Frontier House 2002

     The setting is 1883 and the location is the Montana Territory in the United States.  There were many challenges for the settlers in this time period.  There are blizzards, the scorching sun, forest fires, difficult, neighbors, cattle drives and hunger.  Three modern families will be living the real life of this period on the American Frontier.  One of the families is the Clunes and they are a wealthy family from Malibu, California with three children and their niece.  There is the Glenn family and they are a middle class suburban family from Tennessee with two children.  The Brooks family consists of the father and his adult son.  Nate brooks will marry his fiancé Kristen on the frontier and his father Rudy will return to his home.  They had set a date to marry and then Nate was selected to participate in the program.  The families will spend five months living in the Territory.

     Over 5,500 families applied to be on the show and the filming location was south of Big Timber, Montana.  Each family received a 160-acre plot of land.  Initial provisions and supplies were purchased based on a period appropriate budget.  A dairy cow was included for each family to provide milk for their use.  The families were expected to farm, graze animals and build a home.  The properties had access to a creek for water and they were within a 15-minute walk of each other.  The country store was 10 miles away and required a hike on foot over two mountain passes.  One family received a bonus because there was already a cabin on their land parcel.  The other two families needed to construct a wood cabin using trees from nearby property.  Ten days before the conclusion of the project, historical experts assess the families preparedness to survive a Montana winter.  I thought this was very interesting, it was a LOT of hard work and there were contentions between the families.  The families left with a different perspective on the lives they were returning to after their Montana experience.

6 episodes, TV mini-series shown on PBS with Kristen, Nate and Rudy Brooks; Adrienne, Aine, Conor, Gordon, Justin, Tracy, Clune; Karen and Mark Glenn, Erinn and Logan Patton, narrated by Kathryn Walker.

Note:  Imdb 8.6 out of 10, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 97 reviews, AreYouScreening.com 4 ½* with 97 reviews.

Special Note:  When the attack on the World Trade Center towers happened on 11 September 2001, the families were notified of this event by local newspapers.  Adrienne sewed an American flag with the details of 1883.