Grant
10-30-2004, 06:56 PM
I know you forum members don't like reality shows, but there is one that comes on every Wednsday night on ABC.
The premise is that the shows bosses pick two wife/mothers from totally opposite homes and lifestyles in two different cities and states, apart from each other, and switch them, lock, stock, and barrell for two weeks. For two weeks, they get the other's home, family, and even husband (no sex, i'm sure, but who knows...).
The two wives and families are not allowed to meet each other until the experiment is over. The first week, the women have to follow the life of the other woman, as detailed in a series of instructions. The second week, the women get to impose their own lifestyle and rules on the families they are with. This is where the fun begins. Usually, the children rebel bigtime, but have to abide by the woman's new rules. This goes as far as diet, cleaning, traditions, flags, leisure time, pets, you name it! At the end, the two couple finally meet and sit down to discuss the experiment, and someone is always angry or hurt. But, in the end, both families learn life lessons from each other, and adopt some of the other familiy's lifestyle. In one show, the substitute "wife" went so far as to remove all the guns from the house and demanded the confederate flag be removed from the front. In another show, a family of vegetarians were forced to eat lots of meat and no veggies, while the pre-pubecent boy in the other actually had to dress himself and comb his own hair. In one show, the house was so filthy that the little gorl had ants crawling on her panties in her drawer.
To be sure, this isn't meant to be funny, but it is a serious social experiment. It also lets us see how people *really* live. It reminds us that no two houeseholds are the same, and that we are a nation of a dizzying amount of lifestyles and cultures. Some families are complete slobs, and don't ever clean. Some are total cleanliness nuts. Some fly flags and are very outwardly patriotic, some aren't. Some meditate daily, and some don't have time to sit still.
I missed the episode where the rich NY wife had to trade places with a pig farmer!
The premise is that the shows bosses pick two wife/mothers from totally opposite homes and lifestyles in two different cities and states, apart from each other, and switch them, lock, stock, and barrell for two weeks. For two weeks, they get the other's home, family, and even husband (no sex, i'm sure, but who knows...).
The two wives and families are not allowed to meet each other until the experiment is over. The first week, the women have to follow the life of the other woman, as detailed in a series of instructions. The second week, the women get to impose their own lifestyle and rules on the families they are with. This is where the fun begins. Usually, the children rebel bigtime, but have to abide by the woman's new rules. This goes as far as diet, cleaning, traditions, flags, leisure time, pets, you name it! At the end, the two couple finally meet and sit down to discuss the experiment, and someone is always angry or hurt. But, in the end, both families learn life lessons from each other, and adopt some of the other familiy's lifestyle. In one show, the substitute "wife" went so far as to remove all the guns from the house and demanded the confederate flag be removed from the front. In another show, a family of vegetarians were forced to eat lots of meat and no veggies, while the pre-pubecent boy in the other actually had to dress himself and comb his own hair. In one show, the house was so filthy that the little gorl had ants crawling on her panties in her drawer.
To be sure, this isn't meant to be funny, but it is a serious social experiment. It also lets us see how people *really* live. It reminds us that no two houeseholds are the same, and that we are a nation of a dizzying amount of lifestyles and cultures. Some families are complete slobs, and don't ever clean. Some are total cleanliness nuts. Some fly flags and are very outwardly patriotic, some aren't. Some meditate daily, and some don't have time to sit still.
I missed the episode where the rich NY wife had to trade places with a pig farmer!