Wife Swap TV Show...

[JohnnyTarr]

My wife got hung up on the condition of the pirate house. Now I have seen the way she grew up and the only thing missing was the flees. I mean I couldn't live in all that mess but clutter is a style. Neither way was perfect but I will have to say the pirates were happier

[TabithaAnne]

Well, I watched the episode last night and all I could think of was how that poor little girl is going to re-act when a guy breaks her heart for the first time or what's gonna happen if she's not married by the time she's 30.....she started to have a nervous breakdown just by thinking of things being different. Boy does she have a lot of learning to do! I have to give the Baurs props....it takes a lot of guts to go on a reality TV show.

[Rumba Rue]

Well, Mad Sally and company if you are reading this here's my take:

I couldn't live in that disaster of a home that looks like a nuclear bomb hit it. It was good that it finally did get some cleaning up.

And sorry, hubby needs a job to support the family.

Nor would I ever put up with kids whose mouths certianly need a good cleaning up of their vocabulary. I wouldn't stand to have a kid of mine (if I had kids) to talk back to me- punishment I won't talk publicly about....

Nor could I live in the Fines - yikes! I was brought up in a home like that- good thing I'm not the perfectionist my mother was.

But dang that little girl is going to be such a horrible person as she gets older, if she doesn't stop being like her mother. I don't know of many guys who will put up with her attitude.

I think the boy will have a better life once he leaves home.

It even scared me to see dad was be a perfect man. Hmmm, makes you kind of wonder about their sex lives....

I'm in between the both of them, my home is clean, maybe not perfectly neat, but within the reasons of sanity.

Capt. Slappy...well we never knew you were so...so ...big. :)

Kind of like a big round bowl of jello. Do you play Santa pirate during the Christmas season?

All in all though I think it was a fun show, I sure laughed my arse off quite a bit.

[Red Maria]

Well, I watched the episode last night and all I could think of was how that poor little girl is going to re-act when a guy breaks her heart for the first time

She has a heart? Porr thing she and her mother are Stepford females. Altough I admit the Old chum bucket and Mad Sally's house could have stand a flea bomb or two (hint pretend they're stink bombs abaord an enemy vessel )

The Fines OTOH have serious issues. I think they need to be dropped in the middle off nowhere with only thier wits to help them survive. AND NO LABEL MAKERS!

Under the circumstances I think you Baurs did yourself proud.

:)

[hurricane]

Can't live with the fleas, I have to tell ya. Our house always has a couple project strewn about but it's always clean - not always neat, but clean. Couldn't live like that. That's not Piratitude, it's filth.

I have the luxury of working at home as a writer, and I've never had the power or gas company knock on the door to collect or shut things off. I don't think that's something to be proud about. It came across as being unsuccessful and unwilling to meet ones obligations. That would have gotten a pirate hung or put in debtor's prison. No pride in that.

Otherwise, it was a good yarn. They're getting a bit formula with their profiles now, so you always know ahead that one side will be the direct opposite of the other. But it was an entertaining hour...

PS: Not even for $20 grand would I let someone shave my hair off. Send the kids to military camp, slaughter the animals, label the fleas if ya want - but keep your Stepford Wife mentality away from me.

-- Hurricane

[Hester]

I watched it last night.

I was horrified by the Fine family, especially Mr. Fine. He was a classic control-freak macho creep. I've been a volunteer counsellor at a women's centre in the past, and this guy's behaviour screamed "wife-beater" to me. He began by ordering Tori around (as if that's how he would normally interact with a "wife"), and whenever she did or said anything he disliked, he was emotionally abusive to her, calling her "stupid" or "unintelligent".

His Barbie-doll wife was pathetic, but she at least seemed pleasant enough at first and did initially try to fit in with the Bauers (until the fleas overcame her). I suspect that a great deal of her perfectionist behaviour is driven by her aggressive and controlling husband.

I thought her visiting sister was pretty cool for crawling under the bed to talk with the Bauer daughter.

