Re: FLUXLIST: WifeSwap

[Rod Stasick]

I think a good sit down with Mrs. and Master aND while watching an episode may be the antidote. I've only seen one, but I've seen many of the different preview bits and I'm wondering what it is  about your life that they've decided can be put in a nutshell? I would ask yourself what it is that is the "opposite" of your lifestyle? They've paired biker vs hippie...rich glamour vs hog farmer... bible beater vs new ager...  (Of course, I've wondered if I'd have to sleep  with the woman considering that there's only one bed in this 3 bedroom house...and bringing in an extra bed would, itself, introduce an unnatural situation...) One thing is for sure: it is conflict-based programming  without an ounce of redemption. The producers do not  want 2 people passively observing and "putting up with" the other's peculiarities, but, rather, a situation where control is of the  utmost importance. They will try to match 2 different lifestyles where there will be at least one person that will exert control over the other. By what little I know of you, it seems as tho you may NOT be that kind of person, SO, you must be  prepared to be paired with someone who'll be damned  if she's gonna put up with your current household because that's what the producers will try to find. The one episode that I DID see was the bible/tarot that I mentioned earlier. When the show was unable  to make the mild-mannered new age fellow look bad thru his actions (he really bent over backwards  for the WAY over-the-top righteous woman), they proceeded to create tension between he and his wife by having the crying, distraught, really WACK X-tian woman meet with this man's wife near the end of the show. Of course, the new age wife thought that her husband had browbeat this woman and he had some 'splainin' to do when she got home at the end of the week. At least when PBS sends someone out to live in the 1800's something is learned and appreciated by all involved (including the viewers), but in the case of mass hypnosis TV, it's just... send in the cleaning crew and clean the blood off the kitchen floor and on to the next idea. (By the way, next week you can watch famous figure skaters leaving trails of blood on the ice for your amusement!) As for the subverting...I'd grab a nice handheld camera and for as much time as you could muster, point that thing back at them (remember that you'll have at least 2 or 3 young people with shoulder-mounted cameras surrounding you. I caught a glimpse of this during the psychotic X-tian freakout), and then use the Fluxus art=life=art excuse and see how long  THEY would put up with it! ...and something tells me that you better read the contract carefully... good luck, Rod