Post by Angela on Jun 29, 2012 2:55:55 GMT -5
(This takes place in April, 2011)
Evgeni Potemerenko had just gotten a shower and finally settled down after spending a hard day training his students and helping his eldest son Slava with an upcoming science project. His wife, Ekaterina, was already lounging in their bedroom, watching television. Combing his wet blond hair back, he got into bed next to her and kissed her cheek, pulling the blankets over himself.
"You have no idea how to raise children!" a man on the television screamed at a woman.
"My kids are happy!" Yours are so miserable and scared of you-" The woman didn't get a chance to finish what she was going to say because the man stormed out of the house.
Evgeni blinked and looked at Katya. "What on Earth are you watching?" he asked.
"Wife Swap," Katya replied nonchalantly. She looked at him. "You've never heard of it?"
"I might have... I'm not sure," he said with a shrug. "But I never watched it. I wouldn't have thought you would," he continued.
can't like my own kind of television?" Katya asked, clearly joking. She laughed. "No, but you're right. I wouldn't have thought I would enjoy this sort of thing, but it is very interesting. See, the man that just walked out, he and his wife are controlling every aspect of their children's lives. I mean, to the extreme. Meanwhile, the woman lets her family walk all over her. They can learn a lot from each other if they'd be open to it." She giggled. "Which they aren't, so far, but then again, it's only one day after Rule Change."
"Rule Change?" Zhenya asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, you see for the first week, the wives must live as the other does, and for the second, they get to make some changes. That has just happened here. The overbearing mother has just set some seriously strict rules in place, and the one who lets her family walk all over her has lifted all the restrictions placed by the overbearing mother," Katya explained.
Zhenya stared at her, then stared at the screen.
"Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen," he commented.
"It is," Katya agreed with a giggle. "That's what makes it so interesting! I wonder if they're going to find a balance."
"Like we do," Zhenya agreed with a nod.
Katya looked at him. "I think people can learn a lot from us," she commented seriously.
"I think so too," Zhenya agreed, but clearly didn't get the gist of what she was actually insinuating.
"What do you think? Would you be willing to give it a shot?"
Zhenya stared at her. "Give what a shot?"
"This," she said, gesturing to the television. "Would you be up for trying something like that?"
"What?" Zhenya asked, clearly taken aback.
"Well, I was just thinking, it would be interesting to see how another family lives, and how much they can learn from us, and we can learn from them..."
"Katya, we really don't need to expose our children to television cameras, do we?" Zhenya asked warily.
"It would just be for two weeks, and then it would be over," Katya explained with a shrug.
"What about the fallout from this, though? I'm already pretty high-profile-"
"Which is why the kids are a little used to the attention-"
"The attention is not focused on them," Zhenya pointed out. "The attention is on me, and even that is not as much compared to my students. I really don't want our children exposed to cameras and this so-called 'reality TV.' It's all staged anyway."
"I think it'll be fine," Katya calmly disagreed. "I think we can teach them how to handle it." She shrugged.
"Why weren't you at work today?" another woman asked a girl in her late teens.
"Cause it sucked, and I didn't want to go," the girl replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"Well, I guess you don't want your cell phone back, then," the woman replied with a shrug of her own.
"She took her phone away until she could earn enough money to pay for it," Katya explained.
"Very sensible of her," Zhenya commented, looking at the screen as the teenager threw a fit at having to work at a restaurant and stormed out. "God, I feel sorry for that girl's parents."
"See what I mean? Don't you think that people like that could learn from us?" Katya pressed.
"I have already conceded that," Zhenya pointed out. "I worry about our children, how this would affect them..."
"Hmmm..." Katya looked at the television, considering Zhenya's words carefully. "I do see your point," she admitted. "I worry about that as well, now hat you mentioned it... But I'm optimistic about this. I look at it this way: it's only for two weeks, and then when the show actually airs, months later, yes, the media will give us some attention, but ultimately it will die down after a while because they'll move on to the next set of families." She shrugged.
