We love home renovation stuff at our house. Since we are working class, we have to buy houses and then work on them. High end buys are not in our budget, plus doing it yourself is FUN and gives a sense of pride.
So we watch a lot of HGTV and DIY Network shows about renovations.
DIY is totally misleading. There are no DIY shows on there. They are “if you agree to be on our show we will send you a contractor to help you do your house.” Also, I suspect there are many crew members who help out that we rarely or never see on these shows.
DIY Network, you need some new shows that tone down the renovations and have projects that are simpler, that the average person CAN actually do on their own renovations by following along at home. IT doesn’t have to be flashy, or fancy.
Except for Renovation Realities. This show follows home owners as they take on HUGE renovations with a shoestring budget, too little time and too little experience and often with small children they are also trying to care for. There is almost always a disaster, a screaming wife, and a husband who wants to say “fuck it all, hire someone else to take care of this.”
If you are in the US you can watch it here. In Canada the DIY Network website is bare bones, sad. And they also have Real Renos which is the total opposite of Renovation Realities. RIch people who have a bevy of people working on their houses, and a supposed general contractor, who doesn’t seem to oversee these massive projects at all. And the show is boring.
What do you think should a channel called DIY have shows that are actually Do-It-Yourself? Or do you like seeing the huge renovations?
Just Pleasure 
when i was married we did lots of renos but as a single woman? nope, no way….have fun
I second this rant!!
Both channels are sliding into ‘artificial deadlines’ and ‘one in a million projects’ – if you’re not the chosen one, all you get to take away from most of the shows is a scant half-hour of so-called entertainment. At least Josh Temple, Genevieve Gorder, Marc Bartolomeo and David Bromstad used to walk us through (on camera) the design and/or construction process. New hosts and new shows are, like you said, more about ‘pretty people’ nominally in charge, and outrageously expensive hi-tech gadgets.
(My rant hat off now, too)
Thanks for the invitation to vent, Asrai! :)
I miss Trading Spaces. One weekend, one thousand dollars, one carptenter, and four people in two rooms. No extra crew. No expensive things. Although there were some REALLY BAD designs. Straw on a wall.
Thanks for coming by and ranting Karen.
Indeed, though I preferred the British version on BBCAmerica, several-many years ago.
I also really miss the ‘crafters’ programs – where they not only *showed off* the cool stuff they made, they *actually taught you* how to really Do It Yourself!
I had the thought the other day, a person could start their own, get famous on Youtube and then sell it as a show to the network. Dreams.
Go for it, grrrl! and tell us *here*, and comment ‘around’ with your WP id –
‘get famous’ may take a while, but it’s definitely doable!! :)
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