michael a great deal was his lack of understanding how people can live a valuable life and one that cares about the betterment of the world without having the Bible as a reference for living. It seemed to surprise them that non-religious people can raise responsible, respectful children and have positive, contributing lives,” said Frei, who found it much easier to bond with Tracy Shores.

Frei was raised an evangelical Christian. There was no singular incident that caused her to break from the church. Rather, it was a gradual development.

“It’s not one where you have an un-born again experience,” she said. “This is a process of thinking and studying over years.”

Reality level

The “30 Days” crew shot nearly 400 hours of video, which was edited down to a 1-hour show.

While Frei was pleased with the final product — and said the Shoreses were, too — she admitted the reality of reality TV was a little skewed.

She said, “I know there are people who are going to disagree with some of the things that are said on the show. I think there are many times when there is much more that we said or needed to be said. I feel like we didn’t have time to explain things very well, or at length. So this is just a first step on this issue.”

So did Frei’s stint on “30 Days” teach her anything?

“I teased with the staff that I learned not to do TV. It was an exhausting experience,” she said. “But I’m glad that we did it.”