Originally posted on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Just last week, I wrote that I felt like I was spending a lot of time writing about revival shows. Here’s another one: “Wife Swap” on CMT.
Production in metro Atlanta is expected to run from June 22 to Sept. 15. This probably means it won’t air until 2019.
CMT has been hunting for metro Atlanta families for the past two months. The casting page is still up so I presume they are still looking.
Relatively speaking compared to shows like “Trading Spaces” and “Will & Grace,” “Wife Swap” hasn’t been gone all that long and still repeats air regularly on Lifetime.
The show aired from 2004 to 2010 on ABC using regular folks followed by three years of celebrity versions from 2012 to 2015. (Atlantan and formeNFLer Hines Ward took part one season.)
The concept is simple. Take two families, usually with opposing lifestyles, and swap the wives for a couple of weeks. For a time, the wives have to follow the rules of the existing household. Then they get to impose their own values on the home. Afterwards, they meet up together and see what they’ve learned.
The fundamental draw is in the inevitable conflict between, say, a slobbish husband and a clean freak “new” wife.
Here’s the pitch from the casting page:
Have you ever wondered if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence?
Do you want to see what you can learn from a family that is different than your own?
Do you need to take a break from your family because you feel under appreciated?
We are searching for all types of modern families in the Atlanta area. Your family does not need to be the "traditional" mother/father nuclear family.
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