Reality TV Has Hit It's Apex

“See!
I could do this Frontier house thing!”

“It would wear smooth naturally over the course of time, but those first few years would be rough!

Literally...”

“For some reason this is reminding me of how George Carlin compared the Viet Nam War to sex...

"Pull out? PULL OUT!? Hell, Boy! Leave it in there and get the job done!"

Ah... the Sixties!”

“I just thought of something, HPM. You could stretch some thin leather over it. That would make it pretty smooth.

Better make sure it's well-tanned though.”

“And what are you boys going to do to yourselves with this device?”

“HAHAHAHAHA! HILARIOUS!”

“#&%!$ on it and take a $#!T?

Weren't we talking about frontier toilet seats?”

“Did I accidentally type #&%!$ instead of sit?

Or is the cussword filter #&%!$ing up again?”

“The scenery was gorgeous!!!

I think the Clune family is use to being pampered....too much money! He stated he hadn't mowed his own lawn in 14 Years and therefore his children had never cut the grass in their lifetime.

Kids need to know how to work and need to know what it takes to earn a living....in 1883 and in 2002.

I cracked up when that young man was having a pitty party about falling off the wagon (litteraly), losing his worm before he even got a bite and the dog attack. You could tell he was exhausted and needed some sleep to get over the events of the day.

I'll watch it again!
Tune in next week ....someone is "cheating"!!!”

“Welcome to Bitpusher and HPM's mercantile and general store.


Ummmmm....yeah, frontier toilet seats, sure. Those are in the back behind that black drapery.
_{Don't tell anyone where ya bought it}”

“It's on again tonight.

That was filmed up around Big Timber, MT, correct? Must have been on the Indian Reservation for the Indian to be able to shoot them a deer, out of season.”

“Chief, I read an article on the filming. It was done south of Livingston on a huge area of land that was basically, totally uninhabited for miles.”

“Chief,
I think they said on the show that the deer was whacked on the nearby reservation and donated by the Native Americans who felt sorry for the poor, meatless bastards.”

“Just watched the second two hours of Frontier House. My wife asked me why they didn't show the younger children, or the Brooks family much after the wedding.

"No drama there," was my reply.

Another point I thought of, and may be wrong on, has to do with Gordon Clune's belief that he's not getting enough protein. If it were really 1883, he'd be able to pick up his shotgun or rifle, go out into the bush for while, and come back with a muledeer or an elk, and he'd have plenty of red meat to eat. He can't do that right now because it's not hunting season in Montana. But there weren't any hunting seasons then.

Montanans, am I wrong? Is there game in that area of Montana in the spring and summer?”

“NO, you aren't wrong. There are deer everywhere where I live right now. I mean herds. The elk I'm not as sure about, I mean I know they are there, but I think they are usually a little harder to find. Also, I don't think these people could do it. It is alot of work to drag a deer (esp. a muley) or an elk out of the woods. Plus, there is gutting, being a good shot, and they would probably have to be a good shot w/ an older gun. They would also have to stop whining and be quite long enough to scope one out (which may be their biggest problem)! I loved it though. I love PBS.”

“I guess to be more specific, there is game in that area as well. The cows may have been a bit of prob. (the ones that the rancher herded).”

“Oh yeah, he'd need help for sure to drag it out. But he'd be able to do it, and modern law denies him this ability. I believe it renders the experiment a little unrealistic, but that's just my opinion. On last night's episode, they showed him learning how to gut and skin a deer from an Indian that shot it and donated it to them, so that's covered.

But the patience thing, yah, that's where they'd fall through. He'd probably be pissed that the deer didn't line up for him.

He didn't let modern law stop him from running his own still though!”

“Good point about the still! I didn't catch last night's show, so I didn't know they learned that stuff. But, again, I think their biggest prob. might be scouting them out and being quite and "stealth" enough to get one. Obviously, you don't just walk right up and the Clunes, esp. don't seem to get some of that basic stuff.”

“They're doing better than the last show though. They seem to finally be getting it together, while the Glenns are self-destructing.”

