Steven business jodi spolansky family

According to the publicity for “Wife Swap,” the new ABC reality show premiering Wednesday and based on the British hit of the same name, “never before has a reality series taken such an honest inside look at the American Family.” Though “honesty” is debatable on reality TV -- just how many of those reaction shots actually correspond with what’s happening at the moment? -- “Wife Swap” does allow a provocative glimpse inside two U.S. households, as two married women with kids switch places for 10 days.

But what we mostly learn from the first episode of “Wife Swap” is that rich families have granite kitchen countertops and nannies, while less-affluent families favor flower-patterned tablecloths and doormats that read “Home Sweet Home.”

Are the two families we meet this week -- the wealthy, ostentatious Spolanskys of Manhattan’s Upper East Side and the hardworking Bradleys of rural New Jersey -- happy? What deep, dark secrets lurk inside these t

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WATCH MY ‘WIFE,’ PLEASE

” WIFE SWAP”

Tomorrow night at 10 on ABC/Ch. 7

* * * ½ (three and one half stars)

ONE of the very best new reality series this season is the unfortunately named, but seductively titled, “Wife Swap.”

Perhaps it should be called “Life Swap” because it’s not just the wives who learn something here. It’s the families.

Or maybe it should be called, “How Can Anyone Want to Be On Television This Much?”

One family, in fact, comes across so badly that you can’t believe they’d allow themselves to be shown this way. Then you realize the horrifying truth: They think it’s cool.

The premise is simple enough. Each week, the wife/mother of one family trades places with the wife/mother of another.

Each wife leaves a diary of her daily life and schedule for the other to follow. Yes, it’s incredibly sexist.

This week, one seemingly shallow, rich New York

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Steve and Jodi Spolansky now: They resumed their normal lives after Wife Swap

ABC introduced the reality series Wife Swap to, among other things, portray the different standards of living in American households. Two wives from vastly differing backgrounds would swap families for ten days and have their experiences recorded by reality TV cameras. In one episode, the affluent Jodi Spolansky left her city life to live with the Bradley family for ten days.

The Bradley family matriarch, Lynn Bradley, abandoned her rural life to spend ten days with Steve Spolansky and his three children. Jodi and Steve offered premium entertainment as they struggled to adapt to the demands of their new partners. However, they opined that they learned valuable lessons from the experience. 

Steve and Jodi retreated to their posh lives after filming ended

Jodi convinced a reluctant Steve to participate in Wife Swap. He thought that he would breeze through the ten days of filming, but