"Frontier House" is begining soon on PBS.for those of you in the dark,this show is PBS’s answer to CBS’s “Survivor”
What’s the hook? Set 3 families in the middle of the USA, having them live the life of Homesteaders of 1883, for 5 months
A few years ago, PBS ran the Brittish 1900 House where one family lived in a decontructed house. Complete with wood burning stove, gas lighting and the Husband wearing a period uniform in his position in the Brittish Military. They were allowed to go to the store but to only purchace products available in 1900.(she only wanted clean hair!)The Mom and older daughters were even for a time, forced to wear corsets with thier period clothing.
PBS has been running promos for this series. These include hunting for rattlesnake and family eating said snake for dinner.Family members complaing about one another treating it like a competition, and one child stating they kind of hoped to be voted off.
My hopes for this series is high as 1900 House was better than any episode of Big Brother It was sad that the show only ran 4 episodes (I missed the last, thier return to modern day)Hopefully,Fronitier House will meet the expectation of quality PBS is known for.
Who’s watching with me? Come on “Reality TV” freeks! and PBS fans. What are your hopes for this series?:eek:
I saw an ad for that the other day, too. Looks potentially interesting.
I only saw a few episodes of 1900 House. Truthfully, I found it annoying. It was just non-stop whining about everything. Did they ever get the stove to work right?
Anyhoo, this one might be more interesting. I’ll give it a chance.
Ferrous, glad to see I’m not the only one interested in viewing this.
Another ad ran today showing a hail storm apparently while the Families were building thier houses.Is this not the stuff reality TV is made of?Another highlight showed a fellow tossing, what appeared to be a plow to the ground. How can you not relate to someone saying “Screw it” and toss up thier hands, only to return to the task latter, because to not do so would possibly endanger your lives?
On 1900 House, of course there is whinning but,Geri who was someone you loved to hate on " Survivor Outback" made a few nights of entertaining viewing, if only because you wanted her to fail. Apparently, you only gave 1900 house a few viewings because the hot water was running fairly soon into the shows. It was quite revealing to see a very tired woman enjoy a hot bath so.
By virtue of the fact that these groups are not a bunch of strangers gives this genre of TV a new twist. Instead of just being strangers or actors who get to go home to the modern times at the end of the day, these are tighty knit groups who know each other well. Watching a day in thier lives is more like looking at “a day in the life”. by dispencing with the pettiness that saturates the first few episodes of other Reality TV programs.As a mom I will find interesting, the reactions and worries of these mothers.It must have to be very rewarding to put themselves through some hardships that wouldn’t have crossed thier minds in our modern world.
Eve, I don’t get the reference to sliding off the knife, but by the amount of enthusiasm you give I understand it to not be good. Give it a try anyhow, it’s gotta bet better than most things the network can offer.And it’s got to be better than American Family…LOL
I loved 1900’s House, and I’m definitely going to tune in for Frontier House.
Unlike the usual reality tv dreck, it’s actually a bit educational. It’s not just people politicking and backstabbing (which makes Survivor and the rest unwatchable for me) because there’s a lot more backstory and information. They’re in a situation that people really lived in (more or less) as opposed to the ridiculous contrivance of the other so-called “reality” shows.
Plus it’s fun to listen to them grouse. I got a great deal of guilty pleasure out of watching the friction between the family and the girl they hired to help clean. And the father really turned into an ass toward the end. He had next to no sympathy for what the women were going through. The clothes alone! Torture! And I’m sure I would have broken down over the shampoo, too. You can dress me up in ridiculous, restrictive outfits and force me to butcher chickens and scrub floors, but I must have my Pantene!
I’m looking forward to this as well. I loved 1900 House. I was a little annoyed at the family, I have to say I was more interested in the historical information. I’m a big fan of domestic history.
The thing I couldn’t understand is why the family complained so much – it’s not like someone forced them to do it, they were eager to be selected. The mother, who was originally the most enthusiastic, quickly turned into the biggest whiner. Surely they had to have some idea of what 1900 was like! (and if they didn’t, wouldn’t you start doing research immediately?)
Another drawback to 1900 House was that there was only one family. I think it would be neat to see what would have happened if you had a whole 1900 street, with several families. With only one family, “living” in 1900 seemed to create an social isolation that only compounded their other anxieties. From the ads so far, I think there are more people in Frontier House, so I’m looking forward to the interaction.
