Back to the Frontier

I remember loving an older PBS series similar to this, so I was excited to watch Back to the Frontier. Sadly, the camera operators are right up beside the families and are way too noticeable. Also, you can tell the families are acting out scripted dialogue and contrived conflict. Watching them figure out how to cook and build is fun, and the grandmother is the star of the bunch with her life experience. I just wish the show creators had chosen to pull the cameras back where they don't interfere so much and resisted the urge to script so much of each episode.

The concept of going back to an earlier time, and trying to live as families did then, was really interesting. I settled in to watch the first 3 episodes. On the surface, the selected families looked intriguing. But the minute they arrived at the homestead site, everything came crumbling down. I realized these folk have never explored history, watched history--or even cared to find out anything about the time period in which they were now supposed to live.

One parent began by having a huge meltdown when she had to remove her make up!? Her teen girls handled that better. Yikes. It was embarrasing to watch.

Horrified about an outhouse?

A Dad about to faint at the sight of a BUG??

Crying because you have to eat canned food?

I found myself laughing out loud.

They had so much already provided for them. Yet that was not enough for them.

Wahhh, wahhh, wahh! Whine, whine...

Y'all better leave now. I know I did. I may wait until the final episode drops, and then take another peek, to see how it all ends, but until then...this show is off my must watch list. Recommended for laughs only.

It feels like these people have never seen anything like the series 1883. I have to wonder what they were told before they signed on. I really love the concept, and the exploration of going back to a simpler time. The real simpler time. Not the romanticized version Hollywood so often gives us. 1883 was one of the best things I've ever seen on tv. It felt real.

So, basically love the concept, but... These 3 families are so American, it's incredibly cringe. Snooty teen age girls, overly materialistic guys. It's the American nightmare. I'm currently watching the first episode. I hope I make make it to episode 2.

3 families try to live the 1880 homesteading life. They seem to have no knowledge of history. They arrive in summer by car and only for the summer. They are given a homestead with a shelter, furniture, food, outhouse and crops and they do nothing but whine and complain. Real homesteaders would travel for weeks, if not months by wagon, without roads. Arrive tired to nothing but raw land. An outhouse is a luxury and they complain about it. They are given a shelter where real homesteaders would be living in a tent or wagon till they built something.ready for winter. Have they never heard of the Donner Party? These are people who have never camped, never been hungry, unaware of how most of the world lives and unable.to appreciate what they have. They have modern medical support and law enforcement something real homesteaders could not even dream of. They know they can tap out of the show, real homesteaders faced death if things went wrong. I hope the families are not representive of Americans, but fear they are.

As others have said in their reviews the concept of the show is fantastic and a really fun idea.

Watching people live out the lifestyle of frontier America is a huge contrast to modern life and an interesting watch.

However the families chosen seem like a strange fit for the environment.

They don't seem to have many practical skills and there doesn't seem to be any real urgency for them to learn any since their homes and necessities have been pre built and given to each family.

Building one's own home would be a huge challenge and one that could have been a way to bring the families together in it's requirement for cooperation but instead the challenge just seems to be going without WiFi in a shed in the woods.

Since I've only seen the first episode I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt but it doesn't give much hope for the show as it continues.