An Interesting Wife Swap

Usually it is so easy to immediately judge these people, but I must admit that these families really beat the normal horrors that show up on this. It was a really refreshing and pleasant surprise.

The producers are obviously finding more and more diametricly opposite to create more tension. Often by the end of the show a couple of lessons are learned, but during the show a lot of the value is destroyed by the fighting that occurs between these husbands who suddenly have "wives" that are totally alien to their normal lives. Mostly it is good, and it brings a new point of view to overly and under-structured families. On the other hand, pairing the party-animal, pampered, useless wife with a army sargent (I know that is spelled wrong...), straight-and-narrow, rod-up-his-ass man who primarily works and doesn't have much household involvement. That is a recipe for disaster.

This time, there was the Blankenships, from [I forgot].

The other family was the [whomevers], from [I forgot]. Mom is a free-wheeling, over-made up woman with very platinum (another chemistry experiment gone wrong) lank hair, who parties by night, and cleans the house and waits on this useless, short, dumpy biker dude while dressed like a hooker. Seriously, who does housework in high heels?! Their one child, a twelve year old boy Justin, was a total video game junkie who ruled the roost after his father. Oh, useless! The father was adamant that he is the king. Oh, wrong attitude! And to think he found a woman - any woman - who would put up with this shit! Luis loves to joke around - "Get me chips, woman!" - just to see me give him a completely withering look and say, "Get it yourself, subgenius." He laughs at that. This guy thinks he's in possession of the right to be that way!

We really thought this would just be another fighting match between completely opposite couples but I must admit, we were very happy with the Blankenship father, a stolid, steady 56-year-old man who has a very pleasant demeanor and really rolled with the changes.

The premise is that each wife creates a "manual" for the other to go by for the first week. (Clearly the producers coach if not outright write the manuals; at least for one family - some of these people are far lower on the intelligence food chain than one should wish to admit. Of course, Americans as a whole have a lowest common denominator that is beyond embarrassing. Also, I'm sure that the couples are observed by people who can verbalise the dynamics of the family because the manuals tend to be written with a perspiscatiousness that these families would not have about themselves.) The wives have to abide by the normal household rules for the initial week. Some do well, others not so much. They all make a huge effort to abide by the rules, but the truly successful do it without complaint - their true feelings come out in the interview process. The less successful ones comply but bitch and moan the whole way through.

The moment - and I do mean the moment - that first week ends, they institute their own rules onto a usually unwilling and unwitting household - the wife who involves her kids too much in chores and not give them enough time to themselves immediately gives marching orders to kids who never do anything. You can imagine what a lead balloon that was...

Another post that fell by the wayside, this one from 21 February - oops...