It’s a few days late, but did anyone else catch this show on Monday? I was flipping through the channels and happened to watch it…and lo and behold, it was really good. They couldn’t have gotten two dissimilar families: a woman from rural Kentucky whose family hunts for all their meat (including squirrels) and who does all the cooking and cleaning for her husband, and a PETA activist from Arizona who spends her days nude sunbathing while her husband works 15 hour shifts at a grocery store, then comes home and does all the housework as well. The latter woman was truly crazy. She wasn’t just a vegan; she refused to eat any cooked foods (she started crying and said that giving up cooked food was like recovering for alcoholism), and her ultimate goal is not to have to eat anything at all. She spends hours each day staring at the sun, with the theory that she can just absorb all her nourishment from it. This, she claims, will solve world hunger.
This is one of the only episodes I watched even partly. I understand they want women as different as possible, but they kept referring to “rules”. Is it required that the family conform to the beliefs of the substitute mother, i.e. become meat-eaters if she really really really insists? That seemed unnecessary.
I guess for the first week of the swap, the wife is supposed to follow the rules of her new family; the second week the mom gets to set the rules, and the family is supposed to follow it. The Kentucky mom tried to get the Arizona family to eat meat, but they both refused (the implication was that they were scared of what their real mom would say when she got back and found out). The Arizona mom was supposed to eat meat in Kentucky, but she refused too.
She wasn’t, though her daughter was quite cute. She was also the worst kind of hypocrite. When she was with the Kentucky family and had to do the chores, she made the kids help, because “cleaning is everyone’s responsibility, and I shouldn’t have to do it all because I’m the woman.” That lady had the most whipped husband I’ve ever seen. Not only does he bring in all the money and do all the work, but she makes all the decisions around the house, and got rid of half their stuff (to “cleanse the soul,” or something like that) without asking him.
I turned on the tv to watch a dvd, and this channel was on. I was memserized by how freaky that vegan woman was–and I’m a vegetarian. I turned it on right as she was crying about eating cooked veggies.
I give credit to the hunter dad, he was more openminded and let his kids do the yoga, and some things. The vegan woman was not open minded at all, until the end when she let her hubby keep the stove.
I’ve started watching this show the last few weeks. It’s … addictive. You’ll be back.
What surprises me about the show in general is the conservative subtext of it – in general, the more liberal family – or at least the mother thereof – comes across as a bunch of wack jobs. I suspect there’s something going on with the editing here. These tend to be the folks I would expect to relate to, being one of them liberal types myself, but they often come across as either crazy or intolerant.
Or both, as this week. Curing world hunger by looking at the sun? WTF?
And the Arizona husband was clearly totally whipped – I agree that “my wife would find out” was a factor in his refusal to eat meat – but I think the daughter had a genuine moral revulsion against it. (The scene at the butcher counter was just weird.)
The shot of the Arizona husband sitting in his recliner eating toast reminded me of Wallace and Grommit.
As far as the Arizona wife being a hypocrite was concerned – one place I thought she was right was on her dealing with the Kentucky kids, esp. that one boy who was a holy terror. I did like the tai chi scene wher the father was saying “damn, he’s not even cracking any jokes.” I think changing his diet and trying to talk to him some made a big difference.
The Kentucky dad had some insight into Sun Woman’s character, didn’t he? At one point he told her she shouldn’t try and take on the world’s problems, that she should relax and take care of herself. He figured out right quick that the sun wasn’t going to solve world hunger. I think he said something about people starving in Africa, where there’s plenty of sun.
I liked Kentucky mom’s comment at the end, that Arizona mom should stop the protesting and actually take care of some animals, or maybe even some people. The “we hunt because we’re hungry” argument didn’t fly. Sure, a deer in the freezer will help the grocery budget, but so will a vegetable garden.
I know what you mean, but it was really flip-flopped this week. The Arizona/liberal mom was nuts and intolerant, and the Kentucky/conservative mom was down to earth. But the Arizona family was really nice and pleasant, while the Kentucky family (or the kids at any rate) came across as rather moronic. And you’re right, even the Arizona mom was able to calm the kids down some.
Ditto. Not to mention that that Kentucky mom wasn’t exactly thin. When was she ever so hungry she had to go out and eat squirrel?
I thought at the end she relaxed about the raw food deal herself, too, as well as approving of the entertainment center – and she prepared meat for the family when it came down to it. She was pretty open-minded, and several times more open-minded than her opposite.
She was flaky, but on the whole she came across a lot better than meat-pusher woman, who kept after the husband and daughter to eat meat like it was her moral duty. What the hell? Did she forget how sickly-looking and unhealthy her fucked-up family looked while she was trying to force bacon on fit, happy people?
“Come on, you’ve got to eat your meeeeat!” has heart attack on the spot
Her shedding tears over the thought of her kids starving without game was just as screwy as the vegan woman’s hysteria over her “cooked food recovery,” too.
Prosyletizing vegans can be annoying, and Breatharians (Solarians?) are pity-inducing, but it seemed to me that the Arizona family (warts and all) was a hell of a lot healthier, physically and emotionally.
I guess I had a bit of a visceral reaction to the crew-cuts and all the Confederate flags, too. Don’t like to make nasty assumptions based on that alone, but it didn’t help with the waves of “creepy” coming off that family.
Well I tend to think anyone that would actually be on one of these shows has to be somewhat “messed up” in the first place.
I will say this though, the idea that you can live off the sun’s rays is borderline insane, or actually no, it’s just insane. And from what I can tall at least the Kentucky family had two partners in the marriage, as opposed to one woman with two slaves (the husband and daughter) that was represented with the Arizona family.
It’s one thing if you’re a vegan, I have no problem with that (personally I’m a weightlifter and would have a hard time giving up chicken/tuna because they help me a lot with my fairly high daily protein needs, and I like to consume as few protein shakes as possible) and you know if you want to believe that some day the world’s hunger problem’s will be solved when human beings develop photosynthesis, that’s okay too. I think it’s scientifically absurd, but I’m not going to judge someone for what they believe.
No, what ticks me off is the vegan woman basically has no respect for the “partnership” aspect of marriage and basically got rid of various household items without consulting her husband. And it ticks me off that any person would allow their partner to completely dominate their lives like that. I really feel sorry for that guy, but also have to say he can only blame himself.
Didn’t anyone see the last segment of the show? That’s where they go back and see if the familires had made any changes based on their experiences.
Vegan mother started to eat cooked vegtables, and cooled her wacky ways a bit. Her husband didn’t spend as much time at work. And they all seemed happier.
The Kentucky dad stopped spanking the wild 12 year old three times a week. And Kentucky mother started adding vegtables to the family diet.