Texas Ranch House

Show Info

Genre(s): History, Reality (Non-Competitive)

First Air Date: May 1, 2006

Summary

The latest in PBS' series of reality shows about everyday life in different time periods, 'Texas Ranch House' transports a variety of non-actors (including a family of five) to a re-creation of a 1867 Texas cattle ranch, where they must live for three months without modern-day comforts.

Also On The Web: Official Show Site

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this show is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jon P gave it a4:
I know PBS purposefully chooses personalities that will clash and add an extra dimension of drama to these shows, but I would have enjoyed Texas Ranch House a thousand times more if they would have replaced the entire Cooke family. What an imbecilic, self-absorbed, and thoroughly worthless family!! Could have been another excellent show, but not with the Cookes on it!

Tim M gave it a7:
Just saw this on DVD not when it originally aired, but for the most part was interesting. I agree with the others that the women on the show were not "playing" by the rules of 1867. Mrs. Cooke with her superior attitude was too much to take. You can tell she never raised sons because she had no idea what and how much men eat. She would have been better cast in a Manor House where she could be the Queen. I feel bad for Mr. Cooke beause men that are in these all female households tend to become one of the girls.

kent h gave it a5:
I agree with most others, and the historiacl assessment by the experts. Mrs. Cooke was the worst problem followed by Mr. Cooke. Other than not respecting the women (chivalry), the ranch hands were goodl.

Dede B gave it a1:
I watched only one episode, the one where the ranch hands got reamed & Moira was sent to train for the ride. I was so appalled by the actions & behavior of the Cooke family that I will not watch anything else. I grew up in the Northwest & my grandparents & their parents were true ranch families. I believe the Cooke family forgot the purpose of the show, it was to be lifestyle of the 1860's! The women were thinking & behaving like they were in the 21st century. Mr. Cooke at times seemed to get a glimpse of the purpose of the show, but his wife would not let up on him. I am all for equalness among the sexes & stand up for these beliefs today, but this show was based in the 1860's! I applaud the cowboys for staying true to the cowboy rules, even when the ranch owners were so ignorant! They truly took the high road & led by example. This was the only good thing in the whole show.

Anthony C gave it a0:
stinks

C E gave it a5:
hmmmm... The show could have been so much more if a family other than the Cooke's had been cast. It is unclear why they would have volunteered for such a thing when none of them seemed to have the least interest in living an authentic nineteenth century experience. Mr. & Mrs. Cooke were interesting from a pure character standpoint - a woman and her wuss. Mr. Cooke is like a microcosm of all I find insufferable about modern man and Mrs. Cooke is simply a shrew. To each her/his own. The rest of the cast was enjoyable. I actually liked Moira and felt for her having to be trapped in the house with the Cookes. I think that was her real crises but since everyone in the bunkhouse was male it was turned into a 'battle of the sexes' storyline. I am glad she got to ride on the round-up and I hope she got something out of it. I read her interview and though she was probably somewhat of an anachronism there definitely were women like her back then who would have preferred traditional male gender roles. They would have been few and far between and would have probably faced more resentment than what was shown in the show. Overall Texas Ranch House failed to live up to my expectations of showing modern day people 'living' a different era. Instead the show and storyline were about the personalities and the dynamics between them - just another reality show. It was interesting but I think Survivor does this type of thing a lot better. Worth a watch but certainly not outstanding. I hope PBS casts a little more carefully in the future as this 'House' show was a real drop off in quality from the others they have done and I think the reviews on this site leave no doubt as to which roles were poorly cast.

Joanne P gave it a9:
I watched this show from beginning to end, and was riveted to each episode. As others before me, it was the Cooke women that just didn't grasp the concept! They brought their 21st values to a 19th century scenario, and what would have pleased me was if the Natives just took them all away! Dinner with china!! Gimme a break!!!

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