Anyone else see PBS "Colonial House"

I couldn't finish the second night after the gay guy came out of the closet. I am a history buff and thought that the program might be interesting but when I saw that the usual political correctness of PBS showed through by having participants that were either gay, or women's libers, atheists, and calfornia liberal college professors I could not watch it any more. Anyone else have a different take on this?

TIME TRAVELER Carolyn Heinz said the women enjoyed the challenge of coming up with creative meals using minimal supplies.

Thirteen/WNET, the production company that filmed Colonial House for PBS, wants all press inquiries to "cast members" to go through its New York office, but the News & Review and the Heinzes chose to disregard that.When some professors take time off, they travel to an exotic locale or enjoy some mind-easing down time. Don and Carolyn Heinz spent their "vacation" in 1628 colonial New England.

As participants in Colonial House, the sixth installment in PBS's series that takes a couple of dozen people and thrusts them into a snapshot of history, the Heinzes spent nearly five months in rural Maine, on a "set" constructed to mimic the lives of settlers, right down to how they ate, slept and took care of bodily needs.

For the married Chico State professors, whose prior reality show experience was watching a couple of episodes of Survivor three years ago, it was all about the intellectual experience.

"What interested us as intellectuals was that we could actually enter a historical period that one reads about and lectures about but doesn't live in," said Don Heinz, who is partially retired from teaching religious studies. His wife teaches anthropology.

"She applied for us, and we didn't know anything about it," said Carolyn Heinz. The producers were especially eager to get Don Heinz on board. As a real-life Lutheran pastor, he was cast as the colony's lay preacher and assistant governor.

The series' filming ended in October 2003, but before it was over the Heinzes had tried to pull out of the project more than once.

They were already forgoing professors' wages to participate (PBS paid them $10,000 apiece), and the couple began worrying that they were the only ones in it for the historical experience. "We were afraid we would be the schmucks who were taking it seriously," Carolyn Heinz said. "Nobody's heads were in the 17th century."

Also, the producers told the preacher they would allow him no books, even though his research of the time showed that someone in his position would have a large library. And they told Carolyn Heinz she couldn't keep a journal.

"It was going to be five months with no books and nothing to write on," she said, and that was a deal-breaker.

Eventually the producers relented, and the Heinzes were back in--Don with a copy of Pilgrim's Progress and Carolyn with some sheets of period-correct paper and a feather quill for a pen.

When Don Heinz was named governor of the colony, he was able to draw from his academic studies for a historically accurate representation.

The only other exceptions to historical accuracy were the addition of bug repellant, sunscreen and tampons. The producers allowed toothbrushes after participants threatened to sue if the flavored twigs they were using caused dental bills.

"There were endless discussions and arguments off camera with the production crew," Don Heinz said.

Because of the head-butting and the close-quarters intensity that drives reality shows, the couple is somewhat worried about how the producers will portray them through editing. It may be PBS, but it's still television.

The series will air May 17, 18, 24 and 25 from 8 to 10 p.m., and online synopses make frequent mention of the Heinzes, going so far as to derisively characterize Don Heinz, who has extensive knowledge of early religions, as "somewhat of a history buff."

"We felt to some extent they trivialized us," he said of the 20- and 30-something producers. "They were annoyed that we were always correcting them and challenging them. I think they probably thought we were something of a pain in the butt."

The Heinzes are suspending judgment until they see what airs, and they're not sure they even want friends and family over for their first viewing.

"It was a very intense social community," Carolyn Heinz said. "But in the end, it is reality television, and what they want is a good show that is going to get a lot of people watching it.

"It was pretty clear the cameras were after the quarrels and the struggles among the [people] rather than authenticity."

The show’s cast was primed for the experience by spending two weeks at the Plimouth Plantation, where actors, always in character, taught what it was like during the time of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (The Colonial House residents weren't supposed to play-act, but rather maintain their own personalities in the context of the time.)

In spite, or perhaps because of, the fact that the Heinzes, who are in their early 60s, were the most senior members of the "cast," they had little trouble adjusting to the physical demands of colonial life. They didn't mind washing their hair once a month, eating moldy meat or going without toilet paper.

