I was watching A&E’s Flip this House, the version with the assholes from San Antonio, and they got this intern guy on. I remember when they were interviewing for interns, and the process was completely ridiculous. Stupid things like making them go to Starbucks and get coffee. Anyways, so I’m watching it tonight and this intern guy is in charge of one of the projects. First, he goes through this whole spiel with the wife of the guy that owns the company about picking colors. She tells him that he should just go with neutralish colors. He proceeds to pick a yellow that is approximately → that color, and a teal approximately → this color.
Ok, so that’s pretty bad, but I guess it could be a rookie mistake. What really takes the cake is that he looked like he tried to paint the teal over a darker green without putting down a primer, and he tried to do it with a brush, not a roller. Anyone who has ever seen anyone paint knows better than that. I can’t believe a guy who has, presumably, been on at least a dozen renovations would be this stupid.
Later we see a shot of the intern Freaking. Out. He is saying that there are no workers, and it’s just him. The asshole that runs the company takes this opportunity to drive him around to past projects during which he gives this crappy motivational speech. Of course as the episode goes on there are a good 15-20 workers at the site, and our incompetent boob has gone to forceful leader because of this great speech.
It all was just so contrived and unrealistic. I was convinced by the end of the show that if this intern guy wasn’t an outright actor, he was certainly hamming it up for the show. Anyone else agree?
I did not see this episode but I’ve seen a few episodes with this group from San Antonio. I can’t stand these guys! I’m guessing that some of this cannot be for real based on a recent episode. Did you see the one with the “cat house”? What a piece of crap! All that melodrama with the therapist and the personal issues and blahblahblah. Besides the fact that I do not care about any of these guys let alone their personal lives, it all seemed so “acted”. If it wasn’t an act, then these people are more moronic than I first suspected.
I find it funny how everything seems to be going swimmingly, then they get some “sudden unforseen bad news” (SUBN) such as a contractor screwed up, a contractor faild to show up for work, the city posted a stop work notice, they found mold, the electrical has to be rewired, etc.
Then, they hem and haw and get all pissy that the entire project is going to OMG! FAIL MISERABLY! as a result of the SUBN. Then the brothers get all mad at each other and come to the conclusion that they just need to suck it up and work together to get the job done.
Later, it turns out the SUBN was relatively simple and cheap to fix, and only took a small fraction off the original projected profit, despite all the initial drama. Then, the brothers realize the value of teamwork and make all nice with each other.
In one of the San Antonio episdoes, there was one where the city was condeming the place and they had to go to court to prove they were going to fix it up all nice-like. At the end of the epsiode, you see the guys walking out of the courthouse patting themselves on the back on how easily they convinced the judge to drop the matter. I had the sneaking suspicion that the whole court angle in the episode was fake, fake, fake, and they had the producers stick fake stop work papers on the door, etc.
Another thing about these home improvement shows is when you see the host and the homeowner talking about new paint colors. Then, they grab the brushes and make a couple of paint strokes. Then, they cut to the newly completed paint job, and somebody makes one last spot touch-up of paint, but NOBODY HAS ANY PAINT ON THEIR HANDS OR CLOTHES. It makes me wonder how much work these people do and how much they leave the actual work to an off-camera crew.
Oh, and don’t get me started on ABC’s overly sappy Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with the fake interactive video dialogue between the hosts and the vacationing family during construction. :rolleyes:
I saw that episode and I remember thinking," What kind of a douchebag asks his friends to help him at his job, for no pay, on their own time?" Especially backbreaking labor type work. It’s one thing to ask your buds to help you with your personal home improvement project, but to come to your job and help you? That’s fucked up. I saw this on another one of those house flip shows as well where the guy was WAY behind schedule and rounded up some friends to do the work for him, for free.
I wonder how many people have been lured into the house flipping market by these shows that make it looks oh so easy and then lost everything they have to their first attempt.
I saw this as well, and I got the feeling that “Chris the intern” was playing up his pigheadedness for the cameras. The contractor that was so hard to control was out mudding in the Hummer with the owner of the company! If he was that much of an asshole, I doubt the owner would be hanging out with him during his free time.
He was a prat, though. I thought it was strange that the Hispanic family - looked like a mom and her sons - kept reappearing as painters and landscapers. Surely some labor law was broken there?
The sidewalk and driveway were unimpressive to me. I’m not buying a house because it has a nifty pattern on the driveway. It better have a kick ass bathroom and kitchen. Wiring it up for surround sound and wireless internet would have been a more attractive addition.
We watched the show religiously the first season when it was just about the Trademark company in Charleston. We caught about half of the shows after they switched to the San Antonio and Atlanta companies. The only person from this group that seems to have even a clue about what to do is the job site manager (that really big guy with the great singing voice) from Atlanta. He’s the one who called his boss out on having baby budgets.
We haven’t watched anything from this third season where they seem (from the ads on TV) to have 3 or four companies flipping houses. And the new show featuring the Trademark company (on TLC) isn’t too impressive anymore either. I think they have someone else really running the company, and they just let “the boss” go on camera and make an idiot of himself.
You guys do know that the Atlanta guy has been charged with fraud and has alleged that the entire show is a scam? I don’t have any reason to think the San Antonio crew is any better. I’d be willing to bet almost none of what they show is real. (I’ve read the newest guys seem more real but I haven’t seen any of those episodes)
that color, and a teal approximately → 
this color.