From a media release:
THE WEEK THE WOMEN WENT STORMS INTO TATAMAGOUCHE, N.S., PUTTING MARITIME MEN TO THE TEST
HIT REALITY SERIES RETURNS FOR SEASON TWO, JAN. 21 AT 8 P.M.
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Tatamagouche (Tata-ma-gush), Nova Scotia has survived invasion and its coasts are battered annually by tropical storms. The townspeople are proud, tough and have always found a way to flourish. But can Tatamagouche survive if the women disappear for a week?
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The Maritime town of 700 waved goodbye to 167 wives, mothers, sisters and daughters as its men prepared for one of the largest social experiments of its kind—on the hit CBC Television series THE WEEK THE WOMEN WENT, returning Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 8 p.m. Popular Canadian actor Art Hindle (Paradise Falls, Offspring) narrates the eight-episode, one-hour series.
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“Viewers were enthralled by the first season and the ratings are a testament to this,†said CBC’s executive director of network programming, Kirstine Layfield. “We’re happy to have found another Canadian town rich with characters and stories that make for great television and great debate.â€
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Back after its much lauded-debut, which was set in Hardisty, Alberta, THE WEEK THE WOMEN WENT examines how the men and children of Tatamagouche, affectionately known as “Tataâ€, cope when the women head off for a week of pampering at a luxury resort in New Brunswick. The town’s men are left to weather the chaos that ensues when their women are gone.
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Each episode of THE WEEK THE WOMEN WENT uncovers the diverse and sometimes surprising experiences of the men left behind. The men—many of whom work away for months on end—must juggle all the cooking, cleaning, child rearing and work duties alone, often for the first time.
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In the first episode, viewers meet 37-year-old paramedic Tim Colburn. Despite his credentials, he has never changed a dirty diaper without gagÂging and he’s never had to take care of his 11-month-old daughter alone. His partner Josheyn Langille, 33, on the other hand, has not spent more than six hours away from her daughter since she was born two months premature.
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Fifty-year-old Jimmy Lefresne, Tatamagouche’s feisty, flamboyant town councillor and the owner of the well-known Train Station Inn, is left without a staff and must enlist help from the men. While managing them, with his usual staff of women away, he needs to keep the inn on track while handling his political duties.
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Other Tata men seem to be in over their heads, especially big-kid Terry Cole who gets a stern talking to by his six-year-old daughter. The 32-–year-old father of two is a long-haul trucker and usually away for weeks at a time leaving the household duties to his partner Julie.
I am feeling that this is very demeaning for this town. I hope that this proves wrong. I do know various people that are in the production and the problems that they have. It seems that you are showcasing this clientele. Why don’t you showcase the town doctor and his wife or the dentist or teachers. Am I making a point? However, it is entertainment and I may be so blunt, losers. I hope the episode proves me wrong. I guess the positive is that Tatamagouche is benefiting from the exposure and some women did get the spa experience. It will be interesting to view and to see the perspective and hope that it is equally balanced and doesn’t give Tatamagouche the profile of what so many people think of Nova Scotians. Honestly, it is so dramatic…..have not women always been the back bone of the country…..oh there are so many levels to this……….
A teacher is one of the people shown on the shown, incidentally. I was troubled by the statistic put out at the beginning of the show that women in Nova Scotia do twice the housework of their husbands. My ex was a maritimer and a good guy but would do no housework whatsoever so the show may have hit a little close to home for me. I do not think the show is flattering to either the women or the men showcased…at least not so far. I am puzzled at the strereotype of the women as long suffering in need of a desperate break from hearth and home and of the men as overindulged, entitled and pampered. Men and women have come away from this. I hesitate to say more or it may look as if I am targeting the good people and the culture of Nova Scotia.