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Auntiemike
Member
09-17-2001
| Saturday, November 06, 2004 - 2:48 pm
Not sure if this is the correct place to begin a post for this show. I am hoping others have caught the first episode of this "reality" dating show, in an 1800's setting, in England. The actual people are all single and hoping for a match but they must comply with the rules of the day....chaperones are ever present and protocol is well established, as is social position. It is really quite interesting and fun to watch. Anyone out there who has seen it and enjoyed it?
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Puppylov3
Member
01-26-2004
| Saturday, November 06, 2004 - 5:57 pm
I watched it. I found it interesting. Loved the narration that explained all of the historical stuff and social cusoms/etiquite of the time (like the bathing - ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww). And classes within in classes - OH MY! I love historical reality like this - things like 1900 House, 1940 House, Manor House, the Colonial House from last spring, Frontier House. I watch every one of em I find.
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Fabnsab
Member
08-07-2000
| Sunday, November 07, 2004 - 4:53 pm
I watched this too. I thought I was the only one so I didn't start a thread. Thanks for doing so, Auntiemike. I liked the show alot. I am a Jane Austen and regency romance novel fan so this show is giving me a backdrop for all things I have only imagined before. I found it hard to remember everyones stations though. I know they would put their name up but I still forgot where they ranked from 1-5. I liked how the hostess is taking her job seriously and not allowing them to step out of character. The one thing I didn't like was the engagement. From what I understand, that woould be social suicide to break off something like that and so quickly. The companion would probably be sent away because of the scandal. I have a feeling I will wish this were more than 4 episodes when its over.
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Biscottiii
Member
05-29-2004
| Sunday, November 07, 2004 - 8:19 pm
Hi everyone! I totally love these PBS House shows too. So interesting while being educational. However, I have a confession. I usually tape them so that I have at least two episodes to watch. Otherwise I go nuts, having to wait a week for the next installment. I'm really eager, may break down and watch it early this time, since I'm seeing a thread here. http://www.pbs.org/previews/regencyhouse/ This is really interesting, gives background to the people and house itself. huh????..."The house has been restored to its period splendor, electricity and plumbing have been stripped out and an authentic interior provided - right down to the 32 chamber pots, including the unisex pot used right in the dining room. " ??? Usually the PBS website shows more, but so far this is all I've found.
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Riviere
Member
09-09-2000
| Monday, November 08, 2004 - 6:35 am
I watch it (being an old history freak) though my English ancestors were in USA by 1635 and later rebelled for independence. How ironic many old traditions they brought stayed with them anyway! The engagement was simply "not done" in reality, for the servant and a gentleman. No, he'd have perhaps had an assignation with her discreetly. He wouldn't have met her at a house party then immediately flaunted his attraction to her right in front of his peers and the ladies. Romance of 2 such different social classes wasn't carried on openly. It's 1811, right? Then the hermit.. Oh isn't he cute? Again, the servant would never have dared walk to his cabin alone nor would she have ventured anywhere 24/7 that her mistress the hostess didn't know about. Ladies didn't do that in those days, highborn nor servants! Then you figure IF by a zillion to 1 chance the servant wrangled an engagement from a gentleman who so desired her above ladies of his class, she quite stupidly threw her future away. She should have been chaperoned at all times once engaged.. Ah well, the show is not following tradition so why quibble that once again modern women find it very difficult to get into character? The men have no problem drinking, gambling, sporting. If the women would play their parts what could happen? It might go from an amateur Harlequin Romance to an accurate portrayal of arranged weddings? The women were supposed to be demure with hearts all a flutter to be noticed by worthy gentlemen their parents arranged to meet.. So it sort of lost me already when women don't try very hard to be in 1811...
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Gigglesalot
Member
08-14-2003
| Monday, November 08, 2004 - 11:32 am
Overall, I'm enjoying this show. I wish I could watch more than one episode at a time, though, to solidify the names and ranks. By the end of the episode I have a good understanding and then I have sit on my hands for a week and when the new episode airs I spend the first 30 to 45 minutes trying to remember who is who. But don't you just love PBS with their great programming and no commercials!
