Swaping Reality (When you think you've seen it all, ABC digs even deeper)

Ramblings' Journal | 2.9.04 | Michael King

[mhking]

Swaping Reality

When you think television has scraped the bottom of the barrel, something even more ridiculous comes along.

I got an e-mail from my editor at Project 21 today. He had been contacted by someone with ABC television, concerning an upcoming reality television show, The Swap, currently scheduled to air Summer 2004. They are looking for "conservative black families" to participate in the show.

The premise? Two families swap moms for ten days. The first five days, the moms adjust to and try to fit into their new families. The second five days, the new moms get to make any changes they see fit and get to run their new households any way they want.

The Swap delves into all the particulars in the lives of American families by having the mothers from two families switch places for ten days. Families (and viewers) will quickly discover that what is deemed 'conventional' in one family can be considered unorthodox and completely bizarre in another.

During the first five days the Moms try to fit into the routine and adopt the lifestyle of their new family, giving all a chance to become familiar with each other. For the second five days the new Moms make any changes they see fit and run the home in a way that suits them.

The Swap will document all the details: how couples share (or don't share) housework and child-rearing responsibilities, how they spend their money, how they spend their leisure time. At the end of each show, the families get a chance to take a step back and look at their own family dynamics from a slight distance – often gaining new and fascinating insights in the process.

Damn near anyone conservative that hears this (not to mention the vast majority of Christians) will immediately look at this notion as not only stupid, but immoral to boot.

Maybe they'll do better with finding someone in Utah.

If you think that you're desperate enough to participate in a reality show like this, they left an e-mail address to write: theswap@rdfmedia.com; the website is online at TheSwapTVShow.com.

[mhking]

All I can do is shake my head. This sounds like a trainwreck waiting to happen...

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[xrp]

If network TV wants to lure back male viewers age 18-49 (or whatever their demographic target is) then more reality shows is not the answer.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Please FReepmail me if you want on/off this ping list.

[laotzu]

Inject contestants with a fatal illness, have the lovely Carol set the clock at 2 minutes, and see who is the first to Name That Disease!!

Naturally, the first place prize is a cure.

[Happygal]

They have already done a version of this called 'Wife Swap' on British TV, and it's hugely popular, believe it or not.

[pepperhead]

Looks like someone at ABC doesn't know what kind of wife swapping people were talking about in their surveys.;)

[Jaded]

Yep. Just when you think they've hit rock bottom there is another layer of rock disentegrates.

[cyborg]

I LOVE Wife Swap. I watched all the episodes that Virgin Atlantic had on personal screen.

mhking I think you should wait till you see the show. They do this ALL the time in UK Wife Swap.

[pepperhead]

They have already done a version of this called 'Wife Swap' on British TV, and it's hugely popular, believe it or not.

Just like a American television station to take a idea from another part of the world and water it down. In this case water down the name of the show. Can't they come up with something original? Heck just show the British show.

[cyborg]

It probably won't be as good because the American version of Coupling was so unfunny.

[cyborg]

At least someone knows that Project 21 exists. Republican leadership sure doesn't.

[pepperhead]

It probably won't be as good because the American version of Coupling was so unfunny.

I don't think any of these reality shows are funny or good. It all seems like filler to me.

[cyborg]

The only one that I really enjoyed was Real World the very first season. After all, it just got progressively worse. The Restaurant is good. This season they have Samuelsson, an Ethiopian raised in Sweden and now he's here to open up one his trademark flashy joints.

[hunter112]

I don't think any of these reality shows are funny or good. It all seems like filler to me.

I tend to agree, but upon reflection, aren't sports broadcasts "reality shows"? Theoretically, anything could happen, either team could win, and most any player could make a play that is remembered and talked about for years.

As to this show, does it say anywhere that the husbands/fathers in the households with the swapped moms will sleep with said women? I presume they do not, and if such is the case, this show is no more stupid or less moral that that show where people redesign each others houses.(Trading Spaces, I believe its called?)

If the show helps people to understand the differences in other people's upbringings, it could be positive. We've already had an institutionalized way of swapping family members, its called the foreign exchange student. Instead of a mom swap, a young person has a chance to immerse themselves in a household with a culture totally different from the one they were raised. If the host family handles it right, it is a deeply enriching experience for all concerned.

[ApplegateRanch]

It all seems like filler to me.

I couldn't agree more. These things are about as interesting as sitting in front of the tube, watching people, who typically don't need it, winning goods, trips, &/or money. Oh, how wonderfully entertaining.(Yawn!)

[billybudd]

Don't see what's immoral about it. It's just another social engineering type experiment. It doesn't sound offensive or immoral - perhaps you could enlighten me. The TV-watching public is voyeuristic, by definition - they love to watch - and reality shows take that a step further.

[dixie sass]

You've got to be kidding? Please tell me you are kidding?

[pepperhead]

I tend to agree, but upon reflection, aren't sports broadcasts "reality shows"? Theoretically, anything could happen, either team could win, and most any player could make a play that is remembered and talked about for years.

Last time I checked they don't stage fake goals in the NHL. If you want to compare it to something how about wrestling.

As to this show, does it say anywhere that the husbands/fathers in the households with the swapped moms will sleep with said women? I presume they do not, and if such is the case, this show is no more stupid or less moral that that show where people redesign each others houses.(Trading Spaces, I believe its called?)

The name of they show they are basing this on is called wife swap. It is a well know swinging term. But what they call it doesn't really matter it is still going to be stupid anyway.

[gcruse]

Just like a American television station to take a idea from another part of the world and water it down

In "Man About the House," the UK series that inspired Three's Company, the guy (Jack) was red blooded male trying to bed the girl roommates.  The sexual tension made the jokes hilarious. 

Of course, lust is too rich an emotion for the pabulum-rich American TV, so Jack had to be sexually toned down until he was a proto-fag, as played by Ritter.  The portrayal of him trying to be sexual but laboring under Puritan guilt about the filth of it all made Jack a pathetic boy.

What the US wusses did to Coupling explained its dying at the starting gate.  The tension between Benny Hill and Mister Rogers pretty well augers doom for transplanting anything but quiz shows.