PREACHER MAN While colonists of the 17th century would have been subjected to a full day of worship, lay preacher Don Heinz kept his sermons to less than two and one-half hours. He planned his addresses over the course of each week; one of his favorite topics was the struggle to build communities in difficult times.

"Half the world lives that way today," said Carolyn Heinz, who has resided with less-developed cultures as part of her academic work.

The biggest surprise--and disappointment--for the Heinzes was that the environment stifled rather than piqued creative thought.

"It suppressed creativity," Carolyn Heinz said. "I felt myself fading intellectually. There was no sharing of ideas. We were hunkered down to endure."

Two months into the filming, they almost left again, sick of the sheer tedium of it all.

Don Heinz was irked that, even though it was the law of the time that everyone attend church services, he was forced to deal with a handful of modern-day atheists who refused to play along.

In the midst of what the preacher called "the Sabbath wars," one participant skipped church to go skinny dipping--an historically unlikely escapade that earned her the punishment of being bound and paraded around by her husband.

It's that type of clip that the Heinzes are sure will make it to the final edit as the producers condensed 700 hours of film into eight hours of air time.

The Heinzes also had an indentured servant, 24-year-old Jonathon Allen, who did chores by day and slept on a straw mat at the foot of their bed by night.

One day, at a church service, Allen revealed that he was gay--an emotional moment for him in part because he wasn't "out" in real life.

HOUSE RULES Carolyn Heinz, shown with her husband, Don, in their Chico home, convinced Colonial House producers to allow her to keep this journal. During filming, participants were allowed to receive mail twice, under the pretext that it had come by ship from the "Old World."

The news didn't faze the Heinzes. "You're talking to two Northern California liberals here," Don Heinz said. However, it did bother him from the perspective that "it's not the way anything would have happened in the 17th century."

Partway into the series, the colonists, all of whom were furnished with "back stories" about their lives in Europe, were joined by a man from the English homeland checking on the "investment." (The colonists were supposed to be making money off their work on the land.)

That threw the settlement's structure on its ear, and, when the governor's family had to leave after a real-life emergency, Don Heinz became acting governor.

The PBS Web site also claims that Carolyn Heinz was "hell-bent on serving as de facto governor via her husband, an arrangement that would have been highly unlikely in the 17th century."

"I simply had ideas about how things should work," she countered. "There would have been strong-minded, opinionated women who had to live in patriarchal societies."

When the cameras weren’t filming, the participants, who included several children, talked freely about the outside world. Many of them became friends.

The Heinzes have kept in touch with Allen, their indentured servant, via e-mail, even helping him get into graduate school. Recently, he drove to Chico from South Carolina for a visit.

At the end of the series' filming, the cast members were asked if they'd do it again. "There weren't many people who said yes," Don Heinz said. "I suppose we're glad we did it, but we would not do it again."

Oh, and I wish the colonists had a wheellock or a blunderbuss or something -- wouldn't that have looked cool on TV, and been historically accurate as well?

This program is just plain silly. Imagine colonists going into an unknown country teeming with savages - what would they defend themselves with, spit-wads? You have to figure that any man that could afford to was armed. They were also armed to hunt for wild game.

Whereas on this show all the colonists came out of their houses and stared at the woods with their mouths open going, "who are they?". They didn't pick up a weapon of ANY kind.

The Brits did a pretty good job on their series on people living in the Iron Age. As I recall the series on The Pioneers, was pretty decent too.

This one was just a bunch of garbage. The few who remained as true to the time period as possible were the only ones worth watching.

Thank you. That is what I would have done also. If I was going to be a part of portraying history then that means I show what it was like at that time. I don't rewrite it while I'm showing it. I could understand some commentary about it being difficult but these folks just throw out any thing that is difficult and do their own thing.

I'm surprised at how negative everyone is being here. There were some good parts -- about patriotism and the central role of religion in the founding of the colonies. Those ideas don't often turn up in other shows, and I'm glad they appeared here.

