[pf] For Those Who Liked the PBS Victorian House show...

by Molly Williams

11 December 2000 02:39 UTC

... you /might/ like this ---

PBS Show To Be Filmed in Montana 

 GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - Mixing a little of CBS's "Survivor" with its
own "1900 House," PBS is launching a series out of Montana that will
give three hearty groups the chance to live the lives of settlers.

 Called "Frontier House," the six-part series will follow three groups
as they fend for themselves in the primitive  conditions of the 1800s -
without modern appliances, grocery stores or even plumbing.

 It is not an adventure for pampered souls, said Beth Hoppe, who is
overseeing production for WNET in New York, which is producing the
program for PBS.

 Nor is it for those looking to make money. Unlike CBS's "Survivor," in
which one participant left the tropical island $1 million richer, this
show doesn't pay.

 Two families will be cast for the series, along with a third group that
will either be friends or an unmarried couple.

 Set in a secluded area of Montana, the groups will be reliving the
lives of enrollees in the federal Homestead Act. Each group will receive
160 acres, livestock and either a very primitive frontier-style home or
the materials to build one.

 They will cook on open-flame stoves and will have to plant their own
gardens and make their own butter and soap. PBS film crews will document
the entire six-month experience for a series scheduled to air in 2002.

 Aaron Pruitt, program director for KUSM, Montana Public Television in
Bozeman, said PBS is keeping the location a secret, "because they don't
want media coverage while they're shooting it."

 Pruitt said PBS is taking applications for show over the Internet and
while Montanans are welcome to apply, they may not be first in line.

"I get the feeling they think Montanans might be too well-suited for
this," he said.

 The series is a follow up to PBS's "1900 House," in which a modern-day
British family lived in turn-of-the-century fashion.