I used to watch shows on HGTV to get ideas and to learn how to fix up the house, but they have for a large part turned into “Here’s why you shouldn’t hire our hosts to build a birdhouse” fiascos. Today My Beloved and I watched three episodes of “Good Bones”, in which a mother-daughter renovation team tear a house done to the bare bones, then rebuild it to look peachy keen. In the first episode we saw [del]the Three Stooges[/del]their regular work crew totally demolish an entire wall they had specifically been told to save, then accidentally sawed through a roof beam.
Next episode, the same work crew are given the task of disassembling an old chimney, but they came up with a better idea: We can just topple over that big pile of bricks sticking out of the middle of the house and sweep the bricks off the roof, saving a shitload of time and energy! Needless to say, when the hosts of the show came to the worksite they were not happy to see the new skylight in the middle of the house and the chimney top on the ground floor.
Third episode: Manny and Moe(I suppose Jack was elsewhere unsuccessfully attempting to twiddle his thumbs) have been given the task of carefully removing a beautiful six foot claw bathtub from the second floor bathroom. After evaluating how to maneuver the monstrosity carefully out of the bathroom and down the stairs, one of the geniuses notices the large hole where the bathroom window used to be. Do they rig a pully system to slowly lower the tub down to an awaiting co-worker?
No, they don’t.
Do they tie a rope around the tub and just attempt to lower it out the window?
No, they don’t.
Do they toss it out the window because “You just can’t break one of these if you try!”?
You know they did!
It looked like a 3D puzzle on the ground…and once again nobody gets fired.
I wouldn’t hire this firm to carry my groceries into the house. Are shows like this actually good for their business, because they look like a gigantic “Look Elsewhere For Help!” sign to me.
I tell myself it’s completely staged from start to finish and disguised as a HI show; it’s the only thing that gets me through the tedium.
BRING BACK AL BORLAND!
I used to watch those at the gym and I stopped when the standard theme became “We could renovate this house so it would be awesome, but that would take more time and money than some totally arbitrary schedule allows, so as long as it looks pretty from the right angle, we’re good!”
Yeah it’s all manufactured drama these days. I’ve complained before about the one with the twin brothers (“Property Brothers”?) and how they always find some “unforeseen” problem once they start ripping into the house – although if these guys were the experts they claim to be, they should have noticed on their first walkthrough.
I could understand manufacturing obstacles to make it look like they could conquer any problem-that’s good PR. On “Good Bones” the work crew itself is the obstacle that adds thousands of dollars to the cost of the renovation. How can this type of show make people want to go to them for anything?
How many load bearing walls do you need to unsuspectingly start to demolish before you learn to recognize a load bearing wall (or what might be a load bearing wall that requires more investigation before you tear it out)?
Well, my hobbyist woodworker brother-in-law used to watch “This Old House” to laugh at Bob Vila “helping”. 
Don’t get me started on Property Brothers wantonly destroying perfectly good cabinets and counter tops, just because they’re last year’s style or the wrong color. Paint them, or change the hardware, or at least carefully remove them and use them in the garage or mudroom or DONATE THEM TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY! They’re awfully quick to swing a sledge hammer, often to show bloopers of how weak the home owners are or to show how much of a cloud of dust kicking over a wall can produce.
I refuse to watch that type of show - about 10 or so years ago I watched an episode where whomever had a pristine Pasadena craftsman, with all the wonderful woodwork … they chainsawed a hole in the wall to install an entertainment system:mad:
I still watch This Old House, but my wife hates it when I watch any of those other shows 'cause she doesn’t like to listen to me yelling at the screen.
My wife likes to watch home improvement shows, but even she acknowledges that the drama is predictable and manufactured.
A few months ago, she was watching one of those shows (I can’t remember which one, but it wasn’t one of the big ones, like “Property Brothers”) – their big “drama” in the episode was an “accident” – a big window which had just been installed in the house fell out, and nearly hit the host.
They showed the incident several times, to emphasize the drama – and when they slowed down the footage on one of the replays, you could clearly see a person’s hand, pushing the window out of the wall. :smack:
Are there any hosts on HGTV you would buy a house from or hire to renovate your current abode?
Mike Holmes.
Anyone else? Oh hell no!
I miss the old days of HGTV when you could learn stuff. It’s been years since I turned it on myself. I happened to catch an episode last week when I was in a waiting room with a TV - it was obvious I haven’t been missing anything.
Stupid pseudo-reality TV…
In a similar vein, the formulaic “show a couple three houses and then they choose one” shows are all staged.
Someone once pointed out to me that the wife’s hair will usually look the same in two segments and different in one. The different-hair house is always the one they will choose. And I’ve noticed that seems to hold true nearly every time.
That’s because they film them looking through a house they’ve already bought. Then weeks or months later they’ll pretend to consider two other houses. Nothing about these shows is real.
Once upon a time there was Norm Abrams, but then viewers realized they could never hope to be like him and they turned to Bozo Home Improvement shows.
And they’re in cities where the houses are up to 10 times as expensive, for the style, space, neighborhood, etc. than they are where I live. What do these people do for a living, anyway?
I have a suspicion that “Fixer Upper” is actually a subtle campaign for Chip Gaines’ run for mayor of Waco, TX, building up to his eventually being elected governor of The Lone Star State. :eek:
I’d suspect Joanna, more likely.
Those shows still simulate the process of looking for a home, even if it’s dramatized.
There used to be educational home renovation shows. Even the flip shows gave good advice even when minimizing financial pitfalls.
Now it’s either stupidly obvious bullcrap cable shows you roll your eyes at while sitting in a waiting room, or poorly made YouTube videos of dubious reliability.