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Monday, November 08, 2004 - 5:45 pm
I started watching this show thinking it was silly....but after a little building of the characters it has grown on me. I LOVED Sense and Sensibility! (drool! Young Colin Firth! sigh) Anyways, back to my rant. I love the Costumes and the house/ lands. I love the fact that most people seem to be TRYING to follow the rules. The ONLY complaint I have is with the Young Lady who is the Countess with Russian? heritage. Her cropped off hair and modern glasses RUIN the premise. Surely something could have been done. As for the dating part of the show, well, human nature will work its magic. Put a group of people together and they will 'pair off'. HEY, they even do it on BigBrother LOL. Unfortunately, in reality in the 1700 and 1800s, the couples who are enamoured with each other were often married NOT really knowing each other. Everyone had their ROLES in the household and I dont feel LOVE played a part in the choices for a mate. Social status and dowry did... In a lot of ways our society is the same now. Donald Trump would not be marrying an exstripper, nor would Brad Pitt be seen with a waitress. It is just the way it is....and we accept it, even in this day and age.
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Biscottiii
Member
05-29-2004
| Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 1:13 am
I decided to watch the first episode last night, tonight taped the 2nd episode. I'm having a problem hearing after a cold so, even with the sound cranked up full bore, it was a little difficult to keep up. First off (I had forgotten from a trip to Europe decades later, in '77) seeing their LACK of clean drinking water was making me crazy!!! I ended up with 2 glasses of H2O, two-fisted chugging while I watched. I like a drink as much as the next one, but the chugging with breakfast - - yikes! No wonder they're such a lively lot! Can't imagine Ale mixes well with scrambled eggs and bland sausage. With our sweet soft water from taps here in Seattle, I truly love lemon slices floating. It never occurred to me to use the lemon under the armpits. Wonder if it works, or just makes the ladies a little zestier?
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Biscottiii
Member
05-29-2004
| Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 1:17 am
Riviere, I see your points about the engagement and the hermit. I think sometimes PBS scripts a little, takes a bit of license, so that they can interject and describe some points they want to make. (For instance, during Colonial House, where the Gay guy came 'out' during the sermon. Not on your life gonna happen in those days, he would have been dead or banished. But PBS wants to cover the 'what happened in those days situations'.) WOW! That horrible nasty old lady running the house (while finding a mate for the master of the hse) SURE has gotten into HER role, hasn't she? Probably true to form, but I personally would have been running out, screaming like a banshee, in the first 10 minutes!
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 2:36 am
This show is a huge disappointment for me. I watched it tonight enjoying the lovely countryside and historical bits thrown in for effect. ie/ explanations of what Dandies are. Loved it!! Anyways, no one seems to be really trying to stay in the period of the Regency. That old chaperone carrying on with the 29yr old was kinda disgusting. There would have been no way that the "chances were are going to have sex is 99%" comment made my mouth drop open. For a man to 'carry on' with someone outside his station in life would most likely mean he would be CUT OFF from the family fortune as well as dishonor the family. The pouty girl who refused to follow decorum and FOUGHT with her chaperone was disgusting and she should have been removed....but then again, later in the show the girls DRESSED up as men (another HUGE taboo!!) and tryed to bust into the Men Only party. Why even TRY to pretend to be historical when the producers seem to be making NO EFFORT to keep the show legitimate?? Anyways, I will sort of watch the last episodes ..just to see. I am sure it will only get worse. (yeah, I know, I am a grump)
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Riviere
Member
09-09-2000
| Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 2:54 pm
Sunshyne, welcome to the club for grumpy viewers of these PBS history reality shows!!! They just get more disappointing each episode, don't they? Biscottiii, good observation, too much license is taken by the players as well as PBS.. I'd think, when you sign on for one of these historically correct shows it shouldn't be about playing dress up only to have your 2004 persona bleed through. Lazy players who do not follow their character's realistic path get banished, just as it would have been done in the reality of the day.. Only other parallel is Big Brother goes 1811, and they wear period clothes, have no electricity, and use chamberpots, but act about the same? BORING... BigBro bores me to tears anyway without hearing them snipe about corsets & boiling all the water... Colonial House and Frontier House ended up in the same boat. Millennium folks just don't do time travel well enough to stay in character! Would take a very special player with history savvy to enjoy having the same experience their ancestors did. Regency House is the cakewalk of them all with no demanding chores. They still can't do it right?
