USA Today on a forthcoming TLC reality show – that doesn’t sound like it will be as good as the BBC original, but who knows…

On normal mornings, the peals of the bell calling the monks to chapel for their 4 a.m. prayer simply float out into these remote desert hills to reverberate and die.

But for six weeks this winter, the sights and sounds were captured by film crews. And the men who pulled the rope were, many a morning, among five non-monks who were called to live there not by God but by producers from The Learning Channel.

A reality show set in a monastery? Sort of. But producers of this TLC effort, which is scheduled to air as a 10-part series this fall, say they’re working on an "observational documentary" that follows people who are at spiritual crossroads and in search of profound answers.