There鈥檚 no shiplap in Chip and Joanna Gaines鈥 new series, 鈥淏ack to the Frontier,鈥 but there鈥檚 plenty of sweat equity as three families head to the Rockies to make like 1880s pioneers.
The goal is to remove the conveniences of today (no cellphones, tablets or coffee machines) and see how good the families are at roughing it. In the first three episodes, adults have more issues than their children.
Sure, the kids are hardly willing participants, but they adapt to the new reality better than their parents.
Three families have to rough it for eight weeks in "Back to the Frontier." There, they use 1880s methods to survive. The show is produced by Chip and Joanna Gaines.听
Mom Stacey Loper speaks for all of us when she resists an outdoor toilet and a missing front wall on their cabin. 鈥淚鈥檓 not used to this,鈥 she says. She also doesn鈥檛 know how to light her wood-burning stove or serve a meal her family would eat. Luckily, she has her mother-in-law in tow. The roughing it veteran teaches some of the finer points of frontier living and gets her daughter-in-law to a place where she鈥檚 willing to throw a party for the others.
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The other two families听鈥 the Hanna-Riggs and the Halls 鈥 have their issues as well. The Hanna-Riggs鈥 sons are driven by electronics; the Hall girls are selfie aficionados. Without those conveniences, they light up when their parents engage in an animal auction and take a different view of the results when a spirited bidding war takes place.
Jereme Hall quickly gets the 鈥渧illain鈥 moniker when he doesn鈥檛 want to join the others to get work done. When he gets aggressive in the animal auction, a different dad emerges. Even an ice cream social doesn鈥檛 bring a thaw.
Where this winds up (particularly since they鈥檝e got to grow food for the winter months and live within a budget during the summer) is anyone鈥檚 guess. But that 鈥渉appily ever after鈥 ending isn鈥檛 guaranteed, even when the 鈥淟ittle House on the Prairie鈥 trappings emerge.
Stacey, as you can imagine, says what she feels and isn鈥檛 as gung-ho as husband Joaquin. He sees this as a way to toughen up their two sons. The boys, however, hardly need a firm hand. When they鈥檙e pressed into plowing service, the tears come out and, like mom, the boys don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e ready for a retro world.
Stacey Loper, second from left, represents what most people would say and do if put into a log cabin and told to survive. She's part of the "Back to the Frontier" reality series.听
While some aspects of the series are sanitized for our protection (they don鈥檛 have to grow the first week鈥檚 food and some of the tools are more advanced than their ancestors might have used), there鈥檚 enough 鈥渞oughing it鈥 to make you realize this is nothing you want to do, no matter what the prize might be.
The show鈥檚 narrator doesn鈥檛 hint at a financial windfall or talk 鈥渆nd game鈥 but there has to be something to come from this other than a well-worn lesson.
Because the three families are away from contemporary life (there鈥檚 even a general store set up for their use), it鈥檚 likely they figure out a way to get along.
鈥淭ough love is something that runs through my daddy鈥檚 veins,鈥 Landen Loper says. And, if there鈥檚 any justice, it鈥檚 something dad will learn to rein in.
鈥淏ack to the Frontier鈥 may not be as titillating as 鈥淣aked and Afraid,鈥 but it鈥檚 one reality show that certainly shows what happens when the shine is off the rose. It鈥檚 a keeper.
鈥淏ack to the Frontier鈥 begins July 10 on Max and the Magnolia Network.
