*
Just putting this up for discussion for see how the pro’s view these shows. What show would you say is the most practical and why? Does a new comer really need all those fancy tools or are these shows just to push products? I myself do remodeling and even though I enjoy some of the shows, they tend to make the jobs look easy. When we know in reality this is not always the case. WHAT DO YOU FELLA’S AND GAL’S THINK????
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
From plumbing failures to environmental near disasters, OHJ staffers dish on our worst and best moments.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
Nothing is easy. There is no substitute to learning the basics through finesses. Anyone who glosses over the basics is not to be trusted. TV is not school and those guys are not teachers nor professionals, merely flunkies selling junk for multinationals. Trust noone...The truth is out there, somewhere.
*Just one thought. I would love to see the outtakes/bloopers from some of these shows.Pete Draganic
*Donald,Wouldn't life be easy if you could just say "stop the camera" then fix all the bumps and screw ups and then turn life back on again?No offense Norm.......Ed. Williams
*I have only seen a few episodes of any of these shows but I wonder if lay people think we are all supposed to be gregarious and easy goin' like most of those hosts seem to be. I mean, some of those hosts are buzzing around the job, chattering with the camera, seemingly making decisions in a millisecond. It seems to trivialize the whole profession to me. Maybe I'm denser than most folks, but I use a lot of mental energy pondering a problem on one end of a job, while I'm applying siding on the other, and wondering if the plumber is going to get done in time for the insulater to get in there, and so forth. I need to focus my attention to those types of things instead of yappin' with a camera (or customer). I often wonder if a customer thinks I am supposed to provide entertainment like those shows seem to. - jb
*I don't watch enough of them to remember which show is poor and which is worse. But I do think that they often skip the hardest part of the job. They don't ALWAYS do this, so when they do, it is particularly deceptive and negligent.Rich Beckman
*Donald, yes, TV does make it look easier than it is. Lawrence hits the nail right on the head.Once watched a lady on one of those shows set her own tile backsplash. Besides the big mess, her layout was such that she'd have a dutchman cut in the middle of the wall. After a convenient commercial break, no mess and no cut. I could see that one portion of the tile installation had been reworked to delete the cut.While watching Norm, I kept track of the dollar cost of the tools he used for his project. I stopped after $2,000. Just for a garden bench! These things help, but there is no substitute for knowledge.
*They get this criticism a lot of course, and say (in the case of TOH) we don't think it would be particularly helpful to show mistakes or (Hometime) hey, we only have 26 minutes to install a deck and second floor bathroom. You know, when I started doing DIY seriously EVRYONE said oh, you must really love these shows now. I was like, huh? Books and this board are much more practical -- you want advice on YOUR project, not THEIR project-of-the-week.I don't watch the shows, but did see a recent piece on the "making of" Hometime (I think that's the name?), a show I find relatively pleasant to watch. They admitted yes, this is silly, but we're trying to give people a general idea of what can be done in a short time in a way that holds their attention even if they're not a tradesperson. Then they showed some outtakes -- Dean (name?) throwing a sledgehammer through a wall (oops) then flipping a switch in a new kitchen remodel and setting fire to the outlet (whoa).I think a tape of outtakes would sell well to contractors. A lot of people really love these shows -- but i don't know any of these people personally. There will always be some who will assume that they could easily do what you do if they just put their mind to it, wrong. They're going to think you're trying to rip them off. Most people are better grounded in reality. Even to handle a circular saw with confidence is beyond most people -- the shows are more for entertainment, no?
*Just as an aside, I read an article on "This Old House Syndrome", or they called it something similar. Basically, they get people to sign on to the project thinking 'great, free materials and labour'. The show wants to profile new materials and techniques, so everything keeps escalating. The homeowners lose track of stuff, forget they are still responsible for taxes on the materials, and pretty soon, EVERY SINGLE TIME, the budget is blown sky high, the project is way behind, and the homeowners are trying to figure out how they got into this mess, where they are going to find the money, and how the hell do they get out. One couple bought a 'fixer upper' in Rhode island, I think, for 400 grand ( I sort of lost some sympathy for them at this point, I have to say) had about $100 G budgeted for the reno, which went up quickly to 300G or so. Even before they shot the last show, they were trying to sell their dream home and hoping hoping hoping not to lose their shirts, and I don't think the marriage was doing all that well. I don't have the article anymore, but that is the idea. And according to the article, there are very few exceptions. Most people end up spending way more than they wanted to, and having very unpleasant experiences. I don't have cable anymore, so I don't see them anymore. I watch them when i can, but it sure ain't reality as I've seen it.
