This will make you grateful for your own family (Wife Swap (Channel 4))

Member Name: nay_money

Product:	Wife Swap (Channel 4)
Date:	28/06/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining

Disadvantages: None

This is a reality show that is currently being shown on Channel 4 on Sunday evenings at 8pm for one hour. It is also repeated on E4 at various times during the week.

Wife swap is one of those programmes where you could say it's predictable, in the sense that you have 2 families that will swap wives for 2 weeks. The families are usually the complete opposite to each other. One family may be materialistic and the other live off the land, away out in the sticks. The unpredictable part is watching how they try to change the other family, some are happily changed but most are shot down in flames.

The program was first aired in the UK on channel 4 in 2003 and the following year a US version has been shown in America.

Each wife writes a manual of the running of their family. The new wife will have a look around their temporary home before they are introduced to the family. During this time they will try to guess what the family is like and how it will go for the two weeks. During week 1 the wife will have to adhere to the rules in the manual as much as it may upset them. On the first day of the second week, each wife will sit down their new family and set out the new rules for the week ahead. Most of the time the families reject change to the point that they get involved is some very heated discussions. After the 2 weeks have been completed the 2 wives are reunited with the partners, and the 4 of them sit down to discuss the previous fortnight and advise on what changes will be kept etc. These discussions have become very heated in the past, but I have yet to see any physical fighting. The couples then go back to their own homes and get on with it. The last 5 minutes of the show are where the families tell us, about 2 months later, how the swap has changed their lives.

This weeks show was about a funloving and very close family with 2 children that spends most of their time together. The other family is a couple with four children, who attend private school. Their parents have to work very hard to be able to just afford this, which is causing them to grow apart. They all have gotten on relatively well and have made some positive changes to their families.

I enjoy watching this program, you just never know what's going to happen, or how extreme opposites they will be. I like to see how easy it is to make some small changes to their families, but they always seem to protest without actually trying, but once they try they may actually keep the new change. It can be very entertaining, especially if you enjoy people watching.

Summary: It makes me appriciate my own family