Pro-Family Advocate Questions ABC's 'Honest' Look at American Family
by Rusty Pugh and Jody Brown
May 21, 2004
(AgapePress) - A spokesman for a pro-family group says parents should beware of yet another "reality show" making its way to American television.ABC Television has announced it is developing a version of a popular British TV show called Wife Swap. The British version of the program features two women who trade husbands, kids, and homes for ten days. The women are expected to follow the house rules for the first week -- sticking to the cleaning, cooking, and child-rearing schedule set by the original woman of the house. The wives can then lay down their own set of rules the following week.
According to press reports, the American version, which will be called The Swap, will differ only in the length of the stay. For the first five days, the two wives must do things the family's way; for the next five days, they call the shots. At the end of the ten-day period, the two families get together to discuss what they experienced.
Ed Vitagliano, director of research for the American Family Association, says the new show conjures up images of a 1970s "swingers party." He warns that the show is a veiled attempt at producing a reality show based on wife swapping.
"My belief is that ... they're hoping for some kind of steamy things to happen, maybe some sexual overtones, as a woman moves into another house with another man and his children," Vitagliano says. "That just seems to be what's happened with other reality programs -- and I don't expect that ABC is going to try to dampen those expectations."
The pro-family advocate is concerned about ABC's plans for obvious reasons. "The problem with this entire concept, at least from a Christian perspective, is that it's inappropriate for a married woman to live in a house with another woman's husband," he says.
And no matter what the title is, Vitagliano says the premise is the same. "I think the fact that this program was called Wife Swap in England, and the name was changed for American viewers, doesn't eliminate what I think is going to be, at least in part, the sexual overtones."
ABC's Michael Davies, one of the show's executive producers, says the show has "a good title" and that it has "nothing to do with swinging '70s wife-swapping parties." Regarding its plan to air 20 hour-long episodes on Wednesday nights, ABC says: "Never before has a reality series taken such an honest inside look at the American family."
