City girls seek rural romance in dating show

Picture "The Bachelor" set among chickens and cow chips, and you've got a pretty good idea of the CW's "Farmer Wants a Wife."

But don't give American producers credit for this rural mutation. The concept was imported by "American Idol" producer FremantleMedia North America after it was successfully deployed in Europe, from France to Finland, and in Australia.

The producers recruited 10 young women willing to tell the camera that they couldn't wait to give up the city life to be where lawns are shady and men aren't. By the end of the first hour, though, several who had professed a desire for country living seemed less than sincere.

No matter. All of them were willing, to one degree or another, to compete for the affection of Matt, the bare-chested farmer of Portage des Sioux, Mo., a small Mississippi River town just north of St. Louis.

In real life, Matt and his father, Melvin, grow corn, soybeans and wheat on about 200 acres. This being reality, though, a number of farm animals were imported for use in various challenges and to comport with viewers' images of what a farm should be.

Kudos to the casting people. With one exception, they brought in a bumper crop of beauties, each with her own style and pleasing personality. The exception is Josie, an off-kilter math teacher from Laguna Niguel, Calif., with a hugely unjustified superiority complex. Of course, every elimination show needs conflict, but Josie is so far past Omarosa that she verges on Baby Jane.

Matt, though obviously expertly coached, is nonetheless the real deal. Polite and unpretentious, he is very much in his element on the farm. So much so that it's hard to visualize any one of the 10 women becoming anything like him. Not that it really matters. This farmer may want a wife but, in the end, the only guarantee is that he gets a reality show.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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