Thread: colonial house

since scripted shows are pretty much an anomoly now, this show is definitely at the top of the heap for reality tv (as well as frontier house) and worth checking out.

no commercials is always a good thing too.

I'm hooked.
I loved Manor House the best, though.

Call me wierd but me and my old roomate were hooked on Frontier House.

It was on Sunday nights at 1:30 in the morning too.

one qualm i've got with these shows is still the same one i have with most run-of-the-mill reality tv shows... people cop out way too much.

i'm not expecting a well-orchestrated play but comon... some of these people who work so hard to get on the show need to at least try to get into their respective roles. it stops being about authenticity and diverts the show into 21st century bitching.

Well, you have to remember that the Colonial people wouldn't have complained as much because they simply didn't know any other way of life. It's difficult to go into that world with all that we know and the lifestyle we lead in 2004, while it would be impossible for anyone in the 17th century to have any idea of what was ahead, let alone consider the idea of a Cuisanart. So, these people who are used to convenience, can't help but complain about the amount of hard labor and inconvencience. That said, I totally agree that if you sign up for this sort of show/experiment, you should go into it with the spirit of really going for it. Leaving it all for a bag of chips, like happened the other night made for good television. But it's interesting insight about human nature, too.

i pretty much agree with you. the vorhees fam is definitely a great example of that staunch individualism that really stirs everything up (and it's a kick watching em get pipe drunk all the time.) just had higher expectations for authenicity (i don't know why i did considering i did see the two previous series) but the more i watch the more i like the dynamism of 21st/17th century mish moshing. people start to really blur the line and question who they are... it's great "people edutainment." it's a gutsy show.

did you see that sheep slaughter? pretty sobering.

I turned away during the slaughter, blech. Why did the black woman leave last week? I missed her reason. Was it the same as Tisdale's, this week? Seems like slippery logic, to me. If you sign up for this project, you gotta stick with it, even if it makes you uncomfortable!

that slaughter skeeved me out. it was in mid-bleat when it was bludgeoned, "maaaa-aaaa-aaaaa-*bonk*-aa-ehhh."

the produces cast amy-kristina as a floater from the start. her position in the colony and staying with the vorhees fam was always temporary. she had no long term goals of marrying or ways of making her presence a fixture in the colony and it was esp. hard being a freewoman.

so, the show basically included leaving mid-stay as part of her final role: colonial flake-out. it wasn't real life a-k's decision and was planned from the start.

I only have watched bits of episodes and have caught the 2nd to last and the finale. Pretty interesting, when you sit down to watch it. Wish I would have seen some of the episodes earlier, with the religous persecution, etc.

It is a great idea, but I don't think you can realistically think that people would accept the 17th century ideals of religion wholeheartedly. I would have a very difficult time myself, without a doubt.

It was interesting to see the class struggles and the envy build, also the introduction of the second Native tribe (forgot the name) was a good twist.

Think it's pretty amazing anyone, much less a family would be willing to committ to something like this. The Vorhees family was very interesting, great family dynamic.

I liked the follow up with the cast after tehy were back in their everyday lives, interesting to see what they did for work, lifestyles etc.

Good show.

I enjoyed the whole show (CaddyDaddy, PBS reruns it on the weekend, and will definitely run it again and again during fund raising efforts), but am still a bit put off that people resented the amount of labor involved.
I liked how the Heinz's were demoted and why, and how bent out of shape the wife was by the demotion.
I wanted more from the producers behind the scenes stuff...

non-grata - a friend of mine cannot stop talking about the sheeps bonk on the head.

caddy:
the 2nd native american tribe introduced was the wampanoag, same one that attended the first thanksgiving. it was really vital for the show to include them, i think, and they were so much more effective than the passamaquati (sp?) in calling to question the rampant colonialism of america. offering that leftover pottage was a pathetic display of patronizing appeasement. during the colonists reflection of their encounter with the wampanoag, the idea of a brash and "immature america" was so dead on.

overall, the most crucial issue conveyed was the unwitting do-gooder american attitude for what is best for america and the world which turns out tragically so many times. almost every participant of that show exemplified that, actively or passively. the overwhelming empathy that followed was refreshing, but in real life that empathy is often times too little, too late.

yoga:
i suppose the moaning about the amount was in the best interest of the show, it would have been quite dull if all they did was chop wood annd the damn time.

yea, don heinz sucks a huge one. academic meathead. carolyn, eehhh, i guess someone had to run the colony. the show could have been longer i think. not as the 4 month time length but more footage.

btw your assatar is gonna get me in trouble at work someday the guy who i replaced was canned for looking at porn incessantly. forum whoring will be prolly be their reason when they fire me. oh well.

I was hoping the Native Americans would get all worked up about the "gift" of extra peas and go on an ass-kicking rampage. Slaughtering the "colonists" for 300 years of mistreatment by the white man would have been reality TV that would have worth watching.

The producers would have been in a tough spot.

Producer 1 - "Do we stop the slaughter?"
Producer 2 - "I don't know. Something like this would have been a problem for the real colonists. Let's see how this plays out."

heh, pea vomit gift.

genocidal vindication > chopping wood

the show shoulda centered around the native americans or ran concurrent segments of both.