The reality TV show, Wife Swap, is looking for a family from Asheville or Western North Carolina to participate in their hot little money-maker.
Ashvegas recently wrote about our hometown newspaper columnist and wacky Southern belle, Susan Reinhardt, who was asked to be on the show. Her hubby dissed the idea, despite the offer of $20,000. Good $ for two weeks work, and, supposedly, only six actual days living with someone else’s family, but is that kind of cash worth risking your reputation, losing your self-respect, and airing your dirty laundry (and messy closets) on national TV? And, even if you wanted to, you don’t even get to share a bedroom with your surrogate hubby. Six days is a long time, boys and girls.
I don’t watch TV. In fact, we don’t have cable, which, in the mountains, means we don’t have access to TV, public or paid. For most of my life, TV has only served to put me to sleep. It’s dull, caters to the lowest common denominator, and commercials make me angry and irritable. So, I’ve never seen Wife Swap. But I don’t have to. I can imagine exactly how it works. How what you say and do is edited for maximum conflict, for maximum drama. How you’re pushed into unnatural and uncomfortable situations, while the camera pans in closer and closer. How every possible quirk and eccentricity is examined, sifted, weighed. How you come out the other side with the kind of fame that makes people embarrassed to be around you. Yeah, I’m a writer. I don’t need to see it. I can imagine it just fine.
But, if you need $20,000 and have the flexibility to take a couple weeks off, and you don’t mind pimping your family, I say go for it. And I know a couple of local psychologists who can help you pick up the pieces afterwards.
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Were I to appear on such a show, I would at once be pittied and admired — pittied for the deplorable state of my house and admired for finding a woman who can put up with me.
Ooh, having seen this show a few times, I wouldn’t recommend it. The wives always come off badly, and they always have the same dichotomy: overly strict with kids vs. lets kids run wild.
The lessons? 1) Kids need to be kids and 2) Kids need structure.
And I need to not watch so much reality TV…
EM
I’ve wathced this more than i should admit putting me in the LCD, category. In fact, i watched it last night, during olympic commercials, much to the my DH’s objections.
Of course i realize the whole point of the show is to open all the cans of worms and make the claws come out- most of it spun in the editing process. But it’s free marital counseling for me. In comparison, it make me and my spouse look like angels.
Walker is hooked, sounds like. I did read Susan’s column on it - very funny stuff. I particularly liked her ending where she said next time she found a hubby he would be 2 Ts - trust fund and terminal. I emailed the article to Hubby, but not sure he really understood why.
I’ve watched the show and I never could understand why someone would agree to do it, then bitch and act like an idiot on TV? If I did it, I would want to present myself in the most positive light for national TV. You’re probably smart not to watch TV.
I’ve always hated TV, but I can’t stop watching.
I HATE the commercials.
I think this is an ugly concept. But, as you saw, lowest common…
I would do just about anything for 20 G’s - anything.
o, come on EM. and the rest of you. there’s nothing wrong with A) watching TV or B) admitting you watch TV.
it’s the opiate of the masses, just like beer and pizza, which, EM, you’ve already told us so many times that you’re addicted to. what’s one more vice added to the list?
everyone always focuses on the “lowest common denominator” thing. but guess what - television can serve to bring people together (anybody ever been to a Super Bowl party? or “Friends” or “Survivor” gathering?); to educate (anybody watch the “60 Minutes” report on global warming? or the story about the Danish cartoonish who started the global riots? i did, and i learned a few things); and television can even inspire (Olympics, anyone?).
now, i’m not saying that “Wife Swap” is what television aspires to. but it’s entertainment. so don’t diss it, just change the channel to your favorite PBS documentary or porn channel. if you’re ranting on reality television in general, well, i’m all for people making fools of themselves on national television.
for my money, reality tv doesn’t get much real-er than c-span. and, in tv as in the rest of life, sturgeon’s law applies.
i’d feel a lot worse about television if shows like 24, lost, family guy, the simpsons and arrested development had never existed… oh, and pbs got the broadcast rights to the original monty python’s flying circus programs again, so that’s something.
and you can watch olympic curling, too, but not for too much longer. i’m all about curling now.
so, yeah. yay tv.
You all should be reading EM as religiously as you watch TV!
I see Ash’s point, and I guess you could view TV just like any other drug: responsible use is not an issue. It’s the addicts who have lost control who need to reclaim their lives. It’s like drinking alcohol periodically and responsbily versus being an alcoholic. If one watches TV constantly–not caring if what one sees helps or hurts them in any fashion–and one cannot be separated from his or her TV without withdrawl symptoms, then there’s an issue.
For me, I haven’t had cable for years due to a lack of funds. It’s ok…the only thing I miss is Food TV network. I’m actually going to buy cable for one month because my dad is a TV addict and my parents are staying with us for two weeks in April, and I think he’d die with having to use my TV only for the dvd and ps2 player it seems to be. It’s a pain in the ass to get it for just one month, but it seems silly to redo my monthly budget to accomodate something I’ve easily learned to live without and not regret.
I’ve heard of wife swap only through the radio ads that play. I can’t even begin to imagine how it works. That is, you can put up with anything for six days, so what does it really prove? What lessons could people actually learn? And isn’t this totally confusing to the kids? If I’m going to pimp myself out, I can think of better and more interesting ways.
I have just started watching Wife Swap some.The last couple of weeks I have caught on to it. Wow I don’t know if I could do it or not. Might be weird.