Darryl Silver is a top reality show producer.

With his latest endeavor, he turned his cameras from “Bound for Glory,” “The Apprentice” and “Survivor” to four young men discerning a vocation to the priesthood.

The result is A&E’s “God or the Girl,” a five-part series which makes its premiere on Easter Sunday.

Silver, an executive producer with the Idea Factory, a production company in Sherman Oaks, Calif., spoke recently with senior writer Tim Drake from Sherman Oaks, Calif.

How did you come up with the idea for this program?

Two years ago, my co-creators, Stephen David and David Eilenberg, and I were sitting around coming up with ideas for shows, trying to think of the craziest thing we could come up with. As a joke we came up with the idea for a show based on someone who is making the decision to become a priest. Within a minute or two, we said, “What if we did it like this?” That was the genesis of the show.

What is your own faith background?

Jewish. We had a bunch of Jewish guys making this show.

Do you think that your own faith background was an asset or a hindrance?

I think that coming at it from a Jewish perspective was the best thing that could have happened to this show. We don’t have an agenda toward the Catholic Church. We could come at it objectively. Therefore, if it were done by Catholics, for example, the critics can’t say, “This was a love letter to the Catholic Church,” or if it were done by [evangelical] Christians, they can’t say, “This was an attempt to bash Catholics.” Everyone across the line feels that we told an honest story with no agenda. We feel you can see that when you watch the show. It makes the show that much more valid.

The topic of the show is about four guys struggling with the issue of a choice that I describe as two goods — to be a priest or to have a family. Either choice is a noble, positive thing. I’m not telling the story of Catholicism or the Church, but the story of four guys who are making this decision over a four- to six-week period.

What did you learn about the Catholic Church as a result of doing the show?

Before we started, we purchased 20 copies of Catholicism for Dummies. We learned a lot about the Catholic Church. We talked to a lot of priests to understand the process for becoming one.

We had to do our education before we found the guys. We did the research first. We contemplated following guys at different points in the process, but realized that wouldn’t be realistic. Otherwise, you would have people saying that this television show came in and tried to change the minds of guys who already wanted to be priests. Eventually, we realized that the most powerful version of the show would be to look at guys who were contemplating taking that first step into the seminary.

One of the things that I learned is that the Catholic Church, to its credit, really wants to get the right guys in there. If a guy isn’t sure, they say, “You need to go back and figure it out.” With declining numbers [of men entering the priesthood], you would think that the Church would make it easier for these guys to get in, but if they’re only 85% sure, that’s not good enough. They have to find that extra 15%. It has to be 100%. I really commend the Church on that. I was really impressed with that.

How “real” is the show?

All we told the men is that this was a very internal decision, so we encouraged them to find ways to externalize it. It’s very easy to hide your internal feelings. We told them that they would need to work with family and friends to work that out. As a result, Joe Adair has conversations with his mother that he never would have had. If Father Bashista had not told Steve Horvath to share his news with his fraternity buddies, he probably wouldn’t have. All of the men involved said that it was a positive experience for them. It made them face these feelings and issues. Anything that these guys were asked to do was from a suggestion from family, friends or their spiritual guide.

Everyone lives their life moment-by-moment. These guys went through this moment by moment with cameras there. After the first or second day of being followed, you can’t pretend to be someone else for six weeks. You forget that the camera is there and move on.

The series seems more genuine than most “reality shows.” Why is that?

It’s not a “reality show.” It’s a “docu-series.” The prize here is an internal prize. I didn’t tell Dan DeMatte to carry that cross or tell Joe Adair to go to World Youth Day in Germany or Steve Horvath to go to Guatemala for a foreign mission. These were things they were already doing.

I still well up when Steve Horvath cries as he prepares to leave Guatemala. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Catholic, Muslim or Jewish. This is a great story. You’re getting a view into the lives of guys that you would never normally get a view of.

There has been some criticism regarding the title. I understand that it had a different working title. How did it get changed?

In our original casting tape there were graphic/text lines. One of them read — “It’s the ultimate choice between God or the girl.” Even though it’s not what we wanted, the network responded to that. Dan DeMatte says that people will come to this expecting “Temptation Island,” but what they see will be completely different. He said that for that reason, it’s worth having this title. You need to make noise to get people’s attention. Once people watch the series, those problems will go away.

I understand that Church representatives were not initially supportive of the project.

Until you see this project, from the sound of it being pitched, you don’t know what it’s going to look like. They weren’t really helpful. At one point, they were less than helpful. I understood their hesitation. We assured them that we weren’t out to do a hatchet job and kept in touch with them. We promised them that when the show was done, we would show it to them. I don’t think they believed us. In early March, we flew to Washington, D.C., and showed it to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They were pleased, and their response was positive. The Church didn’t have a say in the show. If they did, it would have discounted the whole thing.

Are you happy with the result?

When we pitched this show, who knew what it would look like or what the ending would be? These are real salt-of-the-earth guys. They don’t compromise their morals for anybody. I’m very proud of this show. It’s great entertainment. I get the same responses from people who have nothing to do with the Church.

Has your experience with this show given you some other ideas, say, for example, a program on women discerning a religious vocation?

Yes, it has stirred some other ideas. If this show does well, other stations will look at positive religious shows. It could open the doors to other shows like this.

Tim Drake writes from

St. Joseph, Minnesota.