Patterico's Pontifications

2/12/2009

A Compelling Trainwreck

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:36 pm



I don’t watch much TV and never watch reality shows, but Hot Air has posted a series of excerpts from a reality series, and I got completely drawn in. It’s a “wife swap” between a family of small-town, obese, intellectually incurious middle Americans, and a family of unbelievably snooty, fit urbanites. By the end, you end up feeling like three of the four main players are basically decent individuals. The fourth is a stunningly supercilious and rude Brit who is completely in character as he calls the middle-American wife a “stupid redneck” in front of his children. Allahpundit calls him “the most hated man on the Internet” — and wonders why the middle-American husband doesn’t kick his ass. Click here to watch and you’ll agree.

20 Responses to “A Compelling Trainwreck”

  1. And when I say “basically decent” I’m being charitable, frankly — but in contrast to the Brit, they’re angels.

    Patterico (cc3b34)

  2. The best part, Patterico, is the snob’s wife dissed him on her website, stating that he apparently needed therapy. Then he wrote this long weird apology.

    But then, what kinds of people would volunteer to be on television in this fashion? Neurotic parakeets, I’m thinking.

    Eric Blair (ec334b)

  3. The one episode of ‘Wife Swap’ I’ve seen I found utterly mesmerizing.

    In this case: the man is an ***hole.

    aphrael (9e8ccd)

  4. And this is fun, if you want to know more about this (fill in the blank with British slang):

    http://blog.stephenfowlersucks.com/

    Eric Blair (ec334b)

  5. Cyrus but British?

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  6. Comment by daleyrocks — 2/12/2009 @ 10:26 pm,

    Better be careful, you might be the next target of irksome litigation.

    Soronel Haetir (cabedb)

  7. I don’t know, daley… You tell me:

    http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/01bjcPk63679n/610x.jpg

    Eric Blair (ec334b)

  8. Wife Swap needed a ratings boost. When in doubt, find an uberjerk. That is what Survivor did first year with Richard Hatch.

    No complaints really, the guy deserves to be vilified and brought this on himself, but Wife Swap producers and staff undoubtably looked for someone of his “talents.”

    Joe (17aeff)

  9. What are you guys talking about?

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  10. I saw this when it aired. Better Half turned the channel as she was afraid I was going to stick my fist through the new 72″ plasma.

    JD (c6800b)

  11. Yeesh. Where’s a runaway steamroller when you need one?

    The way the state of California’s luck has been going lately, next thing you know, it’ll be announced that Mr. Fowler will turn out to be the father of all 14 of Nadya Suleman’s children. 😉

    qdpsteve (5eb540)

  12. I think Stephen Fowler needs to spend 2 weeks in Edmond, WV. That will teach him to be so arrogant.

    What’s the wife’s blog? I’d like to take a look at it.

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  13. As screwed up as the SF family was, the MO family had its own issues.

    It seemed their whole entertainment and exercise routine was based on a potential paint ball scholarship for their third son, who looked like he was about eight.

    Paint ball scholarship? And if such a thing exists, why weren’t the first and second sons going for it? And how does the ATV driving enter into it? Weird.

    I felt bad for both sets of kids watching this. There’s a balance between discipline and education against fun, instant gratification and just being a kid, and both sets were on the opposite extremes. It would be pretty interesting to see where both sets end up in 20 years, which kids are happy and well adjusted and which ones are miserable screw ups.

    Aplomb (b6fba6)

  14. Aplomb – On the surface, they were on exact opposite ends of the spectrum. However, the MO family went along with all of the stuff the CA mother had them do, including French lessons, which the children, and even the father enjoyed. They immersed themselves in the experience. Stephen Fucking Fowler bent over, grabbed his ankles, and gave America the one-eyed brown-eye wink.

    JD (c6800b)

  15. Stephen Fowler was/is a Grade A mendoucheous twatwaffle, but really, he said nothing different than the pseudo-intellectual Leftist elite does when they sneer down their noses at the folks in flyover country. Stephen and Hacks would probably get along quite well.

    JD (c6800b)

  16. Maybe Stephen IS Hax. It’s possible…

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  17. I’ve come to despise the word “incurious”, mostly because of the way it is generally used–a cheap shot by someone who wants to sound intelligent while baselessly insulting the intelligence of another. Usually hurled like mud without any evidence or concern for its truth. See Liberal Scumbags v. Palin, 11 US 04 (2008).

    Not saying that’s you, but those are the people who introduced me to the word, they’re almost always the ones using it, and they’re the ones I think of when I hear it.

    tim maguire (4a98f0)

  18. well said, tim maguire

    couldn’t agree more

    quasimodo (edc74e)

  19. 1 – have to agree with tim mcguire as well.
    2 – i confess to having watched the original wife swap while living in the UK – compelling trainwreck indeed – basically the same formula.
    JD – 72″ plasma? 72???

    carlitos (599c37)

  20. A compelling train wreck? Andrew “The Conservative Soul” Sullivan says:

    A Republican party that added more than $30 trillion to the future debt in a time of boom has no credible answer but raw partisanship for opposing $800 billion in the swiftest downturn in employment since the Great Depression. That’s the bottom line. The party that campaigned for eight years on the principle that “deficits don’t matter” has no good faith standing to oppose a measure that provides the minimum to ensure some kind of bottom in the looming depression.

    Respect Andrew Sullivan’s Authority!

    Joe (dcebbd)


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