Texas Ranch House

Is anyone out there as obsessed with The PBS History House shows as much as I am? I liked Colonial House and I loved Frontier House so I was excited to watch the latest series Texas Ranch House. The idea behind the show is that a group of people volunteer to live for 2 1/2 months as the people during a historical time period lived.

Texas Ranch House is set in 1867. Many ranches in Texas were abandoned during the civil war and wild longhorn thrived so after the war families hired cowboys and set out to make their fortune. How often have we heard people say things like, "I couldn't have survived back then," or, "I would have loved to live back then when things were so simple." This shows gives people a chance to experience what life really would have been like.

I think the most interesting part of the show is when people start to struggle with the social constraints of their new roles. Previews show that the woman who was hired as the "Woman of all work" thought she would be doing more than just house work, when she gets to the ranch she settles into her designated role, but she gets sick of it and decides she wants to be a cowgirl. I'm not sure how they're going to deal with that. They have a lot of consultants who try to make the show historically accurate, and they throw in unexpected events that might have happened (like at the end of the last episode Native Americans took all of the horses while the ranchers were sleeping).

Anyway, I know I'm a nerd for admitting that I love this show, and I probably bored my friend Katherine to death with it last night since most of the drama is just getting started, but I can't help it; I love this show! Come on, it's reality TV minus all of the trash and it's actually educational. How can you go wrong?

Oh, did I mention that I was supposed to watch less TV this week? My friend Alicia keeps a list of a few of her favorite TV shows and that is all that she allows herself to watch. I think I need to adopt her method because I waste so much time in front of the TV watching junk I don't even care about, but I just zone out and sit there. I could be so much more productive if I would just stick to a few favorite shows. But hello, Texas Ranch House is on every night this week so I guess I'll have to start next week instead. I think I might need to order one of these stick-on quotes to keep myself inspired (Wonderful Graffiti is one of my favorite Web sites, They have such cool decorating ideas).