

Sure, perhaps they can have some empathy, and learn to not make assumptions, or become more aware of their unconscious biases. Is it possible for a straight white-presenting couple to truly understand what it’s like to live as two queer Black women? Of course not, especially not in a handful of choreographed scenes. The first episode focuses on the Vasiliou family, a straight Greek Orthodox couple and their kids, and the Wixx family, a Black queer couple and their kids. That’s accomplished by producer-crafted scenes: a piano teacher shows up, a family goes to church, they spend a day in the community.īut the show doesn’t bother to engage with how absurd that idea is for the most significant of their differences. The idea, I suppose, is that the participants learn about people unlike themselves by living their lives for a few days.
Home sweet home show tv#
But in the one episode NBC provided to TV critics, there is not much more. The opening credits promise that this experience will make the families “embrace other communities,” “learn different ways of life,” “discover the similarities through surprising revelations,” and experience “transformational moments.” Unscripted Television and Warner Horizon, which brought us The Bachelor franchise and shows ranging from High School Reunion to The Cougar, and they’ve produced a show that looks nice but ultimately lacks substance.

Home Sweet Home’s production company is Warner Bros.

Eventually, the families meet each other for a conversation (not a confrontation, like Wife Swap usually delivered).
Home sweet home show manual#
Home Sweet Home (NBC, Fridays at 8) aims to be kinder and gentler, but misses any kind of target.Įntire families swap homes-apparently their real houses, not stunt rental houses like on Celebrity Wife Swap-but once there, they find themselves in an episode of Wife Swap: a manual of house rules to follow, a list of activities and interactions the producers have created for them, different cultures and traditions to adapt to. The editing frequently felt manipulative, and the only takeaway for the audience was how awful some of these people were to their families and each other. Yes, Wife Swap has a noxious title that suggests women are property, and was mostly focused on producer-orchestrated conflict, thanks to the book of “rules” written by the production. Ava DuVernay, executive producer of Home Sweet Home (Photo by Adam Burrell)
