The idea of this program, which debuted in 2013, is to pair an American citizen with an immigrant from another country. The immigrant is in the U.S. on a K-1 visa, which shows the intent of that person to marry the citizen and stay in the country permanently. But here's the deal (as Hambone would drawl): If the wedding doesn't take place in 90 days, the immigrant is effectively deported back to his or her country of origin! Obviously, the rush for the couple to know each other, plan the marriage, and get the support of loved ones on both sides was too much for TLC to resist making into a TV show.
In this case, Ralph, our 26-year-old preacher/outdoorsman from North Carolina, has fallen in love with Beatha, a 23-year-old Irish folk dancer. They meet at the New Jerusalem talent-show festival (more on the Barefoot family show here), and both show mutual love for each other. Once Ralph returns home, he arranges for Beatha to join him in the U.S., he helps her sign the visa papers, and the rush is on.
There is huge drama on several fronts:
- Is all of this happening for the right reasons of true love? Or is it just so to fulfill Popeye's longtime desire to become a grandfather?
- How much can Beatha get used to the quirky lifestyle of rural people in the South?
- Finally, will the ceremony even be allowed to take place, given that Jesus Christ is symbolically the "bride" in a "marriage" to his church (Ephesians 5:31-32)?
While we ponder these questions, here's the publicity photo the network would create. As always, Ralph is University of Mississippi employee Brett Barefoot. As for Beatha, she's portrayed by Katie Yeakle, a trainee with American Writers and Artists, Inc. AWAI, based in Florida, provides training and support for advertising copywriters. (That's something I would like to do someday from my home for much-needed income, but so far all the training has been expensive and frankly I haven't been able to squeeze in the time I would need to devote, either.) The TLC logo comes from Wikipedia, while the 90 Day Fiance graphic is a screenshot I took from the show's webpage.
As for the background shot, it comes from a picture originally with folk-music artists Brian and Lynn Hefferan, also known as the Fabulous Heftones. One of their songs, "Bye Bye Blues," has become a favorite of mine since I first saw it on YouTube. I had to make sure that Ralph's and Beatha's profiles were big enough to cover the Hefferans' original images; I also used the clone stamp to account for significant differences that arose.
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