Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Wife Swap/Trading Spouses and Unreality TV

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Wife Swap/Trading Spouses and Unreality TV

    Big surprise. An interesting set of articles, starting with the New York Times, about just how much "reality" is found in a pair of reality TV shows, ABC's "Wife Swap" and Fox's copycat "Trading Spouses."

    One Show's Unexpected Lessons in Reality
    The Cedarquists are portrayed as having "dropped out of society" to live in a "treehouse," and that is technically true - their home, which has no cement foundation, is indeed perched on the bases of 11 trees... "This is where you should play the stupid hillbilly music," Mrs. Cedarquist said, a reference to the "Dueling Banjoes"-style soundtrack that is, incongruously, laid over images of her Montgomery Center, Vt., home. "I really thought reality television was more real than it is."
    Online mag Salon follows with a bit more analysis, which notes the Red State-Blue State setups, and the fact that Blue State participants are given the short end of the stick.

    Wives' tales
    Both shows bathe red-state moms in an earthy, warm glow, while their blue-state counterparts are showered with lukewarm confusion at best, icy negligence at worst... The conflict that drives each episode is almost always drawn from the clash of the hippie (i.e., slovenly) or urban (cold, materialistic) values of the "blue" mothers and the warm, traditional, tough-but-cornfed, usually rural lovin' of the "red" mothers.
    And if you want a preview of the perhaps predictable match-ups FOX has in store, check out a collection of casting call notices they collected:
    Like, for example, "families who are rappers." Do you think, maybe, they will be lucky enough to be paired up with the "families who reenact Civil War Battles"? They would also "love to meet families who are against the use of nuclear weapons." How would they get along with, say, "a tattooed couple who own a tattoo shop"? How do you think a mom who happens to be a female bodybuilder, or maybe a construction worker active "in feminist organizations" will blend with a family that's really into "bird watching"? Or salsa dancing?


  • #2
    Re: Wife Swap/Trading Spouses and Unreality TV

    Wat! No moa anything with one madda with Mental Illness without her Lithum! Have a great day and a wonderful weekend everybody! I'll be at Kapiolani Park working in one booth (not food) this Sunday.
    Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
    Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Wife Swap/Trading Spouses and Unreality TV

      I absolutely hate these reality shows. what it displays to us is an america overfilled with idiots willing to sit on their ever expanding behinds in their be-nuthin, do-nuthin have-nuthin lives watching other idiots perform their inane manini argument and idiocy filled lives.
      Incredible. I am increasingly depressed when I scan the channels and try to flip faster thru these depressing shows, as they continually multiply and grow as the weeks pass;
      jerks who sing in the car. spoiled rich families. childish violent insulting practical jokes. (this last one, you notice ad agencies are emulating to push their clients' products)
      One of the most depressing prospects of this genre is, it teaches uh mrrr icuns of ALLLL ages how to act and respond to each other. And that is NOT a pretty sight, or an uplifting thought.
      It's just another major leap towards the wholesale dumbing down of this once... uh... great country.

      Thank god for PBS and edjy lee and netflix and the dvd collection, and even olelo.
      Last edited by kimo55; March 18, 2005, 07:41 AM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Wife Swap/Trading Spouses and Unreality TV

        I really don't see the point of Wife Swap, but I suppose it could be worse like having a show like the movie The Running Man or an episode from the new Outer Limits called Judgement Day.

        Comment

        Working...
        X