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Puzzled
Member
08-27-2001
| Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 6:55 pm
This is the first "House" show that has really, really disappointed me, for all the reasons everyone has given. I think this would have been much more effective if they had hired actors and actresses and scripted it.
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Biscottiii
Member
05-29-2004
| Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 9:53 pm
Hey, good points everyone! But Puzzled, if they hired actors that would lose the whole point, and just turn it into another movie. One gripe I had in Colonial Hse - the woman (wife of the council man) in real life was an Atheist. Why even be IN the show? Didn't the potential players get any notice, historical info up front? Like, you're going to church meetings daily and all day on Sundays too. Probably PBS couldn't oust her, because that would cause a fuss about religious discrimination. But why would the lady try to sabotage the project? IMO, that's what she did. (Personally, I'm not religious and the church mtgs would have kept me from applying. Maybe that's why I don't have sympathy for her position. If her husband and son insisted they wanted to do this - fine, send them off and enjoy some quiet time at home. IMHO) I STILL have to laugh over Frontier Hse. That rich guy was so offended when he got the report card that they would have failed. AFTER, they showed how he and the wife had wire bed springs pulled out of the nearby dump to sleep on & hidden under their blankets. ROTFL
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 10:15 pm
Yeah I agree. The mentality of the present seems to ruin the integrity of each experimental "house"type realityshow. The CHEATING rich people cracked me up on Frontier House. The best part for my family was when the father dropped down to his prime 'in shape' bodyweight and he DEMANDED a doctor as he thought he was starving to death. After all, He'd never been so 'terribly thin' ROTFL!!!!!!! Colonial House had more poor casting than just the Atheist woman. Wasnt there a Coming Out Gay guy too? In both cases I would suggest that the people of the day would have excommunicated them from the town. I was(and AM) disappointed that the producers seem more interested in conflict then trying to be authentic.}
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Puzzled
Member
08-27-2001
| Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 2:16 pm
Hi Biscotti! I think it would have made a great documentary with actors--they could have all the interesting narrative about how things were done, and there could have been some good drama about who ended up marrying/not marrying whom. Besides the fact that these participants don't even seem to be trying--except for the drunken revelries--I just can't buy the "pretend" courting.
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Riviere
Member
09-09-2000
| Thursday, November 18, 2004 - 4:02 am
The maids and housemen are real!!! What a relief seeing them gossip as 1811 counterparts would have and still do their jobs without breaking character. The horses are real, too!!! Or I think they are... Ideal Regency House society marriage? Lord of the Manor with the Countess These posts are so fun to read and they all ring true! PBS might consider what campy cult classic material their historic 'reality' shows offer us history buffs and the laughs & groans we have.
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Eacollins
Member
10-30-2003
| Thursday, November 18, 2004 - 9:15 am
I'm glad I'm not the only one who is wincing through this show. Still I am learning things.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Friday, November 19, 2004 - 1:39 am
yes I am too!! I like the historical info we are given...such as how Pugalism (barefist fighting) was against the law yet still done anyways. I rolled my eyes at the woman of colour who was supposed to suddenly be the 'most important' woman of the house thus forcing the Countess from her room and status. That just wasnt done at that time period. They were extremely class conscious and your family history was very important. An industrial RICH family could be well to do for years yet STILL be considered commoners. A Black musician / wandering mistral was NOT considered PART of the upper class. They were merely accepted as entertainers and welcomed as status-symbols. As someone in present times may brag that they have a Home Entertainment Room and widescreenTV during the Time of Regency House they would have bragged about whom they had invited to their house to entertain. I feel that the producers were trying to be too politically correct. For generations MANY countries in Europe as well as Britain were stealing people from Africa to USE as slaves. This is how things got started in North America...they had done it for 100s of years. I am sure a small population were vocal against it......but it was completely accepted. anyways, I dont have any links. Just bits and pieces I remember from reading thru the years.
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Saturday, November 20, 2004 - 7:38 am
Aaaack... I thought I posted here, wonder where I did post! I thought I'd share a link that has info on the Regency Period... Regency Period and also this Articles on History of Great Britain I love reading Regency period books, some authors are much better than others of course, but I enjoy this site, its light reading... I also didnt get involved in this show for many of the reasons already stated! I will say I enjoy looking at their clothes (and the cravaets) as that is often mentioned in the books I seem to be addicted to!!
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