Going off the grid in an ‘Unplugged’ home

If you’ve ever fantasized about leaving the urban rat race, moving to a remote corner of untamed America and living “off the grid,” Unplugged Nation is the TV show for you.

Either the show will further motivate you to pursue the dream or, more likely, it will you scare you straight.

Unplugged Nation, which premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday on FYI, celebrates the rewards of leading a simplified, self-sufficient, disconnected lifestyle. But it also reveals some of the drawbacks, because it’s definitely not the way for everyone.

Many viewers will come away from the show with a new appreciation for what they’ve got. Yes, rush-hour commutes are a pain and the next-door neighbors might be too close for comfort. But that’s part of the trade-off to get instant access to grocery stores, shopping malls and schools, isn’t it?

Unplugged Nation is actually a marriage of several genres of reality television.

It’s part travel show (the debut episode showcases off-the-beaten-path parts of Hawaii), it’s part real estate show (prospective buyers searching for their dream home) and it’s part how-to show (as off-the-grid expert Jay Gruen guides these families and spreads “the homesteading gospel”).

“There’s a lot to learn about unplugged living,” Gruen tells them.

In the premiere, Jason and Stacy Bastelli and their two sons are the ones making a fresh start.

Back home in New Jersey, Jason feels too fenced in, measuring the distance across his back yard in just seven steps. He yearns for an expansive spread where the family can harvest their own food, generate their own power and create their own home goods. The show brings them to Hawaii.

After touring three off-the-grid properties on the Big Island (one located on top of a hardened lava flow), they temporarily move into a beautiful home surrounded by three acres of rainforest orchard.

The place is so isolated that there are no neighbors in sight. The nearest school is 30 miles away. The nearest hospital is 40 miles away. The outskirts of the property is alive with wild boars and wild cows.

If something they own breaks, they’ll have to figure out how to fix it themselves. To put food on the dinner table, they’ll have to grow it or hunt it themselves.

Which isn’t to say there are no luxuries in their off-the-grid home, which is equipped with a solar panel array and a rainwater catchment system. And even though the home isn’t connected to the city power grid or municipal water supply, it still boasts a feature as “decadent” as a hot tub.

Still, the change in scenery can definitely come as a culture shock. On their first night in the house, Stacy can’t sleep because of all the scary animal noises outside.

Do the Bastellis have what it takes to start living this way? After living on the property for a four-day dry run, they’ll have to decide whether to make an offer or go back to their lives in the city.

Subsequent episodes show couples and families checking out off-the-grid homes in Washington, Oregon and North Carolina.

“When you commute by plane, train and automobile every day, you often dream of going unplugged,” says Gena McCarthy, FYI’s senior vice president of programming. “Unplugged Nation serves as a vicarious wish-fulfillment for viewers who love to explore alternate living options.

“Viewers can follow along, wondering if they could join the unplugged movement and thrive.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2015 at 7:24 AM.