Why does such an excellent programme have such poor editing?
You never get to see a build in extended coverage. Its always interrupted to go to another site. They have about 6 ongoing build sites and show about a minute in each gefore jumping to the next one. Then follows a period of introducing that site. So this repeats in cycles and the whole programme is such a mess for the viewer.
Dont Americans complain about this style of programming?:smack:
Was this meant to go in Cafe Society (our forum for arts and entertainment)? I’m reporting it for a mod to move it there.
Moved to CS
Probably help if anybody had any idea what the hell the OP is about.
The show Building Alaska follows three or four folks building cabins in rural Alaska.
Fascinating. Do they also have a show about kids mowing lawns in Deleware?
Its on Discovery Science
The OP misses the point of these Discovery / History Channel junk shows. The goal of the production company is to take the smallest amount of real footage and spin it into the longest possible show.
A 30 minute program is already 12 minutes of commercials & 18 minutes of “content”. And each content segment begins with a 15 second logo intro, followed by a minute of footage from the previous segment on the same locale to re-establish context. Then there’s a couple minutes of fresh content, and a trailer voiceover before cutting to the next commercial.
In that way they can have 6 minutes of airtime filled by just 3 minutes of fresh footage. Which cuts the costs of production just about in half.
The only way to justify re-using the same footage 3 times is to be simultaneously telling 4 similar stories and needing to re-establish context each time they switch. So having several locations & sets of characters is essential to the way the shows work.
These shows are also designed for the American public who have the attention span of a squirrel.
Thank you for the explanation. So the viewer does not really care.
The subject matter is in fact incredibly interesting. Shame it gets such shoddy treatment.
It occurs to me that there is such a thing as “background TV,” analogous to “background music”: the kind of program you have on in the background while you’re doing something else, as opposed to the kind you sit and give your full attention to.
I agree, but there’s also an element of self-fulfilling prophesy here.
Those shows are so content-light I’m usually 'Doping or reading a magazine or book at the same time & glance up from time to time to see the interesting pictures. The dialog is so inane I often watch those shows on mute.
The fact I’m doing those other things is at least partly, if not mostly, a response to the shows lack of actual content.
IOW, at least for me, the show format causes me to treat it as background fluff not vice versa.
Makes sense. But geez, just how hard/expensive is it to get 20 minutes of usable footage vs 6 to 10?
Seems like that cost differential would have to be a tiny fraction what the value of air time is for a major network.
Then again, airlines actually count the dozen or so peanuts to save a few pennies…
It’s actually pretty cool to see these guys build cabins by hand, away from all supplies, racing the onset of winter, crafting tools because it will takes weeks to get a part airlifted out etc. The cabins are pretty spectacular and the landscape is gorgeous.
I don’t watch it too often, but I don’t mind the jumping around. I like to see a little of what each group has been up to rather than just follow one site.
My problem with the show aside from the jumpiness, is the cast of builders. There is usually one who knows what he’s doing, one with some idea of how to use a hammer and one who isn’t sure why a nail has a point on only one end! I suspect the cretins are there for entertainment only and aren’t real Alaskans building real cabins.
Building Alaska is one of the few shows that still shows construction. I enjoy it for that.
most shows on DIY are bullshit design shows. Kitchen Crashers, Bath Crashers etc. Property Brothers is more interested in the homeowners reactions than actually showing the remodel work,
I love shows where people swing a hammer and build stuff. Building Alaska is one of the few that still does that.
Ever watch Rehab Addict? Nicole Curtis is amazing and you can see she is really doing the renovations, not just suggesting ideas and popping by to see what the team is doing. Plus you can tell she loves every house she renovates, and tries to keep it as historically accurate as she can.
Yes, Nicole Curtis rocks, She’s the real deal and I enjoy her show,
Have you noticed the trend to include 30 mins of house hunting and 30 mins of design/remodel in the same show? DIY/HGTV channel is obsessed with House Hunters and this is their way to include it everywhere. Property Brothers, Property Virgins and even Income Property waste 30 mins on house hunting. Taking away time they could use to show actual construction.
The best show they ever had was one where real estate experts gave tips on preparing a house to sell. Common sense stuff like renting a storage area and decluttering the house. Spend no more than 4,000 making strategic improvements that make the house appealing to buyers. They even had video of prospective buyers commenting on what they didn’t like about the house. This show could easily increase the selling price 10% just by taking their advice. yep, it got cancelled.
Its a shame the channels programming now are all house hunting and design shows. Rehab Addict, Barnwood Builders and Building Alaska are the wonderful exceptions.
Yes- was it called Curb Appeal or something? Hadn’t thought about that show in awhile. I enjoyed it and it did give good advice.
The whole “House” doing something to / about a house genre jumped the shark when that designer lady glued HAY to those peoples basement walls 
That show is a Hot Mess! Some really clueless folks. I’m surprised they manage to stay alive up there.
I like how they break for commercial and say something like, “To see what it is REALLY like to Build Alaska, go to blah blah blah website”.
I yell at the TV, “That’s why I’m watching this stupid show, Dammit!”
Then I turn it off.