Frontier House
by Maro Chermayeff, Nicolas Brown
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DVD details
Actor: Adrienne Clune, Aine Clune, Kristen Brooks, Nate Brooks, Rudy BrooksDirector: Maro Chermayeff, Nicolas Brown
Brand: PBS
Producer: Maro Chermayeff
Producer: Nicolas Brown
Producer: Alex Graham
Producer: Beth Hoppe
Producer: Mark Saben
Producer: Micah Fink
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS (Direct)
DVD Reviews of Frontier House
DVD Review: loved this show
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this show fascinating. My 9 year old daughter loved it too. We found it very educational and at the end of it, I really wished my family could experience the same kind of experiment.
I have to disagree with many of the other viewers though. While I found the Clunes tough to watch in the beginning, I really came to respect them for what they were open to and what they allowed themselves to learn.
The Glens seemed like a family that had major issues before they began. While their children were wonderful, Karen seemed very immature in her ability to relate and get along with others. Her husband seemed very closed off, but mostly just broken. Karen on the other hand seemed at times to be very angry. I feel badly for her because I don't think she realizes how she comes across.
The Brooks are as wonderful as all the other reviewers wrote. Good example of people who are kind.
All and all, this was a great show!
DVD Review: Love it!
Summary: 5 Stars
We do not watch TV; we prefer reading with our children, and have been reading about the western expansion. Therefore taking time to just chill out and watch a DVD of modern day families attempting to go west under the same circumstances was quite educational and entertaining. DVD Review: This isn't just about 1883...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is about people. Summery - Three families - well two families and a family to be - are given two weeks training on how to live as 1883 settlers on the frontier for five months. They have to use only items, tools, equipment from the time period and only have so much in supplies and credit at the general store. It is amazing, wonderful, funny and, sometimes, sad. They learned how to use the tools, they learned about cooking, animal care, keeping clean, building the houses and riding horses. They found out that there was no toilet paper, no makeup and no tampons.
I think, at first, people kind of attach themselves to one of the families. I found myself leaning towards the Glenn Family. They seem spirited and strong while the Clune Family seemed spoiled and complained A LOT. But as I got to see how the Clune Family got together, used their resources, and, even in the harsh times, showed some humor I started to lean towards them. Of course the Glenn Family also kind of imploded. There is a thin line between micro-management and nit-picking. Yes there was some cheating, breaking of the rules. Or is it trading baked goods with the natives?
The Brooks Family REALLY impressed me. They were loving, supportive, even of the other families, seemed to take tiny, careful, steps in deciding how to expand their homestead and building up their resources. It was a major event in their lives. They really focused on the basics - food, their animals and their long term future.
It was also interesting to see how the kids handled the problems of life on the frontier and how they kind of bonded during their last few weeks while in school. It was also interesting to see them two months after it was all done. The girls in the Clune Family, for example, seemed to be uncomfortable in their string bikinis while in front of the camera. Had their old fashion outfits, which sometimes covered them from neck to ankle, awaken in them a sense of modestly?
I don't want to say too much but the two DVDs, even without the extras in the form of special features, could be used in classes of history or even team management classes.
Many of the reviews you have seen talk about the breaking of the rules and, frankly, I think you have to decide about that on your own. Did the settlers have rules? At least 19th Century settlers could hunt, which gave them a good supply of food, furs and skins to trade, and maybe a sense of protection that these modern settlers did not have. Given, for example, deer skins and salted meat every few weeks, could they have focused more on chopping wood and bring in the hay? Maybe?
Would they have survived the winter? If they had known they would be facing a winter would they have tried harder? Worked together? Eaten each other? Maybe.
DVD Review: Entertaining voyage into the past
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this show. It was interesting, informative, historical and entertaining. You got to like some families and to dislike the others, watching them endure hardships, become industrious, learn how to live as homesteaders and see if they can make it through the change in seasons.
The way their experience unfolds is full of surprises and adventures and in the end the familise learn more about themselves and their relationships in the process.
Definately a must-see dvd if you like reality TV and history.
DVD Review: Time Travel Is Possible
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Description of Frontier House
Studio: Pbs Release Date: 05/05/2009 Run time: 360 minutesBased 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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