Frontier House (3pc) | Gordon Clune, Karen Glenn | How can you not love this show???

Frontier House (3pc) | Gordon Clune, Karen Glenn | Time Travel Is Possible

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Frontier House (3pc)

	Frontier House (3pc) Gordon Clune, Karen Glenn Pbs (Direct), 2002 average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Based on the sweeping success of PBS' 1900 House, producer Simon Shaw applies the same standards of accuracy and authenticity to this imaginative sequel, giving viewers a glimpse into frontier America during the years proceeding the 1882 Homestead Act when land out West was "free for the taking." Appropriately billed a "docu-soap," Frontier House is part of PBS' House Series, blending documentary and reality programming as three modern American families test their grit and resourcefulness during a five month immersion as pioneers in the Montana Territory. The Clune, Glenn, and Brooks families' daily lives are recorded and condensed into six one-hour episodes chronicling the hardships and, in some cases, humor of building cabins, planting gardens, digging outhouses, chopping wood, and tending livestock?all while bearing the strain of close familial living and neighborly interdependence necessary for survival. While the film's bickering between families grows wearisome, narrator Kathryn Walker provides a historical context, explaining that such squabbles were typical of homesteading communities. PBS deserves kudos for its meticulous and painstaking commitment to the highest caliber of credibility, employing a team of historic preservation specialists to attend to every detail of the series. Highlights include the touching, actual wedding of Nate and Kristen Brooks, and a compelling "Making Of" bonus feature that caps the overall effort with charm and appeal. (Ages 8 and older) Lynn Gibson

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How can you not love this show???

Love. Hate. Loss. Gain. Anger. Joy. Wedding. Separation. Struggles. Triumphs. Illness. It's just another day on the frontier. How can you not love this show? It's a surreal combination of make-believe and reality. The families in this show fight the elements of life on the frontier, every day. Sometimes their fights are with their neighbors, their families, or even within themselves. It is remarkable to see how the families change during their stay in the Montana wilderness. It is interesting to see the individual families follow the rules to their own interpretations. It is difficult to review this without containing spoilers. The most amazing part of the whole show was the comment that the girls gave at the end. I won't divulge it. It would not have the same impact, unless you watch the whole show. :) My whole family watched this and we all enjoyed it for different reasons.

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Time Travel Is Possible

PBS is excellent at providing quality entertainment and slipping education into the equation. With the success of 1900 House, a realty mini-series where one family was transported to the Victorian Era, executives decided to send three families to the frontier of Montana with only the supplies that families would have had in 1883. Meet The Clunes, The Brooks', and The Glenns. The Clunes are a wealthy family from California, accustomed to frequent business trips and luxury. The Brooks family begins with Nate and his father Rudy and ends with Nate and his new wife Kristen. They are a biracial family, which was not uncommon in the west at the time. The Glenns are a family of four from Tennessee with a domineering mother and and a passive stepfather.

There are six hour-long episodes on two disks which include behind the scenes and making of featurettes. Since only one third of the families that ventured to the west survived the five years it took to win their land claims, it is interesting to speculate on which family would have been best suited for the task.

The casting is great. The Clunes can be annoying because they are the most apt to cheat and then cover their tracks. However, they work hard and are a loving family. It is particularly interesting to see how the opinions of the two teenaged girls, Tracy and Aine, change over the course of the five months. The Glenns are arguementative with each other, mainly because of Karen Glenn's strong personality. She can provide interesting commentary though, which is often in direct contrast with the others'. Her children are fun to watch, although son Logan gets the most air time. The Brooks are filmed the least, possibly because they have the least amount of troubles. Nate is well adapted for the west, and his loving bride Kristen endures it to please him. They provide rational thought to the equation when the Clunes and the Glenns have their fights. The community becomes like a real family; the transition is believable because it is real.

This miniseries documents a fascinating journey that proves that reality TV can be worthwhile. One only wishes that there were more to see.