"Once we open those doors to the public, everything will be subject to scrutiny," Zhenya pointed out, "and I'm not just talking during the show's filming or the attention we'll get when it airs. Once we open those doors to the public, we will be subjected to the same kind of treatment that other 'reality stars' have, and that includes our children. I can handle it, and I'm sure you can, but our children? Mama? They've never had to deal with the spotlight at all. I just worry about that..." Zhenya shrugged.
"You do bring up a good point," Katya conceded, lowering her eyes. "All right... We don't have to do it."
"Now, why does this have to be a yes or no?" Zhenya asked. "I do want to do this. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to show families around the country balance. I just want to make sure the kids can handle it before we go through with it, that's all." He paused. "I'm going to talk to Mrs. Sweetwater tomorrow when I go for my session, and see what she thinks."
"That's a great idea!" Katya exclaimed happily. "I'm sorry I jumped to the conclusion that you didn't want to do it. I think if anyone can prepare the kids for this kind of thing, a psychologist can!"
"Exactly!" Zhenya replied, getting excited himself. "It's settled then. Upon talking to Mrs. Sweetwater, if she thinks the kids can handle it, if she can give us good techniques to help them deal with it, then we'll do it."
*************THE NEXT DAY***************
"Well, did you talk to her?" Katya asked as she set the dinner table.
"I did," Zhenya said nonchalantly, pouring a few drinks in the glasses.
"And?" Katya pressed, folding the napkins.
"Talk to who?" Maria asked curiously.
"We're considering, I repeat, considering doing a television show," Zhenya explained. "Katya would go to another family for two weeks, and we would get the matriarch of that family for that time. For the first week, she would live as we do, and Katya would live as they do. Then, they get to make some changes in the second week."
"That sounds interesting," Maria commented. "What made you decide to do that?"
"Well, Katya was watching the show last night, and told me about it. I found it interesting as well, and we both decided it would be fun to try it. I was just concerned about how the kids would react to the attention. So I talked to Mrs. Sweetwater."
"And?" Katya pressed once more, sitting down.
Zhenya sat down, and looked at his wife lovingly. "She thinks that, with the proper counseling before and after filming, that Slava and Rita would have no problem with it." He smiled.
"Oh, Zhenka! That's wonderful!" Katya exclaimed happily, kissing his cheek.
"Of course," he added, smiling a little at the kiss, "we do have to make sure it's all right with our friends and family. Mama, would you object to being on national and possibly international television?"
"What do you mean, international?" Katya asked, raising her eyebrows.
"I did some checking, and it turns out, this show airs in Canada," Zhenya explained. "So, Mama, would you have any objection to that?"
Maria was speechless. It took her several moments for her to answer. "Ah, Zhenka... Katya... my English is okay enough for us, but-"
"You don't have to worry about that," Zhenya replied gently. "You would not have to change your normal behavior in any way. Whoever comes here will be a guest in our home. Treat her as you would any American guest."
"She may not even be a native English speaker herself," Katya added. "They do have immigrants applying to the show, and they use them sometimes."
"Well, then... if it is what you want, I won't stop you," Maria said with a shrug.
"But do you want to participate? Because you would have to, you know. If this woman, whoever she ends up being, comes here, you would act as you normally do. Which means that you are a big part of the show, since you are a big part of our lives," Zhenya explained.
Maria smiled. "Well, I think I can handle it. All right. Let's do it!" She laughed a little. "It sounds fun, truly."
***************JULY, 2011***********
"Zhenka! Zhenka!" Katya exclaimed, rushing into the house from getting the mail. Zhenya was in the backyard, cooking some steak on the grill while Slava and Rita played with Milo. Maria was with the twins and Kyril at the shallow end of their pool. "Zhenka!" Katya exclaimed, rushing over to him as she saw him.
"What is it?" Zhenya asked, concerned as he paused in his cooking.
"They want us! They want us for Wife Swap!" Katya exclaimed, holding up an opened letter.
"What?" Zhenya asked, taking the letter in excited surprise.
