PBS ventures into "Reality TV" with Frontier House.

Cafe Society
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OK. I need to put in a few factual statements:

  1. Deer are not a protected species – but they can only be hunted during hunting season (with a proper license), – which this is not. Unless you are a Native American and are hunting on reservation land.

Having said that, it definitely does screw up the food dynamic not to allow them to hunt. In real 1883 they would go shoot deer, rabbits, elk, bear, moose, geese, duck – any number of things and have a lot better diet. I think the producers could have and should have compensated for this by providing something. The Crow (was he a chief?) did the right thing. The producers should be doing that - or similar since they can’t kill anything out of season either.

  1. Milk cows need to be milked on a schedule. If they are not milked on or about the right time, morning and night, they get pretty cranky. I would be surprised if she would have walked home with them with a full udder. What bothered me was - where was the calf? I didn’t see her following her mom back to the house.

The Glenns should have helped build the corral, no question. The least he could have done was offered them some warmth when they were freezing trying to milk the poor cow.

  1. Wet dresses in a Montana snowstorm would not have been a good idea.

That’s all. I want to see how the future Mrs. Nate holds up. I think she is in for a surprise herself.

62

What was the end result of the birth control talk?
Was Mama Glenn going to smuggle in BC pills or what?
Papa Clune has had a vasectomy (thank God), so it wasn’t an issue for them, but I never saw a resolution about that.
I don’t think letting her take The Pill would be so bad. You have to make some allowances.

63

I may have misunderstood this from the show, but I think the birth control pill issue was left up to the woman in question. The adults sat around and talked about Frontier birth control options as more of an educational exercise, plus the producers probably thought it would make for good television – Little Birth Control on the Prairie, no doubt.

64

BiblioCat, they decided to leave birth control as a “personal decision.” I really don’t think it could have been otherwise.

I thought it incredibly dumb of the Clunes to say that since Mr. Clune had a vasectomy, they don’t have to worry about it–everybody else should abstain while they make all the whoopie they want. How stupid. I can see why Ms. Glenn got pissed off at it.

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Two of my PBS stations have it on 3 nights at 2 hours each. My other station has it airing in one hour increments.

Thought it was interesting. I kept telling my husband that they should forget the house and work on planting crops and he disagreed with me. He thought shelter was more important. I told him you can always add more blankets but if you don’t have enough food stored for the winter, you’d starve to death. Memories of Pa Ingalls and Laura twisting hay for fuel. Brrrr!

I wonder if all those crops are going to die because of the snow…though I think I’ve read that snow is protective vs. sleet.

Gosh, I hope they don’t get a swarm of locusts.

I kept wanting to get clay out of the stream and plug up all those holes in their log cabins…it’s going to be mighty cold and drafty once cold weather hits.

66

Mama Glenn got her back up right at the beginning, when they were discussing birth control. But I don’t recall anyone telling her they couldn’t have sex. ? Why was she so hostile?

Mrs. Clune crying about makeup made me ashamed to be female, until I realized that it’s a cultural thing, as much as the Glenn woman feeling natural without it. Karen was way too proud of herself and her daughter for not wearing makeup. That’s just as silly as Mrs. Clune’s reaction.

Her hostility to the Clunes seems connected to their wealth. She talks about them like they’re spoiled babies, even though they’ve been working hard.

I think she’d be glad to see them fail, and surprised (and upset) if they succeed. It’d spoil all her notions about “rich folks.”

I wonder what’s been happening that we haven’t seen. ?? Probably lots.

Looking forward to tonight.

67

I love this show. I think the way Mr. Glenn yelled at the kids for milking the cow on his property was just mean. They are children fercrissake. They were upset and cold and frustrated. Did he actullay think that yelling at them like that would make them see reason? Also, what was Mamma Clune thinking sending her children out into the snow with blankets. Is she insane!? I would have either given then some of my dry clothes, or given them some of the mens dry clothing. Or even just sent the Men out to do it instead. It’s not like they were going to be doing any yard work. Blankets! Yeesh! I love the Brooks by the way. They seem like the most competent homestead so far.

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My take on this is that while the group was discussing birth control in theory, the Clunes voiced the opinion (paraphrasing) that “everyone” should use birth control authentic to the time period. I think Mama Glenn was irked that the Clunes were expressing an opinion at all, because they were obviously not talking about themselves.

