Episode 1

Episode One: Forward, Into the Past

Early morning, late March, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.  We meet our four contributor families as they fly in to compete in a series of challenges as “traditional family farmers.”  Little do they know that they are also time travelers, taking a journey into the past!

Casting will look for typical Americans of 2015.  That means our families will be ill-equipped to handle what they’re about to experience.  They’ll be addicted to tech, unfamiliar with the great outdoors, used to boneless, skinless chicken breasts in Styrofoam trays (when they cook from scratch, that is), and ultra-reliant on convenience foods and the family mini-van.  When they get off the plane, these hapless high-tech consumers will be dropped into a virtual 1933, where they’ll hand over their suitcases full of fast fashion, their laptops and smart phones, and even their soap, toothpaste, and deodorant!

Outside the terminal, it’s wicked cold.  It’s almost April, but still pretty brutal in Iowa.  As the families straggle in and grab their luggage from the carousel, a sleek bus pulls up out front.  Inside, the heat is blasting.  A trolley is stocked with snacks and drinks.  Individual TV sets hang in front of each seat.  It’s the last of such comforts our families will enjoy for the next 9 months.

When everyone has arrived, an Allison Sweeney type in a cute ‘30s retro dress and heels gathers the group together in the lobby for introductions.  As they stow their suitcases under the bus and clamber aboard, we can’t fail to notice that our contestants also LOOK like American circa 2015.  They range from podgy and out-of-shape to frankly obese – your typical American suburban couch potatoes who prowl the aisles at Best Buy and and eat a lot of Dominos: no gym rats, no Scout leaders, no 5K runners.

The families get to know one another on the drive, where their authentic Depression farm house homes await them.  The homes – and the challenges they’re about to experience – will be a surprise, to say the least.

Finally, we’re there.  The bus pulls to a stop outside farm #1.  It’s go time.

Unbeknownst to our families, their luggage has been moved to another vehicle and taken to storage.  As they get off the bus, “Allison” asks them to hand over their tech.  Surprised and taken aback, they drop their phones, tablets, Kindles and headphones into a large wicker basket.

The contestants have been told that everything they need to compete will be supplied, and that detailed rules for the contest will be in a letter on the kitchen table.  They are to immediately change into the clothes they find in their bedrooms and hand over what they traveled in.  What have the producers withheld?  Everything provided is authentic and state-of-the-art: for 1933.

Family #1 gets off first.  Now a little glum because they are device-free (and whining about it, we hope), they’re about to get an even bigger surprise.

They crunch along the snowy driveway and up the porch steps.  Dad opens the door and they walk inside.  He feels along the wall to the right of the door, fumbling for the light switch.

There isn’t one.

It’s daylight outside, but the spare, spotless kitchen is gloomy and cold.  On the table lies an envelope, inscribed “Read Me.”  We intercut among all the families as they react to the letter, which reads…

“Dear (family surname): Welcome to the real Great Depression.  It’s 1933.  The local Rural Electrification Project is 8 years in the future, so your new house has no electricity yet.  You’ll find kerosene for the lamps in the tool shed out back.  That’s also where you’ll find the axe – every day, someone will need to cut wood to keep the furnace stoked.  It’s in the basement, under the stairs.

Also in the basement is the fruit cellar.  There are still apples, onions and cabbages from last summer, and plenty of canned peaches, corn, pickles and beans.  There’s a barrel of flour in the kitchen, and other staples in the cupboards.  A couple of hams and a side of bacon are hanging in the smoke house.”

We close on reaction shots, and a teaser… “How will the Daltons, the Garcias, the Johnsons and the Chungs hold up without lights or power?  There’s one hundred and twenty thousand dollars on the line as they compete to see who will break first – and who will survive the REAL Great Depression!”