“Yeah, it seems like their marriage is about to fall apart. I wish they would show the Brooks more.”

“Ok I finally got to see the first part last night.

It's been said before but the Clunes need a old fashioned frontier b!tch slap. Just line them up and run down the line like the three stooges.

Talk about vain and spoiled by excess. The whole food thing is so painfully obvious to me. They are using up all their supplies by cooking extravagant meals. Remember the Mr. stating that the Mrs went to Trinity cooking school? She's out there doing the frontier Julia Childs act. Didja notice that all of their fruit is being used up by baking cobblers all the dang time? Stuff like that was a treat for special occasions or maybe the odd sunday. Same with sweets, tea and coffee. They make it too strong and I'm betting they don't save the grounds. Then he's criping about not having a tea box. Ummm dude, just like hikers folks lightened their loads for the travel out west. Screw the tea box, you can MAKE one on a snow day while sitting beside the fire.

I really enjoyed the country too. I'm a little bummed I'm missing two Montana trips in a row. Y'all are blessed up in Big Sky.”

“newgirl, they don't show the Brooks more often because they're getting along. There's no drama there, so they get very little camera time. Survivor and other reality shows are the obvious basis for this show. It makes me wonder how they chose the families.”

“The more dysfunctional, the merrier, <G>!

I must admit, it did crack me up that Mister Clune lost his flab and thought he had some dread wasting disease! jeeeez, where Did they find these people?

They could always take up cattle rustling... They wouldn't have to sneak up on them and wouldn't have to drag the carcass very far.”

“Tilt, my wife suggested the very same thing last night while we were watching it.

I said, "dear, that's against the law, and they'd go to jail."

She said, "well, settlers then might have done it."

And I said, "yes, and if they had gotten caught then, the cowboys would just have shot them."

What's more likely is that the cowboys would have taken pity on them and given them a cow they knew wouldn't make it on the drive.”

“I caught part of the show last night, and someone was doing something illegal!!!”

“Last night was the ultimate reality double-header:
Frontier House followed by the Osbournes!
Gotta love it.”

“Here's a blogger's comments on the show.”

“Yeah... "The Osbournes on the Frontier"! What a concept! I would pay cash to see that...

"Green Acres" on crack!

"Little House On The Wagon"!”

“I can just here the Oz man: "Sharon! thes #&%!$ing berries aren't doing anything to my #&%!$ing hair. I'm starting to look like #&%!$ing Gandalf..."”

“Bitpusher – 1800 House is the basis for this show. I think 1800 House predated survivor. But your right, even PBS needs ratings. I would rather watch lovin’ than fightin’ but there doesn’t seem to be much lovin’ goin’ on.”

“I never saw 1800 House, did it show as much drama as Frontier House does? I think they've gone beyond simply showing how people lived their lives in 1883, to showing the problems that occur when modern people attempt to live in primitive conditions.

But if the stated aim of Frontier House was to show that, well then I guess they have succeeded. If their aim was to show how people from that time period lived their lives under those conditions, I think they've failed.”

“I saw a little bit last night. What a bunch of sniveling whiners. I wish somebody would let the audience vote people off.”

“I have problems with the choices the editor's made on the show. They had five months of material and we had to see Mark (?) pissing and moaning about his #&%!$ of a wife.

I guess the family strain is an important dynamic. But, personally, I would much prefer to "have spent more time" with the Brooks (esp. father and son . . .I thought his Dad was great). Much more interested in the guts/nuts and bolts of construction, planting, harvesting, haying, animal care, than in the "inter-family dynamics"

Am not sure where I fall on the Clunes trading for food.

I mean . . .back in 1883 . .they absolutely would have traded with neighbors. No question. And, as someone pointed out earlier, they would have hunted to supplement their diet. No question.

TO hamstring them by not allowing hunting is kind of bullsh. They should have provided farm raised deer for the homesteaders to shoot, gut, and portion up.”

“And the Clune's still is absolutely authentic.

