We just watched The House That Norm Built on our local PBS station, and it made me both happy and sad at the same time. We consistently watched This Old House since its inception with Bob Vila, and we always thought Norm Abram was the more talented one. He was scary-good on The New Yankee Workshop; I had no idea anyone could be that talented and so humble and low-keyed. His heart-felt humility during the tribute show was very touching; he’ll be missed.
This episode is to celebrate Norm’s retirement, and is loaded with lots of guest appearances sharing their thoughts and memories of the show and with with Norm. He really touched a lot of people (like in Goodbye Mister Chips).
Some of the footage included clips from the first few seasons of the show with Bob Vila, but strangely, Bob Vila doesn’t make an appearance in this tribute show. Was there a major falling out between him and the show? I hope it’s nothing personal between Bob and Norm.
Well, Bob left the show because of a dispute over his ability to do outside endorsements. What I never realized until I read the article below is how little he actually made doing the show, so I don’t think I can fault him.
I never got any sense of conflict between him and Norm, but others might know better.
From everything I can tell, Bob Vila was just a host of the show and wasn’t a true tradesman like many of the others. But I would bet that his dispute with the production company would preclude him from making return appearances, even after all these years. It doesn’t sound like it was amicable.
My understanding is that he was chosen to host the show because he was, indeed, doing home improvements and renovations, but I don’t think he was an actual tradesman, as you note, like Norm was/is.
Norm wrote a book about his life and the journey of building a house. His busy schedule limited the amount of work he could do personally. There is a great moment when Norm, his son, and his dad spent a few days applying wood siding to the house. Norm’s dad did a lot of the finish carpentey trim, hanging doors and windows in the house.
Norm was frustrated that he didn’t have time to build the kitchen cabinets. But he did install the ones he ordered.
He did mention how much tv changed his life. Norm had just started a construction business when he got involved with This Old House. He was the General Contractor on those jobs for many years.
The Silva Brothers Construction Company took over and Norm became a Host and started his own show The New Yankee Workshop.
I saw that show in the TV listings, so it’s recorded on my DVR, though I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. Something I always wondered about The New Yankee Workshop was what happened to the things he built on the show?
I always wished he would do a show that featured the kind of tools the average homeowner would be likely to own. I was amazed the first time I saw him use the tool that drills a square hole.
Pretty much. Especially for the older generation. My BiL (73) was born and grew up in Maine, but moved to Boston when he was about 18. His accent is similar to Norm’s.
There is one thing that always drove me crazy with Abrams. Almost every episode he touted safety like wearing a respirator while doing specific tasks, and the use of safety glasses. The problem is the respirator he used was designed for those that are clean shaven. I was respirator certified at Boeing for my entire career, I had to meet both state and federal requirements. The safety glasses he wore never had side shields. The only time I ever saw him wear side shields was on an episode of This Old House, a female contractor requested he wear them while watching her crew work. Over the years I sent about 10 letters and emails expressing the fact the respirator he wore offered absolutely no protection for chemical fumes and that he was doing a disservice to those watching the show. Only once did I receive a response, someone replied he meets Massachusetts requirements. I checked and he did not and I let them know, I got nothing. Now that I am retired from Boeing, I still wear safety glasses and proper respiratory protection while working in my shop.
A clip in the tribute show showed him on Letterman show where Dave asked Norm why he (Dave) had to don a pair of safety glasses while Norm didn’t. Norm took his glasses off and says they had safety lenses (and Dave had some smart-assed reply). I too would have liked to see real safety glasses worn on Letterman’s show, just to demonstrate how important they are. I see safety goggles consistently used on most HGTV shows, except House Hunters of course.
Apropos of nothing: if you want to put an asterisk in front of a statement and you don’t want it to turn into a bullet point, put a backslash in front of the asterisk, thusly
*woodworker who works only with (often antique) hand tools or maybe a treadle powered lathe
