233 replies to this topic

[SuzN]

I was hoping someone else watched this show. It seemed extremely scripted and contrived. I'm not sure what we can learn about this group with the emphasis on the drama of teenage rebel Claudia wearing her hair down at the harvest party.

[Willowsmom]

I started to watch but decided I didn't want to chance them killing pigs on camera.

[kitkat68]

What a train wreck...poor Bertha.

[SuzN]

I have to turn to another channel to avoid any animal murder, but I was interested in learning about this group. I'm not at all sure that that will happen. I'm not interested in teen rebellion, Hutterite flavor.

And yes, poor Bertha.

[Calliope]

It seemed extremely scripted and contrived.

I wasn't quite sure until the dramatic text of doom. "The elders are coming..." Duh duh duhhhhhhhh. That was ridiculous.

I did feel bad for the kids who want to go school and are being told to drop out.

[dangerkitty]

It seemed extremely scripted and contrived.

Yes! I had to come here to see if anyone else watched this. It was painful how fake it seemed. I was hoping for more, considering it's on Nat Geo, the channel that aired Hard Time (great prison series).

[aliyameadow]

It seemed very scripted, but I'm glad I watched it. I had no idea about this group of people. I had some cognitive dissonance watching this. There are many Mennonites near me (even with a boarding school) and very large Amish settlements, with different orders of Amish. I'm used to seeing them in the stores and hearing them talk to each other, so I was surprised to hear the mild cursing and see the cell phones and texting. I don't know if our Amish curse and drink beer amongst themselves, but yeah, it was a bit disconcerting.

I read up on Hutterites while watching the show; they are an interesting group. They are starting to go into manufacturing as land has become too expensive. Once the colony reaches a certain size, they split it and have to find more land, etc. It is becoming difficult to do, hence moving into manufacturing. I wonder if they have the same problems with birth defects as a result of intermarriage that the Amish have?

I was shocked that Bertha's husband committed suicide. That's rough no matter who you are, and must have been very rough in that type of community.

I'm glad they didn't do a close up on the pig slaughter. And the dude sticking his arm up the cow... I know that's how you do it, but what a job. He seemed to like it, though.

It's too bad that the producers felt they had to create scripted drama instead of just letting us watch these people be themselves.

[B2H]

I'm afraid I don't care enough about the focus characters. They're not very nice, not very appealing and if you want to go off to Montana and do your thing, I won't stand in your way. But I have no real dying need to watch their lives unfold.

[livinggreen]

I am so glad that someone started a thread for this show because whenever I start a thread, 600 people will view it but only 3 people will actually respond. Thank you SuzN

I also had to change the channel when they started to murder the pig.

[SuzN]

Thanks, livinggreen. I started the thread because I really wanted the impressions others had of the show.

So far, I don't think this is a very good show, but I'm interested enough in the group to watch another episode or so. I'm hoping that the excess contrivance with teen-rebel Claudia was supposed to just catch our attention and there is something of substance later. The issue of allowing the boys to continue going to school has a little more potential.

I was really surprised that the Hutterites were drinking beer - I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that, in contrast, the Amish don't drink alcohol. Does anyone know?

[livinggreen]

At the school. one of the teens was telling his friend that they are only suppose to date someone from their own colony but the problem was that they were all his cousins. So how does that work?

I was really surprised to see the beer & cells phones.

[irisheyes]

I had no idea there was a show about the Hutterites. They're the original communists (without all the mass murder). Are they still wearing the same strange combinations of prints? (I once read a book about them that was from my dad's college days, and the one thing I remember is that they loved their prints!!)

[SuzN]

the problem was that they were all his cousins. So how does that work?

It's such a small group, they would have to be all some degree of cousins, not necessarily first cousins. They would have to be very inbred. So I don't know how the colony can be sustained.

I was really surprised to see the beer & cells phones.

And Facebook! I'm so surprised to see such modern things, while they live by old traditions at the same time. It seems so contradictory.

They're the original communists

I'd never heard of them before first hearing of this show. There is a lot to explore with this group! If they go into the history/background and address some the questions we have, it could be interesting.

Edited by SuzN, Jun 1, 2012 @ 11:45 AM.

[livinggreen]

Do they drive cars?

[aliyameadow]

They're the original communists (without all the mass murder).

I had a discussion with aliya jr about this. It is interesting that after they get to a certain size, the colony splits. I think this says something about such a communistic structure - after so many people, it becomes unwieldy. The culture of the colony (shaming & shunning, rules, putting the interests of the colony before individual interests) probably only works well with small numbers. Once you get too big, you get a leadership structure that is separate from the people - and we all know how the Russian, Chinese, and North Korean leadership live compared to the rest of the people.

Most of the communal settlements founded by hippies are long gone. I think The Farm still has some members, but it is a shadow of its former self. Most people want to be able to do their own thing at some point, whether it's staying in school or going on the internet. Gotta say that I loved Bertha's, "Get off that internet. You'll fry your brains!" She had a point.

Unfortunately, some of these folks look pretty bad. I don't know if it's hard farm life (but I live near farms and have students who grew up on farms, and they don't look like that) or the inbreeding, but something is going on. Some of the people don't look all there.

