6 years later, revisiting 'Sarah Palin's Alaska'

Every four years without fail, our two-party political system brings us some of the best reality TV imaginable. Whether it's former cast members of "The Real World" talking nonsense about immigration, or the disappointed Bernie Sanders delegates who can't stop booing everyone — including Bernie — the national party conventions have been providing solid entertainment for the past two weeks.

All of this inspired me to go back to a time when politicians went from public service to reality TV and not the other way around. A time before Gov. Mike Pence made everyone switch the channel and/or instantly fall asleep. A time when the biggest star of the Republican National Convention was none other than Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin.

In order to remember the good old days, I went back to 2010 and watched "Sarah Palin's Alaska," a show I vaguely remember streaming on way-too-slow internet when it originally aired. For those who didn't watch, "Sarah Palin's Alaska" was a nine-part travel series that followed the former governor and her family around Alaska. They would do regular things that everyday Alaskans do, like climb on Denali and fly out on remote guided fishing trips… OK, actually, they'd do things that rich Alaskans and cruise ship tourists do.

Palin herself was an executive producer with Mark Burnett, the most famous of reality TV producers, who created "Survivor." Although I went into "Sarah Palin's Alaska" ready to get snarky and mean, I must admit that I was both captivated and slightly charmed. The parts that served as Alaska's most expensive travel show get old real fast, but the moments that show the former governor's 2010 home life are like a magic time capsule.

Here are some examples from just episode one, titled "Mama Grizzly":

The Palins run from their backyard dock to their house to get away from a new intrusive neighbor who moved in next door to write a "hit piece" book about Palin.

Piper Palin, who in my opinion should have been the title character at age 8, comments that she likes it when they are in rural Alaska, because her mom can't be on her Blackberry. She also calls her mom "Sarah" whenever she really wants to get her attention because she knows she'll answer.

The former governor yells at some high school kid for trying to go upstairs with teenage daughter Willow, which seems completely genuine given the context in which America was first introduced to her children's love lives.

They show Todd running sound and cameras as Palin films a segment for Bill O'Reilly in their now familiar backyard Fox News studio overlooking Lake Lucille.

Even my favorite line of this trailer, "I'd rather be out here being free" takes on new meaning as you see the Palin's new 14-foot security fence built to keep out all the real-life voyeurs. You just have to ignore the part where she says, "Todd and his buddies just got out there and built a 14-foot fence, by the way I thought that was a good example of we just did, others could look at and say 'oh this is what we need to do to secure our nation's border.' "

"Sarah Palin's Alaska" is actually a great reality show about a family dealing with the pressures of suddenly becoming super famous if you just fast forward through all the "see Russia from here" and "a poor day fishing beats a great day of work," garbage. It's available for purchase on Amazon.

Emily Fehrenbacher lives in Anchorage, where she reviews Alaska reality TV. You can reach her at realitycheck@alaskadispatch.com or on Twitter @ETFBacher.