Colonial House

The "colonists" do not appear to have understood what they were signing up for, and are unwilling to forget the 21st century, as they would need to, to do their job properly. Instead, laws that would have been strictly applied in the 1600s are bent, broken, or abandoned. A colonist was allowed to simply because he no longer felt like participating. Family emergencies are understandable grounds for leaving, as is having leaving assigned due to the role you were cast in.

Women were second-in-line to men - this is something all the women should have understood before signing on board. Yes, occasionally, there were exceptions - but not often. Indentured servants were barely above slaves. That was how things were, and how things are now should not have been brought in.

The younger children should have been working as well, for while they would have had some play time, everyone pitched in in those days.

While the idea of building a house probably seemed great, the colony might have done better to add on to an existing house, or something like that - less work to do, more time to work for sending things back to England.

Many things could have been done differently, but I won't list them all here. I will simply say a lot could probably have been done better, both preparing these colonists for their roles, and then the colony could have been managed better.

I have no idea if they passed or failed - that episode comes on later tonight. But if I were the judge, they would fail. I doubt, had they been a colony then, that they would have made it through full year, or even a winter.

This series is *much* weaker than either "Frontier House" or "Manor House". None of the volunteers ever really tried to act colonial. The participants had no clue about teamwork, unity, or community. Mostly, they spent valuable time whining and bickering.

The women griped about the lack of women's lib. The atheists griped about church. The "colonists" slept until 10.00am every day, drank, and cursed. A gay guy came out of the closet (a death sentence in the 1600's).

These fools would have either starved or murdered each other if they were *really* in the 17th century. The concept was good, but the volunteers ruined the experiment.

The colonists, especially Mrs. Vorhees seemed focused on living as 21st Century folks without modern conveniences, instead of acting as period people. For example, if she had gotten to know the lay-preacher better, she would have seen he was play-acting as a Bible thumper. He may have even been willing to explore some of her views. Instead, she saw this as a forum for her opinion, rather than playing along with the experiment.

If I were in charge I would have applied post-industrial revolution division of labor. I would have found the best sawyer, and had him cut it all--firewood, marine spars, etc. The field work would have been divided also, and I would have bucked the rules and plowed in rows instead of mounds. And speaking of farming, would not goat dung have acted as a viable fertilizer?

Okay, back to the people. I thought the people should have been more focused on the economic part more than on personal comforts. Jeff seemed too concerned about his leadership rather than the economics. He should have taken the trade with the indians, and not stonewalled them. Also, as someone suggested on this website, it was a waste of time and talent to build the separate house for the new family. That could have waited (or been done along side the production of spars). The divided labor could have said "Ten spars, ten beams for a house . . ."

Overall, I liked this one better than the others--the worst being Manor House (which was also filled with whiners, especially the chef and kitchen crew). Anyway, I think I could adapt to the circumstances of these shows if I was single. However, with a family it would be very difficult.

Bruce

I enjoyed the program. Something different and fun to watch; especially Don Wood. Great attitude and hardworking man...etc. Does anyone know what he does now and how he is? Dana DeLaplante

I am a huge Colonial House fan. I watch it about once a year and it never fails to move me and make me appreciate how much life has changed in 400 years.

So many of the reviews have been very harsh about the cast members failure to completely transform into eager colonists. The living conditions and drudgery that these people endured for FOUR months was astounding. I think people are so used to watching commercial television reality shows that they really fail to appreciate the magnitude of difference between this experiment and a show like Survivor. The first season of survivor took 37 days to film, Colonial house was 120! For 120 days the cast went without access to running water, showers, toilet paper, most foods, fresh produce other than blueberries, mirrors, vehicles, telecommunications, electricity, mirrors, shampoo and hundreds of other everyday items. They ate off of insect covered dishes, consumed rancid bacon and bacteria covered salted fish and mountains of dried peas. When they boarded the boat at the start of the series they didn't know if they would be a servant, governor, a freeman etc. Another important difference between other reality shows in Colonial House is that the cast of Colonial House wasn't competing for 100K dollars. From my point of view there was very little joy to be had and I think the cast made a huge effort and is fascinating to watch and get to know.

The other common criticism of the show is how indifferent the governor and council were towards colonial era laws. The show clearly documented the struggles they experienced in enforcing those laws. Half of the labor force was staked out in isolation at one point for various infractions. It was deemed too disabling to continue so some compromises were made. There were some people on the show who were more willing to commit than others.

If you want to see a bunch of people instantly transform into happily industrious automaton pilgrims for four months, this show will disappoint. If you want to take a really good look at how our physical and social worlds have transformed in 400 yeas, Colonial House is time well spent.