"Dear Mrs. Potemerenko,
We hope you are pleased to hear that we have received your application, and, after careful consideration, would love to feature you in at least one episode of our show. Depending on the results of this experience, we may ask to feature you in further episodes, as we have done so with other families previously featured on the show."
Zhenya paused in his reading aloud of the letter and looked at Katya. "What does that mean? We would appear on more than one episode?"
"If they ask, and we accept, yes," Katya replied, taking a moment to catch her breath. "But ultimately, of course, that decision is up to us."
Zhenya nodded and went back to the letter.
"We only require a video of yourself and your family featuring your day-to-day activities and lifestyle. After receiving this, we will be in touch with you regarding the video and schedule a date when you are available for the show."
Zhenya grinned and handed the letter back to her. "It looks like everything is set! We just have to set up the video!"
Since the day when Katya first brought up the idea, Zhenya had been watching episodes of the series to see how it was done. He noticed that each family had a little series of video clips in which they introduced themselves, their jobs, their children, hobbies, and anything else that they wanted to share. It was also during this time that Maksim, Aleksei, Slava and Rita had been speaking with a child psychologist, to determine how they would handle television cameras, and, more importantly, how they would handle the media attention after the show was over. It seemed that Maksim, Aleksei, and Rita were all too young to even care about the attention, and Slava, with careful counseling and monitoring, would be able to handle it fine.
The video was filmed over the course of several days, and edited several times by both Zhenya and Katya as well as the show's producers. The final product would be shown on the episode when it aired several months after it was shot. The producers worked out a possible date for the swap: January 11-25, 2012.
"I don't know about that," Zhenya said hesitantly. "I'm very busy with my work. I won't be home much..."
"Well, you're supposed to act as you normally do," Katya pointed out sensibly, "and you're always traveling during January, leaving the kids with me and our parents and Ksenia. What better way to show the viewers how you are than to come when you are most busy? Besides, Nationals will be over by then, and you don't leave for Four Continents until the 26th."
"Yes, that's true..." Zhenya replied thoughtfully. After a few moments of pondering this, he turned to Katya and nodded. "All right. It's settled then."
Evgeni Potemerenko had just gotten a shower and finally settled down after spending a hard day training his students and helping his eldest son Slava with an upcoming science project. His wife, Ekaterina, was already lounging in their bedroom, watching television. Combing his wet blond hair back, he got into bed next to her and kissed her cheek, pulling the blankets over himself.
"You have no idea how to raise children!" a man on the television screamed at a woman.
"My kids are happy!" Yours are so miserable and scared of you-" The woman didn't get a chance to finish what she was going to say because the man stormed out of the house.
Evgeni blinked and looked at Katya. "What on Earth are you watching?" he asked.
"Wife Swap," Katya replied nonchalantly. She looked at him. "You've never heard of it?"
"I might have... I'm not sure," he said with a shrug. "But I never watched it. I wouldn't have thought you would," he continued.
can't like my own kind of television?" Katya asked, clearly joking. She laughed. "No, but you're right. I wouldn't have thought I would enjoy this sort of thing, but it is very interesting. See, the man that just walked out, he and his wife are controlling every aspect of their children's lives. I mean, to the extreme. Meanwhile, the woman lets her family walk all over her. They can learn a lot from each other if they'd be open to it." She giggled. "Which they aren't, so far, but then again, it's only one day after Rule Change."
"Rule Change?" Zhenya asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, you see for the first week, the wives must live as the other does, and for the second, they get to make some changes. That has just happened here. The overbearing mother has just set some seriously strict rules in place, and the one who lets her family walk all over her has lifted all the restrictions placed by the overbearing mother," Katya explained.
Zhenya stared at her, then stared at the screen.
"Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen," he commented.
"It is," Katya agreed with a giggle. "That's what makes it so interesting! I wonder if they're going to find a balance."
"Like we do," Zhenya agreed with a nod.
Katya looked at him. "I think people can learn a lot from us," she commented seriously.
"I think so too," Zhenya agreed, but clearly didn't get the gist of what she was actually insinuating.