That said, Mrs. Fine's disciplinary tactic of labelling human beings and putting them in the "bin" was astoundingly de-humanizing! When the young Bauer boy lay down in the punishment box the first time, I thought she was going to put the lid on (and I think he thought so too!) Personally, I think a swift smack on the bum is less abusive than this sort of ritualized humiliation. [Happily, I don't have children, so I don't have to worry about the modern ethical conundrum regarding spanking.]

And I don't really get the "bin" concept of housekeeping in general. Sure, they might keep things more organized, but they're aesthetically displeasing. Who wants to live in place that looks like a storage locker? I can understand the need for more storage space (especially seeing the books and CDs that litter my office floor), but how about cupboards and drawers in nice wooden furniture? How about "treasure chests" for Goddess sakes! That would neaten things up and still fit within the attitude and style of the Bauers' home.

What was truly astonishing was the make-over that Mr. Bauer submitted to. Why shave his head? [Again, this is a humiliation tactic used in what sociologists call "total" institutions -- prison, army, monastery, cults.] Were there lice as well as fleas? Or did Mrs. Barbie-doll believe that since her husband wore his "hair" that way, all men should? Surely, she can't have thought a shaved head was considered conventional work-world grooming?

Which reminds me: were Mr. Fine's tats real or part of the pirate garb Tori got him to wear?

But, I must admit that I did sympathize with Mrs. Fine over the dog fleas, and I can see how that would be the final straw in what she could tolerate. When I was 18, my parents went away for the summer and left me to look after the house and our elderly cat while I worked at a summer job in the city. The cat spent the hot summer days lounging in the grass gathering fleas, and she was too obese and arthritic to be able to groom her own back, so she brought them into the house, where they started biting me. I tried everything -- I doused the cat with flea powder, I vacuumed the carpet twice a day and sprayed it with a special spray from the vet (which I got my boyfriend to pick up, because I was too embarrassed). Finally, I called my parents and demanded they come home and hire an exterminator. [Nowadays, I understand you can just give your cat a pill to prevent all this. What progress veterinary science has made!]

Anyhow, my own housekeeping standard is about midway between the Bauers and the Fines ... and my current infestation problem is spiders ... which seem to have taken over my crumbling old Victorian house while I was away this summer.

Cheers, Hester

[Hester]

Mrs. Fine's disciplinary tactic of labelling human beings and putting them in the "bin" was astoundingly de-humanizing!

Oh yes, and my mouth dropped open when she said she was taking away the Bauer daughter's BOOKS as punishment until she "organized" her room.

There's suburbanite priorities for you: housekeeping tasks trump literacy and learning!

Cripes, in my world, books are sacrosanct, and to hell with the dust bunnies!

Cheers, Hester

[CrazyCholeBlack]

I saw the obsession with "fleas" to be nothing more than an exageration by a woman uncomfortable with anyone different than her. I have been in homes with fleas & it's not something you can ignore. I find it interesting that it was mentioned at first but stopped being an "issue" once Mrs. fine got to run things her way.

This was also reinterated to me when Mad Sally stayed up all night to do the list of chores. She did not wine & complain "oh it can't be done" she knuckled down & proved that it could be done. Then of course Mr. Fine accused her of being nuts of crazy or some such for staying up all night. I'm sorry but wich is more imporatant, getting that list of tasks done or sticking to a strict schedule of sleep between 10 pm & 6 am?

I don't hazard a guess what "reality" television would do to my life. We don't value the classical american version of "success" that's for sure.

[Merrydeath]

http://www.dorks.com/html/Talk-like-a-Pira...-Day-Today.html

just another day in the life of a pirate

[William Blydes]

I really tried to watch, but after about 30min I was frustrated and actually stressed out.

The Stepford wife husband was a complete control freak.

He didn't do anything and was instructing his son to do the same. House work is 'womans' work after all.... ack!!!

[oderlesseye]

Eye thank ye kindly Merrydeath . That clip was great!

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

OMG! I just watched that promo, like, 5 times! I am SO watching this show!

Oh, will you look at me.

I had to work that night -- straight through the show -- but had someone tape it for me. That videotape is sitting next to my television set, still waiting to be watched.

But after reading all these "reviews," I can't wait! Maybe tonight...

[flying-dutch-man]

arrr i watched this show before an had to watch this one! :) it was reallyyyyyyy good cheers to cap'n slappy!