[esperanza]

It would be fascinating if they showed the construction of a new colony. From what I read on Wiki they are all assigned homes but eat their meals together and it seemed to imply that which house you got was sort of random. I would love to see a family move into their new assigned house.

[tramp]

I kind of liked this show because it was like Little House on the Prairie with modern technology. I also loved the way some of the guys spoke but I can totally do without pig killing.

[MaryDell]

I was under the impression that, in contrast, the Amish don't drink alcohol. Does anyone know?

There is no particular prescription against Old Order Amish drinking alcohol -- you will definitely find some Amish who drink wine and beer very occasionally. It's totally up to the individual.

Some of the people don't look all there.

Totally agree. They don't sound all there, either and it's not just that accent. The conversations are so basic they are boring. Maybe that was the scripting?

It's such a small group, they would have to be all some degree of cousins, not necessarily first cousins. They would have to be very inbred.

At some point in our history we all came from such small groups of people. Genetically, marrying even your first cousin is not actually a big risk. Not that the people on this show seem normal, though!

[SuzN]

Genetically, marrying even your first cousin is not actually a big risk.

Very true. I have GGG-grandparents who were first cousins and this didn't used to be uncommon. However, if this intermarrying happens generation after generation, any genetic abnormalities will be more far more likely.

[SleepyJean]

Do they drive cars?

The men do. The women don't. Big surprise there. Yet another subculture where the women are subservient and men make all of the decisions and hold all of the power. I too had to turn away when they killed the pig, boiled the pig, washed the pig, gutted the pig, carried the pig around, and later tore chunks off the pig and stuffed themselves. Of course I know that's where pork comes from, but I was still repulsed. And when the one guy was checking cows to see if they were pregnant, my lady parts clenched up. (That is, once I opened my eyes. When they put the cow in that contraption, I thought they were about to kill it.)

After watching the first episode, I feel like I still don't "get" what these people are about. Is this their religion? Their politics? Their world view? What is the point of all of this? They go on and on about tradition but don't provide any context. I came away from it feeling like it was just tradition for the sake of itself. "We do it this way because we've always done it this way. The 'why' doesn't matter."

I'll give this show one more episode. If the next one is more of the same, I'm out.

ETA: is it me, or are they pronouncing it Hooter-ites?

Edited by SleepyJean, Jun 1, 2012 @ 2:57 PM.

[hippobean]

I sort of liked the show. I could have done without Claudia's rebellion issues ~ I get that she is young and wants to push the limits, but she just seemed to not care that her mom would be the one paying the price. Granted it could have been the 'scripting' ... but script or no script I could never be that disrespectful to my parents (even when I was a teen, I don't think I could have done that :( )

[livinggreen]

I was quite surprised how old Claudia's mother looks. She does not look young enough to have a 14 yr old.

Edited by livinggreen, Jun 1, 2012 @ 5:36 PM.

[NiceFace]

Was it just me or did the rebellious girl (forgot her name) look like a brunette Paris Hilton?

[redhairedlady]

Were the teenagers drinking beer at the harvest party? It looked that way to me. If that is their culture, I'm not really against it, but to let it be shown on TV is beyond dumb, from a legal standpoint.

[Sleepyhead Case]

I came into this show asking, "What the hell is a Hutterite?" After looking on Wikipedia and watching the episode, the title of this thread is spot on. Haha.

I really felt bad for Bertha losing her husband to suicide - maybe that's why she looks so worn out and tired.

A commune of German American Anabaptists who are into Facebook, iPhones, and Jägermeister? And I love their job titles. "Garden Boss. Money Boss." It's like the Amish mob. Because they're so "different," I'll probably stick it out. The Amish Out of Order series didn't interest me because a lot of us know about the Amish. Maybe I like it because it's new and...odd.

[Indy1]

I got half way through the first episode before getting bored and changing the channel. I like learning about new cultures that I've never really heard of so this series peaked my interest but this was just so painfully scripted that I couldn't deal with it. I might try again for episode two, but I don't have my hopes up.

[OoogleEyes]

Hutterites gone wild!

Frankly, I think they have the best of all worlds, if you're into that type of thing. Electricity, cars, Internet, makeup, flat irons, cell phones, BEER, and having a community that grows all of your food. Other than that lack of education and in-breeding thing, it just might work!

[kimonomyhouse]

I haven't seen this show yet, have my DVR to record it tonight. I'm looking forward to it. It sounds interesting, something different from the usual "reality" crap. After reading this thread, though, I'm just hoping it doesn't bore me to tears. Keeping my fingers crossed...

[bzkdz]

This show just makes no sense to me at all. They don't believe in education, yet Nintendo and drinking are ok? They shun the moms for sending the kids to high school, yet dating is ok, and apparently so is swearing? I don't get it.

[Sleepyhead Case]

Seriously. The only thing I get is who Claudia gets her independent, rebellious streak from. In that preview, they're doing a whole bunch of shots (and a lot of them look like they were under 21). And that chick goes off with the one guy. Maybe what NatGeo is really filming are the end days of that colony.