GOSH I love "reality" shows.

[conuly]

Wife Swap, just saw an episode of that that I hadn't seen before.

They're great. All that snark, and sarcasm, and judgmentalism, and it's socially acceptable! I love it. (My first judgment is wondering what sort of person watches these shows and then up and decides it'll be really fun to go on one. Who does that?)

But I've been thinking.

They keep pairing opposites - a REALLY STRICT parent with a REALLY LAX one, say, or a VERY RELIGIOUS one with a NOT RELIGIOUS AT ALL one.

Or occasionally they go for "Really weird with really weird" where they *also* fit one of those dichotomies.

But you know what would be just as funny and equally interesting? If they paired less obvious opposites - a very religious Christian family with a very religious non-Christian family, or a family that follows a very strict homeschool curriculum with a group of unschoolers, that sort of thing.

That would just be funny as heck. Think about it.

Comments

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it was Wife Swap or that other one, Trading Spouses, but I did once see an episode that paired a very religious Christian family (Baptist, I think) with a very religious Jewish family. However, I thought it would be a lot more interesting if they had chosen two urban families or two rural families, because the woman from the Jewish family was very uncomfortable with a rural lifestyle and was very stressed out to suddenly be in an area where she could not go to temple or easily get kosher food, and the woman from the Christian family had never knowingly met a non-Christian in her life and was shocked by even the most basic tenets of observant Jewish life (like not believing Jesus was the son of God, dietary restrictions, and prayers in Hebrew). There was a really nice moment, though, when the Christian woman's mother, who was at first very angry and uncomfortable just to have a Jewish woman in her daughter's house, actually listened and learned something and managed to bond with the Jewish woman.

Mind, it definitely had something to it, since it made me tune in when I don't usually watch that sort of show. Of course, they choose people with the worst social skills possible for these things, because otherwise it might actually be interesting instead of just "dramatic."

[conuly]

Of course, they choose people with the worst social skills possible for these things, because otherwise it might actually be interesting instead of just "dramatic."

Yeah, they sure do.

I saw one - one, mind you - where both families really followed the rules and worked together and more or less looked like they had fun, and they seemed to really be able to pinpoint *actual* problems in the other's set-up.

Mostly... not so much.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

I could go on about the episode with the people who only ate totally raw food (including dairy and meat) and brushed their teeth with clay, and the people who always ate at restaraunts. Both families got really sick after switching to the other diet, and convinced themselves that it was because the new diet was OMG TEH POISONOUS. I was like, guys, my dog pukes for a few days when you switch dog food brands on him. Regardless of the merits of one diet over the other, you're not feeling that sick because this other family eats a barbaric diet.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Of course, they choose people with the worst social skills possible for these things, because otherwise it might actually be interesting instead of just "dramatic."
My thoughts exactly.
Yet I'm still a sucker for the drama. Guess that's why this stuff continues to get made.

[conuly]

Raw food family was a little crazy.

I agree that there's really no reason we should automatically distrust raw meat from a healthy animal kept in a clean environment and prepared in another clean environment - but their house did not even remotely qualify.

And I don't like to say this, but I know about mess. Their house was a disaster area.

Besides, I can't take anybody seriously who says things like "Do you honestly think God would put anything on this earth that would hurt us" when, yes, I do honestly think that. Smallpox springs to mind.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Wow, you remember that episode way better than I do, but bells are ringing. And agreed on the Smallpox.

[conuly]

It sticks in the mind.

Not to mention the poor kids, who are clear failures of unschooling. They're like every negative stereotype of homeschooled kids at once! Terrible social skills, terrible emotional maturity, minimally educated - appalling.

Well, of course, it happens sometimes. Not every homeschooling family can be good at the job, some of them have to be fuck-ups.

[feebeeglee.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. You see the biggest fights sometimes between folks who are jest a leetle beet diffrent from one another.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it was Wife Swap or that other one, Trading Spouses, but I did once see an episode that paired a very religious Christian family (Baptist, I think) with a very religious Jewish family. However, I thought it would be a lot more interesting if they had chosen two urban families or two rural families, because the woman from the Jewish family was very uncomfortable with a rural lifestyle and was very stressed out to suddenly be in an area where she could not go to temple or easily get kosher food, and the woman from the Christian family had never knowingly met a non-Christian in her life and was shocked by even the most basic tenets of observant Jewish life (like not believing Jesus was the son of God, dietary restrictions, and prayers in Hebrew). There was a really nice moment, though, when the Christian woman's mother, who was at first very angry and uncomfortable just to have a Jewish woman in her daughter's house, actually listened and learned something and managed to bond with the Jewish woman.

Mind, it definitely had something to it, since it made me tune in when I don't usually watch that sort of show. Of course, they choose people with the worst social skills possible for these things, because otherwise it might actually be interesting instead of just "dramatic."

[conuly]

Of course, they choose people with the worst social skills possible for these things, because otherwise it might actually be interesting instead of just "dramatic."

Yeah, they sure do.

I saw one - one, mind you - where both families really followed the rules and worked together and more or less looked like they had fun, and they seemed to really be able to pinpoint *actual* problems in the other's set-up.

Mostly... not so much.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

I could go on about the episode with the people who only ate totally raw food (including dairy and meat) and brushed their teeth with clay, and the people who always ate at restaraunts. Both families got really sick after switching to the other diet, and convinced themselves that it was because the new diet was OMG TEH POISONOUS. I was like, guys, my dog pukes for a few days when you switch dog food brands on him. Regardless of the merits of one diet over the other, you're not feeling that sick because this other family eats a barbaric diet.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Of course, they choose people with the worst social skills possible for these things, because otherwise it might actually be interesting instead of just "dramatic."
My thoughts exactly.
Yet I'm still a sucker for the drama. Guess that's why this stuff continues to get made.

[conuly]

Raw food family was a little crazy.

I agree that there's really no reason we should automatically distrust raw meat from a healthy animal kept in a clean environment and prepared in another clean environment - but their house did not even remotely qualify.

And I don't like to say this, but I know about mess. Their house was a disaster area.

Besides, I can't take anybody seriously who says things like "Do you honestly think God would put anything on this earth that would hurt us" when, yes, I do honestly think that. Smallpox springs to mind.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Wow, you remember that episode way better than I do, but bells are ringing. And agreed on the Smallpox.

[conuly]

It sticks in the mind.

Not to mention the poor kids, who are clear failures of unschooling. They're like every negative stereotype of homeschooled kids at once! Terrible social skills, terrible emotional maturity, minimally educated - appalling.

Well, of course, it happens sometimes. Not every homeschooling family can be good at the job, some of them have to be fuck-ups.

[feebeeglee.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. You see the biggest fights sometimes between folks who are jest a leetle beet diffrent from one another.