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Top Quality Documentary

The most important thing about this type of experiment (the House series, and this is obviously the best one) is the interactions of the family members, to find out what is the basis of a family, what are more exactly the roles we members (male, female, child, adult) have to play. It is absolutely not (even if from the producer's point of view it may be) to see how we, modern day city slickers can make it in an 1883 Montana environment. At least not for me. I don't care for that: lack of comforts, no tv, no refrigerator, no shower, no shampoo... so what? you can go on a mission trip to Perú today for that.

But when it comes to surviving, physically, and there's a wife and kids involved that depend on you, what do you do Mr.? Do you decide to play the role of the old-fashioned head of the family, and risk being labeled 'machista' by the feminists (like the 2 times married lady in the episode)? Or would you compromise, or what? Of course you could do no more than what your wife permits; and that's the trick that makes it so interesting. How would you, ladies, take your role? When it comes to surviving, would you give up feminist quarrels just as you would have to give up your make up? The film shows us pretty clear that it was rougher for the females. The males loved it, pure and simple.

Another great thing about this is that we witness three very different families, by the way they interact, and the way they see their own roles as members of the family.

The question therefore is not: would they have made it through the winter? But... Would they have made it as a family? And the answer differs. One family is much stronger, from the wife and husband to the kids. Another, since they have no kids and have just got married, plays no significant role in this experiment. And the third comes out broken. If they ever thought they were a family their view must have broken into pieces like a shattered glass. They did not know how to function as a family because they (and I leave it to the viewer to put the names) took their 21st century notions of family with them. Sad, to see at the end each one living separately after all they had to go through. And their kids did not get a positive impression from their adults either.

Moral: You'd better know well before you marry a woman with two kids. Oh, and the landscapes are gorgeous. A beautiful thing to watch.

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A Must-See for All family Members

This is a story that all members of your family should see... how the lifestyle in the 1883 Montana wilderness was one of simple pleasures with a lot of honest work. Thoroughly enjoyable viewing of the lives of three families. Once you start watching this excellent PBS production, you won't want to stop.

Fascinating Social Experiment

This series features six hour long episodes involving three 21st century families attempting to live as homesteaders in the Montana Territory of 1883. Historically speaking, the original homesteader families were required to farm the land for 5 years in order to gain ownership. But in "Frontier House" the families are only here for 6 months, with the major goal being to become prepared to survive the upcoming winter. In the end, the relative success or failure of each family is evaluated by a group of historical experts.

The Clunes are a wealthy family of six from California. They definitely come across as the least likable family. Gordon is an arrogant jerk who attempts to disrupt the authenticity of the project through various forms of "cheating". His wife whines about not being able to wear makeup and the kids are rather spoiled. But still I do have to give the family credit for toughing it out for the entire six months instead of quitting the project altogether. The wife and two teenage girls clearly don't want to be there. But even they admit, after coming home to California, that participating in this project did help them to become better people and to have more appreciation for the luxuries of modern life.

The Glenns are a middle class family from Pleasant View, Tennessee, just 10 miles down the road from where I now live. They have more of a background in "country living" and are generally more successful in adapting to the frontier than are the Clunes. Karen is an extraordinarily determined woman with a strong personality. Mark seems dissatisfied in his role as step father and there is alot conflict between Karen and he. But, unlike some other reviewers, I saw Mark as a basically decent guy. He clearly loves the frontier lifestyle and works very hard to keep things going. I think he and Karen just have incompatiable personalities. The Glenn kids are terrific, doing a great job with the animals and never complaining about the modern conviences they have to do without.

Nate Brooks is a great guy and it is terrific to see he and his father bonding so intensely while working together to build a cabin for Nate's fiancee, Kristen, who is arriving from Boston. The episode that ended with the wedding of Nate and Kristen is excellent. But afterwards it becomes evident that Kristen is a "city girl" who is not really prepared to endure the hardships of frontier life, especially her "woman's role" assigned tasks of cooking and cleaning. Still Nate keeps a great attitude throughout and even tries to serve as a peacemaker between the feuding Glenns and Clunes.

This is a terrific series, both entertaining and educational. I would recommend it to anyone.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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