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Schoolmarm
Member
02-18-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 7:34 am
This was a pretty good episode!
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Kep421
Member
08-11-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 8:23 am
I have issues with bus Dad's comment about the girls being the children and him being the parent and therefore, they have to live the way he wants to. While this statmement may be essentially a true statement, it comes with responsibilities also. At first, I was wary of the visiting mom coming in and changing the way the bus parents had decided to raise their daughters. I thought, no one really has the right to tell someone HOW they have to raise their child. But I was assuming that bus dad really did care about his children and wanted them to have what he considered the best. Boy, was that a wrong assumption!!! Bus dad wasn't home schooling the girls because he felt it was a better way to raise them, that concept is a total sham and fools NO ONE but the bus parents. His sole concern was himself and how he wants to live. He is very domineering and doesn't care what anyone thinks...he is going to do what he wants and everyone around him WILL tow the line according to his dicates... even if means ruining his daughter's lives. Bus Dad reminded me of Jonathan from AR in attitude. Visiting Mom hit the nail right dab smack on when she said bus dad was the biggest spoiled brat she'd ever seen. I agree with Sunshyne, those girls will be gone as soon as they can, and bus mom will be left to rock that spoiled brat on her own...
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Racsan
Member
04-09-2004
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 9:41 am
Wife Swap Article link fixed <QT>
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Brenda1966
Member
07-03-2002
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 9:41 am
bus dad was scary, almost cult like in his determination that the girls not socialize with anyone but the parents. I was so disappointed when the mom caved. Makes you wonder what kind of control he has over her. And What's he going to do with those girls when they are 20? Funeral family was great. So good to see a family really get something out of the experience.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 10:20 am
I can understand where bus dad was coming from regarding wanting to shelter your kids from the bad things that have been happening in schools lately. But they need to learn the social skills in order to survive in this world. But it's ok to have 2 young girls stay overnight at a truck stop.
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Hippyt
Member
06-15-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 10:34 am
I dunno,I just felt like bus dad didn't really care about what his kids were doing. Long as they were going along with him for his big,fun ride. The whole "I'm keeping them away from the bad things..." what a sham.
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Mssilhouette
Member
07-11-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 12:02 pm
I agree with what everyone posted (I think this is the first time most of us have agreed on our takes of the familes on this show) Bus Dad really concerened me at the final meeting. What got to me the most was him saying "If you don't stop talking now, I'm not going to speak" Now while some would say this is sounds exactly like a brat. I really felt, from the way the wife reacted, that this was more than a non speaking threat. Not that he would get physical but that something else would happen later. It reminded me of when a parent talks to a child. With the unsaid threat of "punishment" later on if they don't stop doing something. The Bus Mom has the will and strenght I really don't think it's about having a backbone, something else is going on there because the way the wife started bawling and saying "we don't have to talk about it anymore" was too quick a cave for me. Now to Bus Dad he, of couse, is the center of his universe with 3 women to cater to him and do as he says. I have a feeling that his past job he wasn't some high level executive and he had very little power at work. So at home he became Lord Master Surpreme and on the bus it's the same thing. But I do still think that Funeral Mom hit it on the head when she said he was afraid of something and he needed to face it. Personally it think it goes beyond just loss of control, I think it's that he will feel that he is not important and useless. So by being on the bus he has control,(he drives, he tinkers, he sets the trips) he is a success in his own mind. And no one will take that away from him. This so far was the only show that I had real concern for the kids. Those girls need to socalize so badly it's not just sad.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 12:14 pm
In the beginning they said bus dad was going thru a midlife crisis which is why he quit his job and the moved into a bus or something like that. So maybe that's why for now the bus mom is 'giving in'??
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Hippyt
Member
06-15-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 1:02 pm
Well,he needs to get over himself.
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Karuuna
Member
08-31-2000
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 1:19 pm
Racsan, your link just brought me to a search engine website? I agree, there was something very odd about how quickly Bus Mom caved in and said she would do whatever he decided. Eerie.
