This is very, very cool.
PBS is playing a British Channel 4 reality TV program about a family who have agreed to spend three months living in a specially-restored house, wearing period clothes, eating period food, no phones, TV, radio, no refigeration, etc. Virtually everything is restored to the way it was in 1900: chamber pots, oil lamps, corsets, and cleaning the silver with brick-dust.
Here’s the official British website:
http://www.channel4.com/1900house/
I note that the period clothing clause in the ledger includes proper period underclothing (i.e. corsets for the ladies), and that the family has to wear these clothes even when going into town, etc.!
I know that KCTS Seattle is starting the 4-part series on Monday June 12th, check your local listings.
I am very stoked for this: it should combine the “you-are-there” feeling of reality TV, while providing a very informative look into the past (which wasn’t as golden an age as we may think).
Just think of the spin off possibilities:
The Inquisition – A different torture device each week!
The Mayflower – Cramped, sea sick, religious refugees in a bath tub!
The Plantation – Watch us oppress a race of people!
A house without a shitter doesn’t really stack up now, does it?
I’m still waiting for the “Live One Year as a Homeless Guy” reality show.
Thanks for the tip, Rodd! Sounds a lot more interesting that the Yuppies In A Biosphere schticks.
BTW, the premise reminds me of the beginning of Jack Finney’s Time and Again. Time travellers are completely immersed in the details of the time, from the newspapers, sounds, etc. before making the “jump”. It’s centered around 1890’s New York, IIRC, but it does a nice job of the premise.
Musing madly, it would be almost impossible for a modern to ever really get within the spirit of the time, I think. We’re too imprinted by miniutae of our own time, from anti-heroes to a certain arrogance bred from medical advances.
Whatever…sorry, didn’t mean to derail your topic.
Sounds like fascinating stuff. I’ll check it out.
Veb