Anybody following "Colonial House" on PBS?

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

My wife has been watching Colonial House on PBS.  It's basically a PBS reality show, although being PBS it has some redeeming qualities.

I watched their Frontier House a year ago and found it just ticked me off.  They couldn't have picked worse candidates.  It was like they were set up to fail.

From what I catch on this show it appears the same.

One thing that annoyed be was they went hunting with bows and arrows.  I didn't understand that.  I mean, they had guns back then.  Was this some sort of Politically Correct decision by the directors not to use gunz?

[HWooldridge]

Agreed - there were certain realities on the frontier that they do not have to deal with on Colonial House (such as REAL Indian attacks).  All the "players" know they can quit and go home when they get tired of the game.  The frontier was complete and total reality for the first settlers...

I am sure a great deal of their meals were derived from wild game.  My father grew up in the Depression and he hunted daily to add meat to the table so you know that the early settlers did it since the farming was still done with a lot of backbreaking labor.  You can also bet that no one would have hunted with bow and arrow unless forced to.

I want to know why they don't have a blacksmith.  It's assumed all the iron goods were imported and nothing ever needs to be repaired or made fresh.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Actually the fact that they come from the modern society actually makes it tougher on them.

The people coming from Europe in the 1600s had HOPE.  Hope that they would improve their lot in life in the New World.   There was a more clear and distinct goal in their minds.

To the people in these PBS reality shows there's no real hope for anything.  In fact the goal is rather obscure.  Are they supposed to see how 21st centruy people would cope with 17th century conditions?  Or are they supposed to try to become 17th century people?

Obviously the latter is so impossible it is a rediculous task.  How are these people supposed to "forget" everything they know about modern health and hygiene for example.  Back in the 1600s they didn't even know about germ theory.  They thought it was unhealthy to use clean cloth for wound dressing, and puss was a good sign.

If the goal is to generate profit for the company, then why waste their efforts meddling with the 17th century customs such as head coverings for women?  I mean, what's gonna happen?  Are they gonna get booted off the show and have to go back to their easy lives?  Are they gonna "fail" to win?  Heck even the other reality shows have a goal in mind - to win a million dollars.  The PBS shows are so tight that they won't even let the contestants write and sell a book about their experiences.

There's just no real clear goal.

[HWooldridge]

My wife is into genealogy and has done a lot of research on both sides of the family.  My ancestoral patriarch immigrated in 1797 as an indentured servant in his teens.  By the time he died in his 80's, he was a wealthy landowner with 10 children.  The goal was to better your life...

BTW, several of the Wooldridge men were professional hunters in the mid-1800's.  From what we can determine, they went into this living because it was considered much easier than farming, logging or other endeavors.  Fresh meat brought a premium and the furs were a bonus.

Colonial House has good intentions but it needs some help.

[New Hampshire]

What I hated about "Frontier house" was the jackass that could not get over the fact they would not let him hunt because it was not the time of season for it.  He pissed and moaned that if he could have hunted he would have won because he is some kinda super mega hunter (and if I remember he even brought along a brand new replica single shot that could easily have run a few thousand dollars.)  Boo Hoo.  And what did he do when he got back to civilization?  He boasted how he and his sons got back and went right out and killed them a deer (well I wonder if they just did the shooting and a GUIDE did the hunting....whatever  :roll: .)  Seems like that guy was boasting too much for my taste.
Brian M.

[crow_feather]

What I will never forget about Frontier house, (if I have the right program) is that it was enough to cause one couple to get a divorce just after the experiment ended.  There had to be some stress there.
C F

[filmokentucky]

I watched "Colonial House" in part. I found it frustrating. They chose a group of whining incompetents who had no skills that were of use in a colonial setting. There was more effort put into being politically correct than into surviving. I think the reason that they went hunting with bows and arrows probably is a reflection of PBS' anti gun stance. When they killed and butchered a sheep, you'd have thought they were killing one of their children. One bonehead wondered if it wouldn't be enough to make some of them into vegetarians. As they had a seaworthy small boat available, I don't understand why fishing wasn't used to supply much needed protein. Actually, it's difficult to think of much that they did right.
   I would like to see it done again, but with people who have useful skills and a commitment to the program. And, I'd like to see them using matchlock and early flintlock firearms. If you looked closely, the bows were made from fiberglass, something very few colonials were familiar with. And, please, no blunderbuses.

[MOGorilla]

I haven't watched it but my sister is and she asked em about the bow and arrows as well.  I figured it was a safety issue, much easier to teach archery safety than teaching firearm safety and muzzleloading ins and outs.   I used to regularly watch Conquest on the History channel, it was enjoyable if not always accurate.  One of the problems, especially when they were working with primative weapons was they seemed to through modern safety out the window.  The guy hosting the show was a fight coordinator for the movies, so maybe more safety was going on than appeared on screen, but that was one of the rumors I heard about its cancellation was the lawyers shut it down.  I would expect lawyers, the bane of modern man, might be to blame for no front stuffers on the show.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Yeah that's the other thing I caught!  The bows were fiberglass.  At least they were recurve instead of compound. :roll:

The other thing I noticed is the amount of camera time they gave "The Blade" Jonathan.  There was an Asian servant as well as several others that were almost nameless faces on the program.  But you certainly saw an awful lot of Jonathan.