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Bubbakitty
Member
01-29-2005
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 1:49 pm
Karuuna I found the same problem with the link. There are 2 sets of http:// in front of the www., if you take out one of them you can get to the link. a few lines from the article: "The father is a loon … crazy as a loon," Pyke said. "He would not allow his girls to talk. If they began to speak, he would yell at them and they would shut their mouths." Pyke knows a thing or two about yelling as her confrontations with Smith demonstrate." " 'Want me to fix your hair,' I would ask the girls, and they would say, 'What's the purpose in that?' Everything in their life had to have a purpose. My kids would say, 'Hey, want to make Play-Doh out of dryer lint?' No purpose at all, but it's a heck of a lot of fun." " The girls loved having a home that wasn't on wheels, but Pyke said she overheard one of them saying she didn't want to enjoy herself too much because she knew she'd have to go back to her other life after the "Wife Swap" crew left" what sad way for the girls to grow up. I feel no sorry for the husband or wife - they are adults. but the children...so sad.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 1:52 pm
Bus Dad really concerned me at the final meeting. What got to me the most was him saying "If you don't stop talking now, I'm not going to speak" What I found really disturbing was the Bus-dad's red faced-wild eyed look when he said the above sentence. My dad used to get that look before he'd pop a cork. I think that this man is afraid or disturbed by the girls puberty. Not only are you getting older, your girls are changing infront of you. How can you control that? How can you try to keep them in a young children stage? isolate them. Keep them tight within your control. ((just a theory))
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Mssilhouette
Member
07-11-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 2:58 pm
Here's the article that Racsan posted about: LINK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reality TV 'Wife Swap' mom's new family 'dys-FUN-ctional' Michelle Pyke, a spunky mother from Henryville, Ind., left her workaholic funeral-home director husband and three sons to live in a cramped, converted bus with another family on "Wife Swap." Michelle Pyke met with Talia and Gillian Smith in the family's converted Greyhound bus. Pyke said she didn't think the girls knew how to have fun. By Tom Dorsey tdorsey@courier-journal.com Courier-Journal TV and Radio Critic You remember Roseanne, the fun-loving, good-hearted but sort of off-the-wall mom in the sitcom of the same name? If a network ever decides to resurrect that show, it wouldn't have to look any further than Michelle Pyke to play the lead. She's the Henryville, Ind., mom on "Wife Swap" tomorrow night at 10:02 on ABC. She could play the part without rehearsing. "Wife Swap" introduces Pyke, 35, horsing around with one of her three sons, ages 4 to 14, at their family home and having a high old time. She believes in spending her time with the kids instead of a vacuum cleaner. And Pyke doesn't hold anything back. She lets it all hang out. "Wife Swap," which follows women who switch homes and families for a week or so, thrives on matching up the most extreme opposites the producers can find. It looks like a copy of Fox's "Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy" (Mondays at 8 p.m.), but it's really the other way around. Fox, which is known in the industry for stealing program ideas, rushed "Trading Spouses" on the air after ABC announced "Wife Swap." The two reality shows are nearly identical with the difference being the $50,000 given to each family on the Fox version, while "Wife Swap" offers no prize. "Trading Spouses" also tends to be a bit more bizarre. (Last week one mommy saw spirits and brought in some ghost busters.) "Wife Swap" is more successful at 47th in the Nielsen season standings while "Trading Spouses" ranks 69th. It's not surprising that the producers of "Wife Swap" liked Pyke, a happy hugger who loves kids and describes herself as a "clutter bug." They coupled her with Andre Smith, an uptight, neatnick guy who doesn't think his 12- and 14-year-old daughters should be seen or heard very much at all, while sending his wife, Lynn, to live with Pyke's husband, Rick. The show destroys the myth that opposites attract. The other twist in this episode is that the Smith family lives in a bus, traveling from campground to campground. "It was a shock to say the least," Pyke said in a phone interview. "I don't camp, period. I do not care for the outside … so they put me with a family that lives at a campground … literally in an old Greyhound bus. … And the key word is old." It seems that Andre Smith, 43, got stressed out with his job, sold everything and moved his family onto a bus. Pyke thought the bus was a weekend thing and that they would be going home until she found out the bus was home. "I didn't want to do this. I'm from a little bitty town, and I imagined they would send me to a big city." Pyke's lifestyle and idea of family collided head-on with Smith's. "The father is a loon … crazy as a loon," Pyke said. "He would not allow his girls to talk. If they began to speak, he would yell at them and they would shut their mouths." Pyke knows a thing or two about yelling as her confrontations with Smith demonstrate. Their child-raising philosophy couldn't be much different. She said her household "is a happy chaotic home … very loud, and there are always friends over, always a boatload of fun … a lot of laughing. I don't have a lot of rules," Pyke explained. "If I'm fixing supper and if they want to have a Popsicle, I'm not the kind of parent who says, 'No you can't have one because it will ruin your supper. Big woo! It's not going to kill anybody to have dessert first. Let them have some fun. They're just little boys." Part of the reason Smith took his family on the road was to keep his daughters away from the sex and drugs in schools and neighborhoods. He and his wife, Lynn, 43, think children should toe the line and home-school them. Lynn Smith's big