If you believe Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan, The APPLE, as distributed across the midwest by Johhny Appleseed, was NOT particulary edible. It was used almost exclusively for making hard cider. He sold apple tree cuttings on the Ohio river to settlers headed west who (when heading to Oregon at least) were required to plant orchards as part of their homesteading contract. And again, these weren't eating apples. The apple for eating is a late 19th early 20th century phenomena.

So the Clune's making a little moonshine for trade is not only authentic, its pretty damn smart.”

“I'd have preferred to see that too, lee. But I think that the editors are more interested in making the show marketable, rather than authentic. Notice how at the beginning and ending of each program they are hawking the video, CD and companion book for the program.

Like my wife asked last night, "Who would want the CD of the music for this program?" Not that the music is bad, but it's background music for pete's sake!

Hands down, if I had to choose between the three families for neighbors, I'd choose the Brooks.”

“No hunting? That IS bullshat.”

“Almost! He bought 20 acres back in 1980 in a broad valley up the Blackfoot River in Montana. He works construction and gradually got his cabin (log home) built over a span of about 15 years.

He got married there in 1985 when he only had the basement and the subfloor in. He put up a door frame for the wedding and they got married in front of it- still no main floor at the time. They lived in the basement for about another 3 years til he finally got the first floor in.

He traded firewood, hay, elk and smoked trout for construction materials. The guy that cuts the hay on his property trades him honey for letting him keep his bees there.

Now that his girls are teenagers he had to finish the bathroom. He got their first mirror from me a few years ago when we remodeled our house.
Nate really reminds me of him.”

“Awesome Aero! That's a hard working guy. I lived w/ my parents and two sisters in a one rm. log cabin in the middle of nowhere until I was almost 6. We had an outhouse and took baths in a little tub on the floor. We had a huge garden, pigs, chickens, geese, and got milk from a neighbor's milk cow. My mom made almost all our clothing.”

“lol, Newgirl- I know of people up north of you that are living about like these folks in the series. I'm sure you know a few of them too. ;>)”

“My wife and I got hooked and watched the first two episodes. My wife said last night that she thinks she would turn into a "Karen Clune" if we did that. I think she is right.

I have learned a lot about 1883 life from the program.

Too bad they are emphasizing the marital problems and not showing more of what they did to get by.”

“I agree Phil. I'm interested in how they accomplished their day to day tasks and would like to see how they're going to get ready for winter, which will be the big test. On the other hand, marital and family discord was never really addressed in most accounts on that time period while it might have been more of a factor in their survival than their other skills. The Clunes are wasting a lot of valauble energy fighting. They simply don't have the luxury to be able to trivialize their lives and bicker. They'd better get busy or they won't survive the winter!”

“I think it is interesting who they picked t be on the show. They seem to be to be city folk. Areo’s bro or newgirl or half the Idaho farm boys I know would have made this look to easy. I suspect that the people that knew how to live this way also knew the reality of how hard it could be and didn’t apply.

I agree with the hunting erroneousness. They could have provided some facsimile of hunting for them. Fishing too.”

“right mtn gal, they've definitely picked the "average" person to participate. Even in MT or ID, the average person is an urban dweller with few survival skills.”

“True, aero, but they picked people that don't even have cooking skills! I like the Brooks, but last night they showed Kristin holding up a jar of baking powder and baking soda and asking what they were for!”

“Oh oh, bitpusher, that may be an ominous warning for the Brooks!”

“What, that she doesn't know how to cook, or that I like them?

lol....”

“Oh yeah, did anyone notice the name of the animal handler fron thre first episode?

Rawhide Johnson.
Ouch! That sounds painful!”

“Here's an article from our local paper on the program. It was filmed about 80 miles from here south of Big Timber, MT up the Boulder River Valley. Their modern neighbors up there include Brook Sheilds, Tom Brokaw, a white supremesist, a Lutheran Churh Camp and, just a valley over, Mel Gibson. I might see if I can find the mythical "Frontier Valley" this spring and post some pics!

Billings Gazette article”

“Maybe Brooke, Tom or Mel will do a cameo?”

“Hmmmm... Looks like Nate had a bit of an advantage going in: "Nate Brooks... Outward Bound instructor"”