There’s no shiplap in Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new series, “Back to the Frontier,†but there’s 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.Ìý
Mom Stacey Loper speaks for all of us when she resists an outdoor toilet and a missing front wall on their cabin. “I’m not used to this,†she says. She also doesn’t 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’s willing to throw a party for the others.
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The other two familiesÌý— the Hanna-Riggs and the Halls — have their issues as well. The Hanna-Riggs’ 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 “villain†moniker when he doesn’t 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’t bring a thaw.
Where this winds up (particularly since they’ve got to grow food for the winter months and live within a budget during the summer) is anyone’s guess. But that “happily ever after†ending isn’t guaranteed, even when the “Little House on the Prairie†trappings emerge.
Stacey, as you can imagine, says what she feels and isn’t 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’re pressed into plowing service, the tears come out and, like mom, the boys don’t think they’re 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.Ìý
While some aspects of the series are sanitized for our protection (they don’t have to grow the first week’s food and some of the tools are more advanced than their ancestors might have used), there’s enough “roughing it†to make you realize this is nothing you want to do, no matter what the prize might be.
The show’s narrator doesn’t hint at a financial windfall or talk “end game†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’s even a general store set up for their use), it’s likely they figure out a way to get along.
“Tough love is something that runs through my daddy’s veins,†Landen Loper says. And, if there’s any justice, it’s something dad will learn to rein in.
“Back to the Frontier†may not be as titillating as “Naked and Afraid,†but it’s one reality show that certainly shows what happens when the shine is off the rose. It’s a keeper.
“Back to the Frontier†begins July 10 on Max and the Magnolia Network.