complaint with Rick Pyke, 37, is that he's not home much to help raise the kids, spending much of his time working as a funeral-home director. He pleads guilty and shows he's willing to change during the 10 days or so of taping. But Michelle Pyke and Andre Smith don't sound like they resolved much at all. "It broke my heart how strict everything was," she said. "They had one dresser bolted to the wall, and each family member had one drawer." Pyke didn't think the Smith girls knew how to have fun. " 'Want me to fix your hair,' I would ask the girls, and they would say, 'What's the purpose in that?' Everything in their life had to have a purpose. My kids would say, 'Hey, want to make Play-Doh out of dryer lint?' No purpose at all, but it's a heck of a lot of fun." She said all families have their quirks, but she makes no apologies for the Pyke clan being "dys-FUN-tional." She doesn't think father knows best at all in the Smith family. "Daddy is scared to death of the real world. That's why he's created this little environment." Pyke makes him park the bus, move into a house and let the girls go to local schools. "It was like cutting his arm off. One night he snuck back to the bus, so I had to take the key from him. … He's afraid, and he's tried to make the girls afraid." The girls loved having a home that wasn't on wheels, but Pyke said she overheard one of them saying she didn't want to enjoy herself too much because she knew she'd have to go back to her other life after the "Wife Swap" crew left. What did Pyke think she learned? "That I will never own an RV and that I'm thankful I have a husband who can admit he's wrong and apologize for it. I learned my kids are great, even if I already knew that." Would she do it again? "If I could leave positive fingerprints there, yes, I would. … But if I went there and opened these doors and showed them everything that could be and then when I left that door was slammed shut again, no, I wouldn't do it. I'd hurt for them."
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Karuuna
Member
08-31-2000
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 3:49 pm
Ya know, this reminds me of a friend of mine, whose parents were the extreme version of Bus Dad. They grew up as isolationists, mom and dad didn't have driver's licences, or social security cards as well as no permanent address. Because they lived in their mobile home, and they had none of the traditional ID, the gov't couldn't trace them or tax them. They had some other issues, but the key issue was that dad had a severe paranoid personality disorder. Every thing and everybody in the world was dangerous; and that's what he taught his kids too. And he kept them in line with his rage. I don't think Bus Dad is quite that bad, just a less severe form of the same illness. What gets me is why the heck he would agree to this show?
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Kep421
Member
08-11-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 5:09 pm
Rumor is Kar, they were looking for sponsor's for their bus. The only reason he agreed to the show was he thought it would generate a source of income to keep traveling...
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 5:10 pm
I would how up to date he is on his taxes..........LOL
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Ga_kristy
Member
02-04-2005
| Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 5:20 pm
Wonder if he is crazy enough to believe he could teach the other family to pack up and live on a bus!
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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, February 18, 2005 - 10:18 am
On Regis and Kelly today, Kelly was plugging her Hope & Faith sitcom which airs tonight. She said it will be a takeoff on a WIFESWAP episode and was filmed exactly as though it were the wife swap show (ie no studio audience, one hour episode, no laugh track etc). Kelly's character will be changing places with Wynona Judd. If you like Wifeswap it may be worth a look? I can't say as I haven't seen either show.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Friday, February 18, 2005 - 7:50 pm
I saw some of the teasers for the Hope and Faith show. It looks pretty over the top but just like a few of the episodes of Wifeswap ROTFL. Wifeswap does seem to like more contraversy than TS.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 6:51 am
It was hysterical!!! Of course it was over the top, it was satire. I am not really surprise that they show did a spoof on a reality show. Kelly is a huge fan.
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 8:39 am
LOL I enjoyed Hope and Faith! Also TAlk Soup on E did a snippet of the Bus swap... when she was yelling at Andre to be a man, you cant even plug in your bus without a cheerleader... well "PLUG IN YOUR BUS" lol, the comment was that plug in your bus sounds like a sexual inuendo, but it really means to plug in the bus!!
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Watching2
Member
07-07-2001
| Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 1:05 pm
My teen son who usually sits here at the computer while I watch the actual show came and plopped down for a bit to watch the Hope & Faith version. He said it was good someone was finally making fun of "that show." Well, since they're both ABC shows, I'm sure ABC had no problem with it getting more attention any way it can. I thought it was hysterical, too.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 7:36 pm
Missed the show Oh well, Jonny Zero is on at the same time and I just plain forgot. Geesh that guy is gorgeous! The show itself isnt bad either (hee hee)
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Rslover
Member
11-19-2002
| Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 6:16 pm
I usually don't watch Hope and Faith but taped this one. It actually was well written and very funny. It sounded like the real narrator from Wife Swap too. Wynona was hysterical, "Faith, do you rent this room out by the hour?"
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 8:10 pm
Ok now tonight's ep is bringing out alot of myths.
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