"What do you think? Would you be willing to give it a shot?"
Zhenya stared at her. "Give what a shot?"
"This," she said, gesturing to the television. "Would you be up for trying something like that?"
"What?" Zhenya asked, clearly taken aback.
"Well, I was just thinking, it would be interesting to see how another family lives, and how much they can learn from us, and we can learn from them..."
"Katya, we really don't need to expose our children to television cameras, do we?" Zhenya asked warily.
"It would just be for two weeks, and then it would be over," Katya explained with a shrug.
"What about the fallout from this, though? I'm already pretty high-profile-"
"Which is why the kids are a little used to the attention-"
"The attention is not focused on them," Zhenya pointed out. "The attention is on me, and even that is not as much compared to my students. I really don't want our children exposed to cameras and this so-called 'reality TV.' It's all staged anyway."
"I think it'll be fine," Katya calmly disagreed. "I think we can teach them how to handle it." She shrugged.
"Why weren't you at work today?" another woman asked a girl in her late teens.
"Cause it sucked, and I didn't want to go," the girl replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"Well, I guess you don't want your cell phone back, then," the woman replied with a shrug of her own.
"She took her phone away until she could earn enough money to pay for it," Katya explained.
"Very sensible of her," Zhenya commented, looking at the screen as the teenager threw a fit at having to work at a restaurant and stormed out. "God, I feel sorry for that girl's parents."
"See what I mean? Don't you think that people like that could learn from us?" Katya pressed.
"I have already conceded that," Zhenya pointed out. "I worry about our children, how this would affect them..."
"Hmmm..." Katya looked at the television, considering Zhenya's words carefully. "I do see your point," she admitted. "I worry about that as well, now hat you mentioned it... But I'm optimistic about this. I look at it this way: it's only for two weeks, and then when the show actually airs, months later, yes, the media will give us some attention, but ultimately it will die down after a while because they'll move on to the next set of families." She shrugged.
"Once we open those doors to the public, everything will be subject to scrutiny," Zhenya pointed out, "and I'm not just talking during the show's filming or the attention we'll get when it airs. Once we open those doors to the public, we will be subjected to the same kind of treatment that other 'reality stars' have, and that includes our children. I can handle it, and I'm sure you can, but our children? Mama? They've never had to deal with the spotlight at all. I just worry about that..." Zhenya shrugged.
"You do bring up a good point," Katya conceded, lowering her eyes. "All right... We don't have to do it."
"Now, why does this have to be a yes or no?" Zhenya asked. "I do want to do this. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to show families around the country balance. I just want to make sure the kids can handle it before we go through with it, that's all." He paused. "I'm going to talk to Mrs. Sweetwater tomorrow when I go for my session, and see what she thinks."
"That's a great idea!" Katya exclaimed happily. "I'm sorry I jumped to the conclusion that you didn't want to do it. I think if anyone can prepare the kids for this kind of thing, a psychologist can!"
"Exactly!" Zhenya replied, getting excited himself. "It's settled then. Upon talking to Mrs. Sweetwater, if she thinks the kids can handle it, if she can give us good techniques to help them deal with it, then we'll do it."
*************THE NEXT DAY***************
"Well, did you talk to her?" Katya asked as she set the dinner table.
"I did," Zhenya said nonchalantly, pouring a few drinks in the glasses.
"And?" Katya pressed, folding the napkins.
"Talk to who?" Maria asked curiously.
"We're considering, I repeat, considering doing a television show," Zhenya explained. "Katya would go to another family for two weeks, and we would get the matriarch of that family for that time. For the first week, she would live as we do, and Katya would live as they do. Then, they get to make some changes in the second week."
"That sounds interesting," Maria commented. "What made you decide to do that?"
"Well, Katya was watching the show last night, and told me about it. I found it interesting as well, and we both decided it would be fun to try it. I was just concerned about how the kids would react to the attention. So I talked to Mrs. Sweetwater."
"And?" Katya pressed once more, sitting down.