*Wonder if people in the medical profession feel the same about similar learning shows.You know hip replacement 30 minutes, heart valve 30 minutes,vasectomy 30 minutes. They really do make it look easy. Well, maybe not the vasectomy one.
*Home vasectomy, Fred, send me the tape....I could save a bundle on that, you know in a few years when I don't need anymore kids. Last month I decided to practice dentistry in the comfort of my own home, so I called up the local medical supply house and had them bring over a LLoyd Bridges size bottle of nitrous oxide. To make a long story short, I pulled the wrong tooth and when I finally cought the wife...it just didn't work out. Found out why nitrous is legal...it just keeps you unable. Where's thet bottle of Viagara?
*Fred: My wife is an MD (internal medicine) and doesn't expect accuracy or realizism from any TV show. ER defintely does the best - the vast majority of what is said is accurate, what's not accurate is usually done wrong for dramatic reasons. And ER work really is fast turn around. 0.5 to 3 hours later the patient is sent to another department. P.S. Vascetomies take a lot LESS than 30 minutes from what friends have said. (Don't know personally, we're still breeding).
*You mean warp drive doesn't really exist? C'mon now, the post was about those quasi-reality programs in the self-help category.
*Law & Order has easily been the best for criminal law, the biggest error being that the lawyers dress MUCH better than real lawyers. And every case is heart-wrenching, goes to trial, then gets settled before a verdict. But it does give glimpses of the real thing.Anyone listen to "Car Talk"? NPR should do one of those for light construction/remodeling.
*Dave, Was refering to the shows on The Learning Channel and Discovery real in the operating room, ER footage. I think the big V episode was 25 minutes of prepping the guy and 2 minutes for the snip snip.Looked like your basic KLIEN side cutters only in stainless steel.
*Andrew,I love "Car Talk" on NPR, you should apply at their law firm, Dewey, Cheatem and Howe. Their answer to the caller who wanted to know how they could tell an honest mechanic from a dishonest one probably applies to contractors too. "By the size of their boat".JonC
*I really enjoy "Click and Clack" too. One of the things that makes them so funny is their laughter. Remember those "laughing boxes" when we were kids, like a tape of a real corny laugh? Try as you might, you couldn't help but laugh along with it. Something very contagious and theraputic about laughter. "Don't drive like my Brother". - jb
*This is getting a bit off thread, but just a month ago or so, a guy in Wabash County, Indiana was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. He was performing castrations for pay!Rich Beckman
*Warp drive may exist, we just haven't "discovered" it yet. I'm convinced that there are aliens among us already, though.
*Oh Andrew, No! Please say it isn't so! Aliens amoung us? Oh Please tell us you don't believe that!Rich Beckman
*Andrew, "This Old Dump" has been suggested... NPR is having difficulty finding another... er, ah, "personality" to act as my foil! Volunteers? I suggested Lisa, but she's too expensive and urbane... she'd make me look like the dolt that I am.Sorry "Dickie" (NOT) you failed the test... wankers need not apply.
*Hey,Texas is full of aliens.Some legal.....some illegal.Checking Pasa Verdes,Ed. Williams
*Maybe we should give Texas back to Mexico ... then the legals would be the illegals.
*I'd love to do something like that .. at least clink and bink seem to have an awful lot of fun with it ... plus i used to live in their "fair city" and TOH is based thereAll the idea needs is a couple of "personalities" to pitch it. I listen to Car Talk all the time and i haven't had car troubles in years....Really? This Old Dump? Perfect! "Caller, have you considered ... arson?"
*OOUUCH MAN , why would a guy pay someone to do that to him ? Chuck
*Not a bad idea.I could pay the guys about a million pesos an hour.I think that's about $10.00?At least it sounds good.Practicing my spanish,Edwardo Williams
*Andrew, more over: "YOU ACTUALLY BOUGHT a Sterling Homex Prefab! Whoa, the FIAT of Houses? Really? Pray that it's on a Toxic Waste Site, and the Government'll take it off your hands."Whaddayathink? A Cambridge Collegiate? You? Hahvahd?
