OT A new PBS show?

[Rusty]

I just got up around 4 PM after working all night and fliped on the idiot box. PBS has a show on that I've never seen before. It's called "Texas Ranch House." It looks like it's done in the same format as the other shows they've done that tried to recreate an earlier time in history. This on is about a cattle ranch in 1867 Texas. The show is going off as I write this and they're saying the DVD of the entire show is for sale for $49.95.

They covered a bit of the history behind the buffler soldiers on this show and deal with today's conflicts in an 1867 setting. Too liberal a slant to be too real IMHO. It looks like there might be some good history lessons here if anyone is interested.

It comes on again later tonight here.

[deerwhacker444]

IIRC, that PBS show would not let the participants wear or use firearms to accurately recreate how to live in 1867. ie, no hunting to provide meat or protect the herd.

The show lost alot of credibility to me. They want to make believe it's 1867 without showing a complete depiction of what really happened.

[JReed]

Cool I will have to check it out.

[runfiverun]

they said iircc that during that time period that ther were game laws
and you were only allowed to hunt during the proper season.
same thing that was said about the three families that were frontier settlers in montana.

i think i laughed for 30-40 minutes over that one, come on these
people were a days walk from the tradin post and were hungry.
yeah i am gonna wait till october, hope i can walk to the far side of the field by then.

[RSY]

Wasn't that about 40 years too early for hunting seasons???

[Comal Forge]

They did several of these shows - one was the Texas ranch house, one was about early Iron age living and one was on portage up the St Lawrence - there may have been a fourth but I'm blanking at this moment. None of the shows are historically correct since they give no credence to hunting, fishing or gathering animals by trapping or other means. They are simply too worried about being PC. The shows are made up of people who can afford not to work for a couple of months and/or scholars who are on sabbatical. Subsequently, they turn into shows that resemble "Survivor" or "Lost" instead of a learning experience. In addition, they always have the safety net of knowing they'll be rescued if something goes wrong - not a luxury the pioneers had.

[Rusty]

Yea, I remember watching the one about the families on the prairie. One of the fathers was heart broken because he'd bought his own Shiloh Sharps IIRC. He brought it to the show and they wouldn't let him use it.

[kimwcook]

Game seasons? 1860's? You've got to be kidding. The only game season was how many you could kill and eat.

[CJM]

My mom has little good to say about these shows. She grew up in Northern Wyoming in places where luxury meant the well hand pump was inside and the lanterns had the new mantles so they gave off a lot more light. She said that everything shown on how to live without electricity etc was either the hard way or the wrong way to do it. She was very critical of their dish and clothes washing methods, says it was a wonder they didn't all get sick.

[Hobie]

I've watched those shows and I'd have survived better living on my own! Really they are more an attempt by PBS to draw the Survivor/reality TV crowd and no real attempt is made at accuracy. I think it was in the Iron Age show they let one woman wear her glasses! Lots were likely just as blind as we were, it would have been REALITY to let her suffer along without eyesight. If you have ever done that you WILL appreciate the little advances we have now.

[Jaguarundi]

The first show got me ! (The early 17th century Puritan colonial settlement-Oprah visited in one episode).The family that went skinney dipp'n instead of Puritan church services.Did the producers every hear of the Salem witch trails.