I think I am way too into this show.

69

ooohhhh boy, i told ya this was gonna be good!!!

yes, it was the glenn’s who thought this would help with their marriage. good grief people, a “simple” bathroom remodel have spelled divorce for thousands of couples. jumping back to the 1800’s… good grief.

the glenn’s and clune’s should have had a time scheduled for the cow retreival. we’ll give you 2 weeks to get a corral going…something like that. although i’m sure finding a way to make moonshine was way to important to put aside for corral making for the clune’s.

i think mr clune thought he would be out hunting with his boy everyday; while the womenfolk dealt with everything else. i believe the clune’s would have left the homestead before the month was up back in 1883.

the brooks’ are an amazing family. my parent and i would have killed each other on day one out there. the brooks’ have the right attitude for this adventure. it is sooooo cool to see nate and his dad work with each other. goodness, did mr and mrs brooks raise their son well.

i thought that the runaway team would have given “some” family a hint that this is a serious thing!

the washout should have given them a clue about the unpredicable nature of montana. yet who was the only one talking to rawhide? nate brooks. so mr clune… did you notice that little creeks cause BIG washouts when it rains or there is a snow melt??? want to move that house a little closer now???

as to the clune’s food troubles… is the name donner at all familiar??? starvation was rampant out there.

i remember seeing the call for volunteers for this show on the pbs site. as a history major i knew enough to say… yeah, that would be interesting for a week or two. no way for 5 months.

this show does put grandma and grandpa in a whole new light. my grandma would have considered frountier house rolling in luxury.

for those who are wondering about reruns. applause magazine says:

sunday may 5th

1:30 pm through 7:05pm

check your local listings.

clune party of six… clune party of five…

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Not only that, but according to the pbs website (go to pbs.org, there’s a link to the Frontier House stuff on the front page) Mrs. Clune was expecting this whole thing to be “romantic walks in the woods” with her husband! Talk about not having a clue about what you’re getting into!

71

But milking the cow there is just stupid. Why milk her there, and then have to walk home, cold and wet, with the cow and her calf, and the heavy milk pails? Why not walk home, get warm and dry, and milk her there?
Plus, as Mr. Glenn pointed out, it’s better to milk her there (at the Clune home), so she know’s that’s her home.
And those two aren’t exactly children, they’re teenagers.
Why exactly is the Clune niece along? Does she live with them, or did she just want to come along for the “fun”?

And yes, why the heck where they in just blankets and no socks? Their mother said somehthing about doing laundry days ago, and the stuff wasn’t dry yet? Umm, ever hear of a fire? Put the wet clothes near the fire? Get it dry?
Don’t they have at least one change of clothes?

72

I had to rush in to post between tonight’s two segments!

How cool are the Brooks? I think I might track them down and show up on their doorstep and wait for them to adopt me. Alan, the brother, was so great to come out and help with building the cabin.

The wedding was very romantic. Swoon! Swoon! The best part was when Nate carried her over the doorstep, and she realized that he had built their newlywed home by hand. Eh, the next episode is starting, and she’s already complaining. Hopefully she will settle in.

73

mooooo!!!

goodness, the brooks are quite the family.

nate sending the white dress and veil… he did the “through the door move” perfectly.

this show just proves that when under stress or life and death situations you are what you are; even more so.

i think that kristen isn’t as negative as the other women. some of that is nate’s humour. he is the only one laughing and clowning around. pretending to be a lawnmover was so funny.

there is such a difference between someone who has a good strong family relationship and positive attitude, and someone who feels they are alone and put upon and a negative attitude.

if nothing else each person on this show will know what they are made of. after this i don’t think there is much that will faze them.

74

Wow, the shows tonight were great!!!

spoilers in case you are waiting until the reruns*

Notice how the well-to-do in 2001 family has turned into the white trash family in 1883?? The Clunes are just too much…selling their horses because they were in debt…Mr. Clune whining about malnutrition, then the doctor tells him it was just dehydration…building a still then justifying it’s “scientific” value…but to top it all off–Sneaking away from the camera to find some modern day food!!! That was so over the top…I can’t blame anyone else for not wanting to associate with them. I guess when it comes down to survival, building the still and selling the moonshine was something true to the homesteaders, so at least they got that part right, but it was still a white trash thing to do.