I’ve never seen any other reality TV, so I can’t compare it to any other shows.
Genseric Thanks for providing the link. You bet I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here.
dragongirl Glad to see another on the viwer wagon. Last comercial I saw said "Coming in Spring to PBS."But, as NPR has gone into begging mode, PBS won’t be far behind and this Frontier house is perfect begging week fodder.
delphica I’m with you on the resarch thing.I’ve often wondered if the contestants on Amazing Race have ever done research on world geography before appearing. But to be put into a situation, by choice or not would understandably present a bit of stress for the Families of both 1900 House ** andFrontier House** Complaing is par for any life let alone volenteering to put yourself through it?
And there is more than one family this time. the Family of 1900 house were allowed to go to the local swimming pool, and the local Live Theatre, even auditioning to take part, because there were those things exsisting in 1900.But you make a point about afew families sharing the experience of Homesteading.
Eve I bow to your mastery of the obscure. you surely belong on the SDMB:p
Podkyne Glad too you enjoyed 1900 House. The historicness of the situation makes it quite different from any other Reality show period.I’d be interested to know what the next might be like.****** House** might be… the first being in London and this one in Wyoming(?) Might the next be The East?
I never found the Father on 1900 a very likeable guy. The middle Daughter however, though a whinner seemd to come through the experience a better person.
As for the shampoo, I sure would not have confessed.It was silly. She should have just enjoyed the clean hair in silence…LOL
Keep the replies coming folks, now my entusiasm is getting more up!
Genseric Thanks for providing the link. You bet I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here.
dragongirl Glad to see another on the viwer wagon. Last comercial I saw said "Coming in Spring to PBS."But, as NPR has gone into begging mode, PBS won’t be far behind and this Frontier house is perfect begging week fodder.
delphica I’m with you on the resarch thing.I’ve often wondered if the contestants on Amazing Race have ever done research on world geography before appearing. But to be put into a situation, by choice or not would understandably present a bit of stress for the Families of both 1900 House ** andFrontier House** Complaing is par for any life let alone volenteering to put yourself through it?
And there is more than one family this time. the Family of 1900 house were allowed to go to the local swimming pool, and the local Live Theatre, even auditioning to take part, because there were those things exsisting in 1900.But you make a point about afew families sharing the experience of Homesteading.
Eve I bow to your mastery of the obscure. you surely belong on the SDMB:p
Podkyne Glad too you enjoyed 1900 House. The historicness of the situation makes it quite different from any other Reality show period.I’d be interested to know what the next might be like.****** House** might be… the first being in London and this one in Wyoming(?) Might the next be The East?
I never found the Father on 1900 a very likeable guy. The middle Daughter however, though a whinner seemd to come through the experience a better person.
As for the shampoo, I sure would not have confessed.It was silly. She should have just enjoyed the clean hair in silence…LOL
Keep the replies coming folks, now my entusiasm is getting more up!
I work at a PBS station, and I’ve been telling people around here that we should get in on the Reality TV trend.
Of course, my idea involved putting the Teletubbies, Barney, Jim Lehrer, and Big Bird on a remote island. My money would be on the tall yellow one. He’s smarter than he looks (not that I’ve ever met him, you understand).
It is in Montana. There are three families, although I don’t think they knew each other prior to this adventure. One family is a pair of newlyweds! That information might bring in a few more viewers! I wonder what they used for birth control on the frontier?
Having three families is a good idea, I think. They can help each other and provide support - especially the women. I think 1900 house was made that much more difficult by the isolation factor.
WOW Folks, Thanks for the turnout! This thread has been great!
PhiloVance as usual, this program has been funded by “Viewers like You, Thank You”.
KinSaba Newlyweds! What a way to spend your honeymoon!Well, it was the heart of folks like that what made this country as great as it is. And you got to bet that after watching each other live the hard life, they will appriate things in each other that no modern couple will be able to. I’d think Birth Control on the prarie might be as easy as it is now? That’d be abstainence.Coming from a Catholic family, I’d suggest the Rythym method, but I won’t.:rolleyes:
Having more that 1 family participating this time is definatly a boon.It will definatly give a better idea of what it was like to live waay back then…It WAS the Good ol’ days? Right? Better for some than others I imagine. One thing that will definatly be better, and that will be the comunities treatment and respect for an Afro-American. The fact he will be respected and treated as an equal is something PBS can’t go back in time to change. And that I believe is a pretty nice change from 1883.