Zhenya sat down, and looked at his wife lovingly. "She thinks that, with the proper counseling before and after filming, that Slava and Rita would have no problem with it." He smiled.
"Oh, Zhenka! That's wonderful!" Katya exclaimed happily, kissing his cheek.
"Of course," he added, smiling a little at the kiss, "we do have to make sure it's all right with our friends and family. Mama, would you object to being on national and possibly international television?"
"What do you mean, international?" Katya asked, raising her eyebrows.
"I did some checking, and it turns out, this show airs in Canada," Zhenya explained. "So, Mama, would you have any objection to that?"
Maria was speechless. It took her several moments for her to answer. "Ah, Zhenka... Katya... my English is okay enough for us, but-"
"You don't have to worry about that," Zhenya replied gently. "You would not have to change your normal behavior in any way. Whoever comes here will be a guest in our home. Treat her as you would any American guest."
"She may not even be a native English speaker herself," Katya added. "They do have immigrants applying to the show, and they use them sometimes."
"Well, then... if it is what you want, I won't stop you," Maria said with a shrug.
"But do you want to participate? Because you would have to, you know. If this woman, whoever she ends up being, comes here, you would act as you normally do. Which means that you are a big part of the show, since you are a big part of our lives," Zhenya explained.
Maria smiled. "Well, I think I can handle it. All right. Let's do it!" She laughed a little. "It sounds fun, truly."
***************JULY, 2011***********
"Zhenka! Zhenka!" Katya exclaimed, rushing into the house from getting the mail. Zhenya was in the backyard, cooking some steak on the grill while Slava and Rita played with Milo. Maria was with the twins and Kyril at the shallow end of their pool. "Zhenka!" Katya exclaimed, rushing over to him as she saw him.
"What is it?" Zhenya asked, concerned as he paused in his cooking.
"They want us! They want us for Wife Swap!" Katya exclaimed, holding up an opened letter.
"What?" Zhenya asked, taking the letter in excited surprise.
"Dear Mrs. Potemerenko,
We hope you are pleased to hear that we have received your application, and, after careful consideration, would love to feature you in at least one episode of our show. Depending on the results of this experience, we may ask to feature you in further episodes, as we have done so with other families previously featured on the show."
Zhenya paused in his reading aloud of the letter and looked at Katya. "What does that mean? We would appear on more than one episode?"
"If they ask, and we accept, yes," Katya replied, taking a moment to catch her breath. "But ultimately, of course, that decision is up to us."
Zhenya nodded and went back to the letter.
"We only require a video of yourself and your family featuring your day-to-day activities and lifestyle. After receiving this, we will be in touch with you regarding the video and schedule a date when you are available for the show."
Zhenya grinned and handed the letter back to her. "It looks like everything is set! We just have to set up the video!"
Since the day when Katya first brought up the idea, Zhenya had been watching episodes of the series to see how it was done. He noticed that each family had a little series of video clips in which they introduced themselves, their jobs, their children, hobbies, and anything else that they wanted to share. It was also during this time that Maksim, Aleksei, Slava and Rita had been speaking with a child psychologist, to determine how they would handle television cameras, and, more importantly, how they would handle the media attention after the show was over. It seemed that Maksim, Aleksei, and Rita were all too young to even care about the attention, and Slava, with careful counseling and monitoring, would be able to handle it fine.
The video was filmed over the course of several days, and edited several times by both Zhenya and Katya as well as the show's producers. The final product would be shown on the episode when it aired several months after it was shot. The producers worked out a possible date for the swap: January 11-25, 2012.
"I don't know about that," Zhenya said hesitantly. "I'm very busy with my work. I won't be home much..."
"Well, you're supposed to act as you normally do," Katya pointed out sensibly, "and you're always traveling during January, leaving the kids with me and our parents and Ksenia. What better way to show the viewers how you are than to come when you are most busy? Besides, Nationals will be over by then, and you don't leave for Four Continents until the 26th."
"Yes, that's true..." Zhenya replied thoughtfully. After a few moments of pondering this, he turned to Katya and nodded. "All right. It's settled then."
