|
Rating:  -
I have thoroughly enjoyed PBS' prior "Houses" and have learned a lot about the times and customs. However, I wonder, after this one, how PBS vets their participants. It's always interesting to watch the dynamics between people, however, the only dynamics I could see here were so many negatives...lots of bitching, whining, bickering. Doesn't PBS tell their participants what its' going to be like? I'm getting tired of whining and cheating. It's interesting to me that of these types of series, Frontier House had two families who, at least, tried to live the life as authentically as possible. I wish I had rented this on Netflix first. I would not have spent the money to have it in my permanent collection.
Rating:  -
There are other reviews that outline the particulars of this series. My review is a plea to whoever made this (PBS?) to know your viewers better. We are not interested in how "Survivor" would have played out back in time. We are interested in a deeper understanding and immediacy of experience of what living in the past would be like.
Ditch the controversial picks in people. Ditch the petty squabbles, back-biting, and grandstanding. Pick people who will take seriously the opportunity to time-travel back to another period; people who will convey to us with dignity and intelligence the struggles and values of those times gone by. If you need a yardstick -- get back to the quality of Manor House and 1940 House. Please!
Rating: -
If you can catch this series on PBS for free it is interesting enough to watch. Otherwise, you'll regret having paid to view it. Why? Because other than the ranch house itself, which you see very little of beyond the front porch, there is nothing historical about this series.
You will not see a glimpse of life in the 1800's. You will see an ungrateful, lazy, whining, group of people who not only ruined a wonderful opportunity to experience a life lost to us a long time ago, but they also spoiled it for the rest of us who looked forward to watching them live it.
This was suppose to be a PBS educational show not something I would expect to see on FOX, like watching Paris Hilton working on a farm--insipidly entertaining, but certainly not educational. However, unlike the Paris Hilton, the Cooke family weren't entertaining, just annoying. They whined and complained about everything!
If the Cooke's didn't want to give up the comforts of modern living or live according to the societal/cultural standards of the 1800's, they shouldn't have signed up for the show. In fact, they would have done all of us a favor if they had just stayed home. That way PBS could have possibly gotten a different family who would have embraced the 1800's ranch lifestyle instead of the Cooke who constantly reminded the viewing audience how life back then sucked. How the Cooke family got selected for the show is beyond me.
Standards of PBS must be slipping if they put their stamp of approval on mess like this. Ken Burns must be in shock.
"Cast of Characters":
Cooke family as a whole: Lazy whiners!!!!! They added nothing to the show.
Mr Cooke: Completely worthless as a ranch owner or a boss; incapable of making good decisions; untrustworthy; dishonorable; unreliable; useless for physical labor; couldn't even do the non-taxing work of keeping the books; the reason why the word "henpecked" was created.
Mrs Cooke: Irritating; instigator; busybody; holier than thou attitude; paranoid; selfish; truly unlikable; would rather live revoltingly among flies than clean a dish; reason why the word "shrew" was created.
Cooke Children: Useless; droll; boring.
Mora: She seemed to be a plant by PBS purposely put there to cause controversy.
Cowboys: Immature; hard-working when they wanted to be.
Nacho: Disgusting; revolting; another likely plant to cause controversy.
Rating: -
I became interested in the PBS "House" series after watching The Manor House during an undergrad course in Victorian Era History. The series is intended to take 21st century people and place them in an environment equivalent to a historical time period (i.e. Manor House, Colonial House, etc.) The participants are supposed to see how they would fare living as people of that time period- ideally dressing, eating, working and, perhaps most importantly, living according to the same values as people of that time period.
This series began on a very promising note, with 15 people moving into a 1867 ranch. Their basic objective was to see if they could live 2.5 months catching wild cattle and ultimately turning the run-down ranch into a profitable, working ranch. At the begining of the series one is able to observe the various hardships people had to contend with (particularly 21st people), using outhouses, not having the luxury of bathing every day, cooking by open fire, etc. (Not to mention the back-breaking work necessary to set-up a ranch) However, it soon becomes apparent that, while most of the participants seem game enough deal with the technological differences, they had no intention of attempting to live according to the same value system as true frontiersmen and women. The series rapidly turned into a battle between the sexes- the women believing the men are all chauvanist pigs, the men thinking the women are butting into ranch business and the ranch owner lacking in the guts to take a hard stand. What results is a series based more in fiction/ drama than historical fact. I couldn't help but feel as if I were watching a reality show that fell more in line with the often staged reality tv such as Survivor rather than an educational reality show which is designed to give viewers a mostly historically accurate view into the life of a 19th century Texas ranch.
It is a shame that most of participants couldn't truly get into the spirit of the project and try to act as people from that time would have. Instead the women chose to run around the ranch half-clothed, the women insisted on having thier say concerning the run of the ranch- openly defying the ranch owner, the ranch hands disrespecting the women in an act of defiance etc- all of which would never have been tolerated on a real 19th century ranch. It became extremely annoying listening to the women constantly complain about how they were 21st century women with 21st century values. If that was thier viewpoint, why VOLUNTEER for a project like Texas Ranch House where you are supposed to attempt to maintain historical accuracy? Ultimately, I think the participants did a disservice to the entire project and more importantly, to the men and women who lived that life.
Rating:  -
I've enjoyed the show but I'm so sorry for the poor women on this show. They really made themselves look like idiots. Check out Colonial House.
Television Show
Collectibles
Movie Searches
|
|
|
Search for posters,
art prints, photos, collectables, merchandise, toys, t-shirts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TV Guide
Program listings, celebrity profiles, industry
gossip, movie reviews, puzzle.
More
Entertainment
& TV Magazines
This site is
Hosted
by Bluehost
Read
my Bluehost Review
Most Popular TV collectibles
|
|
Home
Articles
Images
Forum
Search
Shopping
TV Trivia
Watch TV
Wallpaper