I recall when the Governor talked about how bad he felt to see his son fall sick in the tough conditions -- he imagined how much worse it must have been for colonists who had to see a family member fall sick and die. And yet those colonists still said they were glad they came to America. That's a strong statement about the power of liberty.

That was a good part. It was in the first night. But I'm tend to agree with another poster earlier who said to wait and see and they will somehow make the Governor and such look stupid by the end.

The episode I saw last night was rather complementary to the Governor,in a bit of a strange way. They compared him with other governors of the colonial times and how they would chose select reading from the Bible to read on the same day. even through they were thousands of miles apart.

I sat to watch this idiotic show with my 12 year old son which I thought would be a good history lesson for him. The only lesson he has gotten out of it is that PBS is a liberal rag! We watched the first two nights but will not watch any more. We found ourselves having to counter most of the situations presented with how it really would have happened back then.
The liberal wives would have been kicked to the curb for opening their mouths to protest and no way would a gay fool have opened his mouth!!
I got too tired to point out anymore of their ridiculous slant and had to quit watching it.

I heard they had 5,000 applicants to be on the show. PBS had to have TRIED to get the pathetic crew that they came up with. I can see things maybe breaking down after weeks of hardship, but this crew was whining and giving social commentary from the beginning? Why did they even do the show? Were they expecting a glorified camping trip? And the social engineering was just ridiculous. Let's see, we have to have X black people (black colonists? HELLO?),X snooty liberal professors, X conservative Baptist white guys, X women's libbers and of course the requisite gay guy. Yuck! It couldn't have been more contrived. I love the idea of the show, but I don't know if I can watch another 8 hours of these whiners.

They seem to have gone out of their way to pick unsuitable people. They needed to pick people who were used to working hard under tough conditions, whatever their politics, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. And they should have picked people who were truly interested in immersing themselves in the 17th century. Unfortunately, many of the participants don't seem to have either attribute.

I have been very disappointed, I liked Frontier House much more.

The producers looked to throw a bunch of wildly different people with very different agendas and beliefs as a social experiment, not a historically accurate reality show.

I felt bad for the SB Preacher who was Governor, the producers put four or five people who they knew would hate him from the start.

As a Chico Native I have to say we are not all as outright weird as the two.

Mrs. Heinz said she was depressed about the direction of the country and wanted to get back the the true roots.

She came to make political commentary about what "real" America is supposed to be, not GW Bush's America.

Total B.S.

The governors response to this guys claptrap was the best I have ever heard....

Was something along the lines of, "we are all failed beings, however we don't and shouldn't celebrate those failings... and congratulate each other for them, we struggle to overcome them and receive the grace of God."

In response to some of the other colonists congratulating this fruit for coming out... He should have said it in the Church at the time this guy did his song and dance, instead of to the camera alone later.... but it was Perfect.

I noticed the liberal sermons about "building community" proved to be unpopular. Sounds like Air America radio -- do you think there could be a common pattern here?

Now if he had delivered a good old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone sermon, I bet more poeple would have attended!

(Although I can't say I objected to the skinny dipping scene -- I think the woman is quite well cast and good looking.)

Thanks for giving me the heads-up on this series. I had recorded it on my DVR but hadn't watched it yet. I'm deleting it right now so I'll have more room to record something more entertaining.

The governors response to this guys claptrap was the best I have ever heard....

I agree. The show had large doses of liberalism. But for a change, the conservatives also got to have their say too. Where else are you going to see that on TV? So I liked the way they seemed to be somewhat even-handed.

Yeah, I like the governor a lot. I think he was well chosen for the part, and I think he's been given good treatment by the producers of the show.

Where else on TV are you going to see a religious Texas Republican put in charge, and portrayed in a sympathetic way? Nowhere.

I was pissed when the Governor suspended the Sabbath.

Well I wouldn't want to sit through a multi-hour liberal sermon about "building community" either. Would you? Liberal preaching is boring! People want sermons about sin and damnnation and hellfire -- those are the good old themes that have timeless appeal. Everyone likes to hear about sin.

I can't help myself. I need to join PBS Anonymous.

Nah. Suicide before I find myself sitting with a bunch of weepy Bill Moyers fans.

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