OK, I shed a couple tears when Rudy said goodbye at the reception, and Nate’s brother–what a hottie!!!

I can honestly say that I would NEVER do something like this, I am not an outdoors person, I would not last 2 days. My husband would love it, he is already talking about how cool it would be. But it would be nice to visit that part of the country in a nice comfy RV with AC and heat.

I can’t believe there are only 2 hours left of the series…seems like they aren’t even half way through their 5 months yet.

75

[Spoilers Ahead]…

This post will be a bit disjointed, but I am putting down my thoughts just after the show.
Apologies.
Wow! Awesome show! I agree with HelloKitty about the Clunes. They are CHEATING! They should have been kicked off. At least the Glenns and Brooks are remaining true to the idea.

Regarding the still, they said Clune had it made as his personal “period piece”. Would someone of his “station in life” in 1883 have been able to transport a still out to the homestead? Or are they “cheating” again? Or maybe he got the miners to build it. :slight_smile:

I think Nates wife is adapting pretty well. I thought she might wimp out at first.

The cattle drive caught me by surprise. The narrator said the cattlemen didn’t like the homesteaders, so I guess they were lucky.

I also agree that the Clunes screwed up by selling their livestock. They will be screwed come winter.

Hell, sorry for the rambling. I think Hop Sing will probably end up owning everything.

He will probably retire on some big ranch, and just be a cook or something. :slight_smile:

76

Just to add a little fun to the food issues -

I don’t remember exactly which part of the drainage they are in, but they are probably within 10-15 miles of a bar that has EXCELLENT cheeseburgers and steaks. If you drive to where they are, you have to go past it. And it’s the only place to eat in that drainage.

It was a must stop after backpacking/rafting to reload on beer, beef and whiskey.

Mmm, RoadKill Grill, mmm.

77

I’ve taken a real interest in this as my mom grew up on a Montana ranch my great grandfather homesteaded in '15. I spent my summers there when I was growing up though the original house had been replaced by then. My mother grew up in a big house that came as a kit from Montgomery Wards. It arrived on the railhead and was hauled by horse teams 20 miles from town to the ranch. There was no utility electricity, gas, running water or telephone until the early sixties. There was a windcharger and bank of batteries in the basement that allowed them to iron clothes and play the radio when the wind blew hard.

The clunes are certainly fish out of water but I think that may have been typical of a lot of homesteaders. The Brooks of course are my favorites but this isn’t a contest between families. The wedding was pretty damn cool and for Nate to take his bride into a cabin he built with his own hands transcends any superlatives I can think of.

78

Oh, I thought of a question, maybe whistlepig or anyone else familiar with livestock could amswer it.

They said a cow needs something like a ton of hay to last through the winter. How much grass do you have to chop for a ton? An acre? 10 acres? I have no idea.

I also thought it was interesting that the men had all achieved weights that were comparable to male weights circa 1880. I don’t believe they mentioned female weights.

And another question for whistlepig. Did they make big news of this show out there? What did the local residents think about it?

79

Spoilers, of course…

I was checking Alan’s fingers to see whether there was a ring there or not (& whether he was the father of the new baby)… great family. The whole thing - from building the cabin, to the dress, to the dad’s goodbye speech, to carrying her inside… sigh
& even though she complained, it didn’t come across as the nasty, whiny, bitchy complaining of the other two. More funny and humorous.

& what’s with “I’m teaching my kids morals by building and running a still”?? The entire family can rationalize anything. (BTW, aren’t stills incredibly dangerous? Didn’t they, well, explode a lot? Didn’t people keep kids as far away from them as possible not just out of shows of morality but for pure safety reasons?) As time goes on, they’re becoming worse and worse…

80

I liked the Clunes just fine. Trading for food, making moonshine…if it’s “cheating,” then it’s the same kind of cheating they would have done in 1883. Nice little song.

The Glenns just make me sad.

Hasn’t anyone noticed how attractive all the adult women are on this show? The Clune sister-in-law especially. They give middle age a good name. :slight_smile: