TV "remodeler" shows

[orezok]

My wife likes to watch the TV remodeler shows. I don't know why, because we designed and built our own home about 9 years ago and it's still 99% perfect. There have only been a few very minor things that we would change.

But I digress. Being a licenses general contractor for over 35 years and having built over 2,000 dwelling units and over $500M in commercial projects, I have a decent knowledge of construction.

First, the SLEDGE HAMMER. In my experience, you want to remove demo items in the largest unit possible. Who wants to be picking up a million little pieces. I guess it makes dramatic TV.

Next, the TALKING HEAD. It's clear that many of the hosts don't even know how to hold a tool or operate it. You see them making perfect joints and measurements that are within 1/64" at completion. It's obvious to me that an experienced carpenter/electrician/plumber etc. does all the preliminary set up work and the talking head makes the final cut on camera. I would bet that the talking head does less than 1% of the work shown.

Next. SAFETY. OMG is all I have to say at times. The staged "accidents" and "failures" are ridiculous. Again, it makes for exciting TV.

In baseball they have a saying... "You can **** the fans, but you can't **** the players".

Yesterday I saw a show where they were making a stainless steel item of some kind that would have the welds exposed. The host was using a MIG with flux core wire and had a 2" stickout on the wire. I bet those were some pretty welds.

Is there anything in Reality TV that's real anymore?

 

[dave1949]

Nah. They are as real today as Leave It To Beaver was back when.

We cancelled our cable TV and upped our download speed. $75/month for something we hardly used seemed silly. With better content and fewer commercials, it would be more watchable and we would have kept it. Still have the internet and VOIP phone--we are in a cellular dead zone. We stream shows, watch an episode or two about every evening.

Our actual download speed is below what we are paying for. It's supposed to be 10 mbps and is in the mornings, but drops to 1-2 mbps in the evenings when everyone else is streaming too. The cable guy was out to make sure it's not something at our end but told us he had the same problem at home and there are some equipment upgrades in the works.

He said a lot of people are dropping their cable tv and switching to streaming which totally changes the cable networking traffic. He thinks regular broadcast-type tv on cable is going away eventually and being replaced by streaming or other on-demand services.

 

[dmccarty]

...

Is there anything in Reality TV that's real anymore?

No.

Is there anything on TV that's real anymore?

No.

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[roadhunter]

Just attention ****** who want people to look at them. Most of society has the same affliction. That's why they constantly take pictures of themselves for other people to look at.

I will say that I have been impressed with Mike Holmes. Seems to know his stuff and not be all made up for the camera.

 

[orezok]

Just attention ****** who want people to look at them. Most of society has the same affliction. That's why they constantly take pictures of themselves for other people to look at.

I will say that I have been impressed with Mike Holmes. Seems to know his stuff and not be all made up for the camera.

Mike's pretty knowledgable, but I wonder how he gets his head through those 3-0 doors. :laughing: :laughing:

 

[s219]

I will say that I have been impressed with Mike Holmes. Seems to know his stuff and not be all made up for the camera.

I used to like watching him when we had cable TV at our old house, because he was merciless and brutally honest when he saw bad work. And of course the solution was to eradicate all traces of the bad work before starting over, which made for good TV.

 

[mjarrels]

I would watch an Eddie Walker remodel show!

mark

 

[orezok]

The only REAL craftsman was on This Old House, Tom Silva!

 

[newbury]

What get's me:
The frequency of "let's take out this wall" only to find it's a bearing wall
The way some of the "subjects" get so darn picky at great expense
The frequency of "we found this in the basement and we'll fix it up" for cabinets and furniture to finish the build below cost.
The costs they quote - which often wouldn't cover the cost of the manhours involved, much less the materials, permits, etc.

And the worst - they tear out something because it doesn't "look good" and on another show they just put something like that in.

 

[PILOON]

While I find Mike Holmes interesting the problem is that when called for a minor update or repair he re builds the whole house.
Generally he finds that every previous tradesman did it wrong.
Your $350. repair or update ends up costing $35,000.

 

[sixdogs]

The only REAL craftsman was on This Old House, Tom Silva!

Norm, when he was getting started was pretty good as well. Probably better than Tom.

The remodel shows are too painful for me to watch. Sad truth, orezok, is that your wife might even doubt you on a construction question yet take the word of of a talking head on TV without question.

 

[Pixguy]

It seems that a bunch of these shows originate in Canada which brings me to the question....

Does anybody get their homes inspected in Canada or are the inspectors sleeping on the job?

 

[sseelhoff]

Just attention ****** who want people to look at them. Most of society has the same affliction. That's why they constantly take pictures of themselves for other people to look at.

I will say that I have been impressed with Mike Holmes. Seems to know his stuff and not be all made up for the camera.

I thought that too, until I saw him installing CSST in a home and talking about how awesome it was. Hope you paid that insurance premium, Mike. That's some bad stuff.

That being said, I do respect the fact that he has started a training academy for skilled trades. That's awesome and much needed. He and Mike Rowe need to get together for some promotional stuff on this concept.

 

[sseelhoff]

I would watch an Eddie Walker remodel show!

mark

If it's like a Mike Holmes show, I can do the BEFORE.

 

[orezok]

Sad truth, orezok, is that your wife might even doubt you on a construction question yet take the word of of a talking head on TV without question.

No, she knows. When ever I tell her that what they are doing is wrong or just stupid, she always sez, "I know it's just a TV show".

 

[roadhunter]

I agree Mike has a big head and can turn a mole hill into a mountain but he at least knows is stuff instead of some Hollywood wannabee superintendent. Most of those people would be lost if you put them in charge of building a dog house from start to finish.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I like Mike's show, but a few of the things they criticize are/were acceptable ways things were done in their time. Most the time though, it is just outrageously wrong. Watched one last night, wow, was things done wrong.

I know when I was building my house, there were sometimes those "**** or get off the pot" moments, when I didn't know the best way to do something, but I had to do something to keep things moving,so I did what I thought was best. Course this was before TBN, so I couldn't ask the experts :laughing:

 

[Marveltone]

I pretty much loathe and despise all remodel shows, starting waaay back with Bob "You can do anything I can with a crew of highly trained craftsmen, custom fabrication shops, and a Disney Budget" Vila. He, in my opinion, was the worst of the lot. The Martha Stewart of home improvement.

Joe

 

[Ken45101]

Well it seems to me that ALL TV is designed for sensationalism and not for useful information, no real surprise there. Be it home improvement (?), NEWS, documentaries, whatever. As an ex volunteer firefighter, I am drawn to the fire department shows such as "Chicago Fire" but gosh, either they do things weird in Chicago or the fire scenes are totally out of touch with the real world. But at least the mainstream entertainment shows do not masquerade as being educational.

 

[farmer2009]

Always enjoyed The New Yankee Workshop that norm did. Also like ask this old house and this old house. Although they seem to be in really high end neighborhoods. Mike Holmes is also good but a lot of the bad I think is over exaggerated. And he makes problems bigger than they really are. Most of the other shows I can't stand.