Wife swap reality show

Reality shows are not my thing … usually.
I abhorred even the title of ABC’s newest show, “Wife Swap.” But, I happened to be flipping through the channels when the premier began and it caught my attention. I ended up watching the obsessive-compulsive house cleaner swap places with a woman who had no idea where to find her broom. The show was not about swapping mates, it was about swapping the housewife who sets the tone and the rules in most households.
Who said you had to go to another country to meet another culture? They live next door and look exactly like you.
Mrs. Compulsive Housekeeper – who refused to let her children keep even one pet, had to live five days in Mrs. Slob’s house with 25 plus pets – who left odorous surprises. Mrs. Slob watched as Mr. Neat moved the place mat over an inch after she had set the table and stared with disbelief when he said they needed straws to sip their coffee to keep from staining their whitened teeth.
The last five days, Mrs. Tidy imposed her rules and ways on Casual Kids with established bedtimes, most of the pets sent to the kennel and a massive spring cleaning/makeover of the entire cluttered house including installing a dining room table with chairs for family meals. The teenager in the Neat House added a fourth item to his mom’s list for him, “Buy him a really cute kitten.”
Mrs. Slob, who said, “The cleaning can wait, let the party begin,” bought the cat, instituted party night and took the family out to a restaurant where the guitar-playing husband played. His wife always made him use ear phones.
At the end of the show, the two women meet and accused each other of being inadequate. The last couple minutes we see how each family changed. The neat freaks kept the cat, instituted more fun times and broke out of their uptight ways. The Pets-R-Us folks moved the pets back in and sat around the table eating carry-out pizza.
Watching the show I found myself somewhere between Neat Freak and Mess-is-Best. The house is tidier now that our children left, but who has time or desire to perpetually straighten the fringe on the rug? We keep pets, but the litter box is the great outdoors. I already knew that creative fun does not mean total chaos – there comes a time to clean-up, put away and enjoy the creation in the middle of a semblance of order.
The other time I caught the show, the opposites were Mrs. Super Rich who left her three children with four nannies, a cook and a maid while she had “Me Time” for several hours before spending the evening on the town with her husband. She took the place of Mrs. Hard Times who split wood for six hours a day to help make ends meet and drove a bus. After grown-up little rich girl made Mr. Poor do his wife’s work, he was pathetically happy to see his wife return and even began working alongside her at the wood pile and doing household chores. Mr. Money Bags only relented to spend a few evenings at home with his children and wife who had embraced “family time.”
Wife Swap tests the question, “What if someone else was in charge of your home?” Good question – some times we do get stuck in a rut. The reality is that change can be interesting, fun and good – even without TV cameras watching.
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times.)