Prime Time for Prayer: An Analysis of Prayers Offered and Answered in the Reality Series Answered Prayers

Abstract

Media power couple Roma Downey and Mark Burnett’s 2015 reality program Answered Prayers appeared as a six-episode series on TLC. The program depicts prayer lives through spoken interview-style vignettes and reenactments portraying individuals and families in crisis. This article addresses the ways in which Answered Prayers depicts how people pray, why they do so, and what “answered prayers” look like via reality media. A grounded theoretical analysis (Charmaz 2006) allows for themes and relationships in the data to emerge. Results indicate that this reality program suggests to viewers that prayers are always answerable. A model of relationships between offering prayers and receiving answers is presented, and the objectives of the producers of the program are addressed.