Saltire I don’t know about the big yellow one winning the million. I think that Jim Lehrer is craftier than you give him credit for. He’d be a master at manipulation and a true “Player”. When the chips are down, I think Lehrer would do the big guy in and use his feathers for clothing, bones for tools and meat for the biggest fried chicken dinner this side of St. Alphonzo’s (usually they serve pancakes you know) If the man can make the Bush/Gore debates interesting, a season on the island is a shoot in the bucket.
You work for a PBS Station and ain’t met the Big Guy yet? What kind of fringe benifits are they offering there?Tell that bird to high tail it soon to you. Don’t forget to take the WHOLE neighborhood with you!
IIRC. This is coming at the end of the month. Our local station WGTE (Toledo) has it scheduled for April 29th. But, PBS stations are notoriously fickle. Check your local listings and enjoy.
Just a Note. I will be back for reactions when Frontier house airs.
I’ll be looking forward to discussing this master reality show with you. Thank you for your support.
newsweek arrived today and they had an article on frontier house
according to the article:
“…these are americans, so you can forget all that british stoicism. americans whine, americans cheat, americans have no compuntion about complaining that the frontier is ruining their sex life, amoung other marital woes.”
“pbs thought frontier house would be laura ingalls wilder come to life. what it got was little grouse on the prairie.”
“as the show moves through its six episodes, the clunes and the glenns become the hatfield and mccoys… the brooks get lost in the cross-fire.”
Saw a preview of it on Oprah. (SO SUE ME!) Looked intriguing. I remember when they were seeking candidates. I thought it sounded really interesting and was even thinking about applying until I remembered the head cheese chapter of the Little House books. That and I wondered how far my husband would get with his bad back. No steroid injections in pioneer days.
I have no illusions about the late 1800’s being “simpler days.” I can’t begin to imagine how hard their life was. I can’t grow a freaking tomato plant potted with MiracleGrow potting soil, let alone grow enough food to sustain us all over the winter without the aid of a tractor and pesticides…then you you had to chop the wood, milk the cow, churn the butter, weed the garden, mill your flour, sew your own clothes…all in a freaking corset.
BBC’s reality series Castaway did something where they had a set of families living in stone age conditions and while Frontier House doesn’t jump back that far I suspect they might hit a similar problem. In the stone age reproduction they had a serious problem with the cleanliness of the food preperation and how propperly prepared the food was. Food poisoning was an immediate problem on that show and eventually they had to conceed to the health board and give the people on the show modern tools to insure their continued well being. I can’t help but wonder if the people in Frontier House are going to run into the same problems since the conditions that led to the problems in Castaway are going to be much the same (people who don’t know enough about how to propperly handly food, cooking when there isn’t enough light to see by, limitted access to soap).
While we’re on the subject, if Newsweek thinks that the British people on reality programs aren’t the whiney, cheating, backstabbing dorks that American programs get they haven’t watched much British reality programming.
I’ve read several catastrophe novels lately, and they all seem to romanticize primitive life a great deal. There are awful plagues (miraculously avoided by the main characters, of course), grisly injuries (builds character!), and privation and want (what do you think this is, the Hilton?). I am similarly tempted to daydream about the fall of civilization and the return of the noble savage, but one word stops me in my tracks:
Childbirth.
No contraception . . . plus that nagging responsiblity to propagate the human race . . . Pregancy will happen.
But ask the women in your family some time about pregnancies that didn’t go well. You’ll be surprised at the number of awful miscarriages that aren’t ever talked about, and the terrible trials that accompanied the introduction of your aunts and uncles and cousins, and even your brothers and sisters into the world . . . then imagine the same things happening outside a clean operating theater, when the nearest board-certified OB/GYN died of typhus last week.
My fantasies about the Rebuilding Human Civlization usually end with me hemorrhaging to death.
I guess this isn’t relevant to reality shows. If somebody turned up preggers I’m guessing they’d be whisked back to the modern world toot sweet.
I got a great deal of guilty pleasure out of watching the friction between the family and the girl they hired to help clean. And the father really turned into an ass toward the end. He had next to no sympathy for what the women were going through. The clothes alone! Torture! And I’m sure I would have broken down over the shampoo, too. 
