More on Home Improvement Shows
So, we flew back from Alaska on United and their June issue of Hemispheres magazine featured an interview with Norm Abrams from This Old House. Hemispheres is actually a great magazine, so not surprisingly the interview was well done. It focused on the legacy of the venerable home improvement show (now in its 25th year), the status of home restoration in America, and even how This Old House has gone rather high-end in recent years.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a copy with me so I went online looking for the article at the magazine's website. The bad news is that they don't offer their full magazine content online. The good news is that they had a "companion" article on the site--"Gimme Shelter!"--which was also a interesting read reviewing the various home improvement shows that have come around more recently (and which we have been chronicling here from time to time)...
Of course they mentioned the standard spouse/neighbor shows like Trading Spaces and While You were Out ("even their best results have a flimsy, provisional look") and the well known shoe-string remodeling shows ("Design on a Dime, which makes the most of a tight budget, and Divine Design, which makes the most of imagination because the budget isn't even mentioned").
They had distain for the fix-and-sell shows like Curb Appeal and Design to Sell, but you could tell the writer got some weird pleasure out of the homeowner misfortune shows: "the cautionary House Detectives...terrorizes buyers with skilled inspectors exposing expensive and even dangerous flaws—always after the contract’s been signed."
Finally, the article referenced several newer historic and old home restoration shows we haven't yet checked out, such as If Walls Could Talk and Old Homes Restored.
I'm still optimistic we'll come across more shows that reflect (and ideally inspire) our own sensibilities about old homes.
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Comments
Back to Norm Abrams, I really liked his book, Measure Twice Cut Once. Short essays on various tools and stuff about his family.
Posted by: Anita Rowland | June 13, 2004 10:02 AM
I work for United. I can get you a copy, if you'd like. Send an e-mail if you want one!
Posted by: Shylo | June 14, 2004 2:19 PM