The other big problem is the duration of the program.  It only lasts for a weenie few months.  In reality there were various times of the season that create an eb and flow of work and play.

Fishing as a commercial venture probably would suck in the height of summer.  But imagine how efficiently you could put up meat during a good salmon run.  

They seemed to do a little Historical Revision, without any supporting facts or references.  There's an old saying that goes something like "If you are going to make an outstanding claim, you need outstanding evidence."  But no such evidence was presented.  They just made their commentary as if it was self-evident fact.

[freddogs]

I watched a few episodes with my wife. The participants seemed to have very little skill with tools of the period. I also wondered why no one was fishing. I had to turn it off when they got the bows out. Most modern people have few skills with early tools and PBS didn't try to find anyone who knew what they were doing. The show seems to be about interpersonal relationships between mordern people set in a primative background. The cabins were built for them and they had trouble finding firewood to keep warm. It looked nicer than some hunting camps I've been in. :roll:

[willysjeep134]

Colonial House is still playing in my PBS station. Chances are the only people willing to take part in this kind of "living history experiment" are sort of liberal free thinking types, generally not all that firearm friendly to begin with. I agree that teaching them to use a matchlock would be really hard. They do try fishing but never catch anything on hook and line, and apparently don't have a net. The "company man" who shows up in the last few weeks has them digging clams along the beach. They even tried to camouflage the fiberglass recurves by wrapping them with some leather looking stuff, which apparently fell off partially.

I think they definantly need to have a more clear goal. 2004 keeps encroaching in on their settlement. If the goal is to live exactly as they would have back then, they have failed miserably. Women's rights, athiesim, and homosexuality would not have been issues for discussion back then. If these women can't live for three months by somebody elses rules, why did they sign up in the first place?

Apparently they did get two weeks of training at oclonial williamsburg before they headed out. They were also given modern first aid training. If I heard right, the colonists even cooked up some sort of shower outside one cottage! How out of period is that!

I would like to have seen them do several things diferently.

1) have an inside man working for PBS keeping them in line, as in their laws and rules, and practices (IE No Shower stall outside a cottage!)

2) have some type of period firearm and somebody trained to use it. Mabey  matchlock musket? WIth this, allow them to hunt for anything on four legs.

3) select people more capable of living that lifestyle for three months. This would make the show more believeable and probably make the colony more productive.

I think building that extra house was a bad move for them too. Why not make simple wattle and daub huts or even rough lean-to's for the extra people like would have been done?

I never watched frontire house, but I did hear about the no hunting stupid rules. They need to plan these things out better. The last tow house shows they have just stuck modern people with a little training in an alien setting, and let the sparks fly. I think the best one they did so far was the 1900's house, with only one family, which I guess was an easier goal. Fewer things have changed from 1900 to today than from 1690 to today.

[New Hampshire]

I eatched part 3 yesterday just for the hell of it.  It so happened to be the episode with the Native Americans.  At one point one of the Wompanoag warriors made a comment about "If it were me I would burn the whole village down." OMG, whats scary as hell is that I actually wanted to be there with him and help him!  But alas the joke was on them.  The history experts were appaled by their poor trade relations with the Indians, and they were upset at how the social matters were handled.  Their only saving grace was that they made 100 ship spars for sale (they merely cut down properly sized trees and removd the bark.)  Yup, its agreed, this show was horrible.
Brian M.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Again, there's no clear goals.

Like some of the social issues.  Who gives a rip?  If I were the "guvna" I would have said to heck with the silly little letters on clothes and such.

Why?

Because what the heck is the goal?  What if the community blows off all that stuff, but does a heck of a job at procuring food and profit for the mother company?  Would the judges somehow conclude that 21st century people can't make it?

Or maybe I'm missing the goal?  Which is actually my point precisely - what is the goal?  To see if 21st century people can "survive" under 17th century conditions?  Or is it to have 21st century people "become" 17th century people?  In which case it would have made more sense to pick qualified people.

Qualified people:  That's another thing.  Back then not just anybody got to go.  They picked qualified people.  Why was fishing so pathetic?  Was it because the area lacked fish or the men lacked fishing skills and tackle?  I'll bet in 1620 they would have sent someone who knew how to fish over there.

[filmokentucky]

I took the goal to be an attempt to duplicate the colonial experience in an
authentic fashion. Having authentic houses and furniture and such was a good start. When they introduced the people I began to have doubts. They
were obviously pampered twits who were very PC. Their incompetence and whining was painful to watch. And that was before they even got to the village. And from there it was all down hill. Oh, well, maybe next time.