Watching the television show on ABC known as Wife Swap is enough to make one throw a television set out the window.

Tonight was the first time I came across this show. Here is the premise: take two families and have the wives trade places for two weeks. Also, make sure they come from really, and I mean really, different backgrounds.

The participating families tonigh were a competitive family devoted to their looks and always coming 1st swaps with a family focused on expressing themselves and “unschooling” their kids.

The first family with Tim and Crystal put looks first and the son is taught that he should always “come in 1st”. The mother likes to enter the little girl in so called “beauty pagents”. She really liked to show all the trophies the little girl won such as “this was for best smile when she was 3 months old”. God, are these people for real. I would also like to know who is judging these pagents. How do you distinguish who has a better smile when they are 3 months old?
Tim, the father pushes his kid into excelling at sports. Later, the kid confesses that he really is not into wrestling. He only does it because his dad wants him to.

Crystal, the mother, is obsessed with her and her family’s looks. As Tim put it, “I only saw her without her makeup twice and I prefer that she wears it”. Tim also gives good advice about being in good physical condition “if you want any respect from anybody”. Something tells me that Tim doesn’t get much respect from his co-workers or “friends”.

The other family was more with it I guess you could say. Esther is a doctor and works around 100 hours a week. She also like to roller blade in her free time. Her husband is a stay at home dad who teaches the kids “unschooling”. What is unschooling? It was the first time I ever heard of it myself. It seems you can educate your children by letting them decide what they should learn. Who knows? Maybe this will catch on and become the new form of learning in public schools.

These reality shows just seem to get worse each season. I still can’t believe people will put themselves and their family on television and look like the most ignorant people imaginable. I long for the days of All in the Family.
If you have a morbid fascination, you can check out the show Wife Swap here.