If you are an avid follower of pop culture, like moi, surely you know that many of the successful reality shows we have here in the States, originated in England. In fact, England is home to some of the more fascinating and strange TV I’ve ever seen, and having grown up overseas, I’ve seen a lot of international television.
A particular TV highlight for me was living in Indonesia in my formative teen years. We were totally removed from pop culture at the time, which was the late 80s. In retrospect, that might have been a saving grace because no one really heralds that time for high fashion, though somehow I still managed to tight roll my jeans. Anyhow, each week we were given about 15 minutes of American programming. It was the Cosby Show, which might explain my ongoing affinity for the show and the fact that I watched it – a lot – on maternity leave. And still find the show to be highly amusing, for the record.
But see, we never saw the ending of the show because it was always interrupted to bring you the latest call to prayer from the local Mosque.
Like I said, I’m pretty much an expert on what happens with TV overseas.
So back to the British, they’re at it again and you heard it here first, I guarantee we get a show like this in the States in the next five years. They’ve started a reality show called “Bringing Up Baby” and it follows a few couples home for the first (horrid) three months with their newborn. Each one is given a parenting coach, essentially, who specializes in three different parenting styles: the Dr. Spock “follow intuition,” the really intense Scheduling method and then Attachment Parenting.
http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/B/bringing_up_baby/
I don’t know about you, but personally, I’m a mix of Dr. Spock and Scheduling – and wouldn’t respond well being forced to any of these extremes. It surely makes for FANTASTIC TV, however. I mean – get a weepy new mom in a room with a bossy parenting “expert” and a fussing child and it’s like a train wreck and surely no one can avert their eyes. Not to mention, I can only imagine how much the viewership of the show enjoys judging these parents and gabbing about them the next day. It’s a network’s wet dream, I’m sure.
I spent a little time on the show’s site and ended up really enjoying the quiz they offer for you to learn just how much you’re screwing up your kids. It’s totally British and something I wonder if the anal corporate lawyers over here would squash but my favorite answer options were all “C.” Here’s an example:
“At your kid’s first teen party, you should:
c. Get slaughtered and show the young ‘uns your moonwalk.”
Like I said, HILARIOUS.
Go ahead, take the quiz and see how you fare:
http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/F/family/screwyouup/index.html
I prefer the question: when your kid has a nightmare, you comfort them by:
b) letting them sleep in the house a bit.
I HEART THE COSBY SHOW TOO!
I thought I was the only one…