*To my knowledge, no one has figured that one out yet! The story got a lot of play when he was arrested, but then it just disappeared.Rich Beckman
*Castration for pay?My bet is that the pay wasn't that great, but the tips were good.
*Donald This is similar to an earlier post. As stated in The Worst Case Scenario when a project is concieved from Architectural Digest at doctor's office, alternative materials are priced at Home Desperate, and a "similar" project on a DIYer show is given a half-hammer rating. Is this comparing apples to apples, or just fruit salad. I can remember one early This Old House where half way through the renovation the homeowners bailed out on some of the work they were going to do. I believe they found that the task was harder than they realized and their end product wasn't quite what they expected or wanted. Maybe the tradesmen weren't a bunch of bandits armed with tools. In another show, Dean and JoJo built a commercal building, excavation to tile floors. At the end of the program, they showed the actual people who did the work. I believe these two also had a show of out-takes but I missed that one. Perhaps these progams should come with a disclaimer.
*I'll take the Fifth.
*If there was a home show like Cartalk, it would go something like this:Ray: This is Thunk and Clunk, the Hammer Guys. Hello, and welcome to Housetalk.Andrew: Hi, This Andrew,Tom: Is that A-N-N-E-D-R-U-I? Almost like Anne, the Druid.Andrew: No, just Andrew, A-N-D-R-E-W.Tom: Oh, so you're not from CaliforniaAndrew: NoTom: Well, thank you for calling.Ray: Wait a second, is there something we can help you with?Andrew: Well I'm trying to figure out whether to put a vapor barrier on my house under the new cedar siding.Tom: What color is your house?Andrew: What difference does that make?Tom: I'm just stalling.Ray: At the shop, we've found that the Rust-o-leum spray paint makes a good vapor barrier. And you can get it in 48 colors.Tom: How many miles do you have on this house?Andrew: Huh?Ray: Well thank you for listening to Housetalk, don't build like my brother.Tom: And don't build like my bother.
*Those shows suck sawdust!But i used to watch them until I discovered he net.I guess i just like hanging out with buiding folk, even if they are actors.The shows are all gloss, no meat and potatoes. They are somtimes a little helpful, but rarely so they reflect reality in building.A real building show, would be quite boring. I'd probably get bored myself, and log back on here.Maybe if they had some type of live interactive show, where Joe could bust in and start insulting everyone...and Gabe could pipe in with a joke, maybe even a funny one,Or lisa could start elling us about the houses former life,or jack could light one up next to the stream...Did I miss anyone?blue
*You missed yourself, Blue. While Joe, Gabe, lisa, and jack insult, joke, relate, and light, you can frame the house in the background (with various sledges, but no back hoe for you, this isn't Home Improvement!)Rich Beckman
*If you check the first picture I ever sucessfully posted, on the "My first cable break" thread. You can just barely see Blue's heel sprinting out of the frame.Elvis has just left the building.JonC
*Like the Doctor Welby actor hawking medicine, should Bob Vila be required to say, "I'm not a contractor, but I play one on TV. Please buy these Sears Robogrip pliers."?
*The shows make it look easy because it is easy. All you need are the right tools. The trades want you to think it's difficult so they can intimidate you and charge more.Clint Searl
*
Any of you ever see the Taunton videos? I have been building my own house over the past year and have bought all of the tiling and trimming videos. You would think it would be boring to watch but I find it entertaining as well as educational. It sort of reminds me when I was a kid spending hours watching the guys across the street fixing their motorcycles. Somehow, my wife doesn't find the videos as entertaining. I did get her agree to watch the entire "tiling floors" video in exchange for my trying some organic carrot juice she brought home. When I went to lay my first mortar bed she supervised and was able to identify things I had missed!
*
Uh-oh guys, Clint is on to the "learning from experience" conspiracy. Evidently you are as good at something the first time you do it, without training, as you'll ever be!
*Clint Would like to see some of your work. Of course, the real test is, would you pay someone else for the same quality crafstmanship or is it"close enough".
*
Just putting this up for discussion for see how the pro's view these shows. What show would you say is the most practical and why? Does a new comer really need all those fancy tools or are these shows just to push products? I myself do remodeling and even though I enjoy some of the shows, they tend to make the jobs look easy. When we know in reality this is not always the case. WHAT DO YOU FELLA'S AND GAL'S THINK????