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Favorite phrases and happenings from TOH and the like.
Bob Vila’s favorite saying — “OK, nice job Norm.”
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Joseph Fusco
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Joe,
Ahh, yes ... the 'ole "let me help you with that" on the jobsite. LMAO!
Wasn't that said when Bob helped Norm while taking-off his coat!
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" kinda reminds you of the [insert almost any part of a sailboat here] on a boat doesn't it?" Dont know how many times I've heard Steve Thomas compare something to a boat .
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Vila seems positively knowledgeable and experienced next to putsy
stuffed shirt Thomas. Seems wrong a guy like him got that
job.
Another of Bob's favorite lines: "We'll be right back after these
messages"
Hard to watch.
m
*One for the DIY'ers out there:Hometime"Dean is using his special new pneumatic nailer, but you can use a hammer"
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I like the one when Woody says "Hey Norm, hows it going?"
Norm says "Poor"
"Sorry to hear that"
"No, I mean pour, gimme a beer"
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Or when Norm says "gimme a beer, stop me at one"
"Only one beer tonight?"
"No, one a.m., gimme a beer"
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but then again i could be wrong
*So it's not just me that finds Stevie annoying and pompous?Awhile back, someone posted about Steve, touting Steve's resume. It wouldn't matter to me if he designed and built the greatest structures known, I still would be irked by him. Send him out to pick up a left-handed drilldriver.
*Howabout when they start off with, "We're going to show you the correct way to {insert job here}." Then they show you the item being carried to the job site. " OK, while they install it, lets go to the factory and see how they cut wood!!"Yo, Dudes, howabout actually showing us how to do it from start to finish?
*I'm waiting for one of the subs to finally snap and start screaming and cursing...Bob Vila says "So, Joe, what are you doing here?"Joe looks at him like he is the stupidest person on earth, and says "I'm nailing f***ing siding up, what the f**k does it look like?!"
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Nick, I'm dying. LOL.
Dog
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Joseph Fusco
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*I wish they had an R rated version of TOH on HBO or something, it could be more realistic with all the cussin, spittin, dirty jokes, etc.
*Bob and Norm .....reminds me of another dynamic duo.Does anyone remember ol' Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler?I can just see him now standing on the bank of a big mudhole in Africa...."While Jim's being squashed and eaten by this fifteen foot anaconda lets take a few minutes for a word from our sponsor Mutual of Omaha.
*I can't stand him, and that's just from buying "his" kitchen design book (the ghost's name was even on the cover). He threw out that he liked can lights in the kitchen, and that he'd paid $80 a piece ... and installed 11! My first question was, do they cook the meat by just leaving it out on the counter? $1000 for LIGHTS? When the real advice came, the writer's "voice" changed suddenly away from "I'm so cool" Steve.
*Another of Norm's famous lines:, "Now, I'll walk over to the {insert one of many stationary tools} and finish the cut."
*... and it's a tool so specialized that it won't possibly ever be used again. Plus it's made by Delta.
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You noticed that too?
Actually met Norm once at a book signing (Measure Twice And Cut Once) - he seemed to me to be a regular guy, slightly dazed with all the "fame". He isn't too happy with all the tool guys bugging him to use their {insert name of specialty - incredably expensive - one function only tool here}.
PBS could make an incredable amount of money by raffling off his shop - I bet even Joe doen't have that many kinds and types of clamps.
The workshop isn't even his - it's the producer's.
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Don't ever get to see that show Y'all are talking about.I find the" Red and Green show" pretty innovative. I did see one show that has a guy and a girl.She seems to be the more competent one. Come to think of it they changed girls.
*My ex-girlfriend's mother new Bob when he was starting his "broadcast" career, Oh, 15+ years ago. She said he would be reading a book on the "subject of the day" right up untill taping time. I think that was the sum of his knowledge.
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I remember a "Hometime" episode a few years back where they were building a sauna-- supposedly in her parents basement. They decided to try it out while the parents were not home and it showed them dropping their towels as they headed up the basement steps. At that moment the parents walked in on them and supposedly caught them naked. I thought that was the best episode ever!
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Awhile back, there was a late-night commedy skit show, kinda like SCTV or MAD TV. They had a skit called, "THIS OLD HOUSE PARTY". Bob and Norm were fixin up a "crib" for a gangbanger. Norm was showing off the new bedroom he set up for "knockin boots". Also had a display for guns like his "deuce-deuce" and his "nine".
Anyone else remember ???
*MarkI never saw that episode. I would like to, My favorite part is when JoAnn or Robin stand on a ladder and look back over their shoulder at you, Or any time they pick up something off the floor. :-)My wife has a generic term for all of them "GEEKS, you're watching geeks on TV?" I hope she doesn't see the above, though, come to think of it, she does rather like Norm and doesn't call him a geek. Hmmmmm. wonder what's up with that?Wishing Geena Davis was a framer :-)Scott
*Geena Davis? Come on Scott,it's your FANTASY life. You can do better than Geena Davis.
*Better than Geena Davis???a Helen Hunt and Daryl Hannah sandwich?Scott
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Well, I never saw the comedic version of TOH but yeah, there is a lot of material there for the hashing.
I did see a skit on Marlon & Jim (mutual of omaha stuff)... went something like, 'Now my trusty companion Jim is going to give the irritated water buffalo the enema.'
I think TOH got popular because in its advent it was a show not about DO IT YOUR-SELFING, but about contractors doing work, then add Bob Vila. I can still remember the old episodes were I said to myself, Norm's holding a Black&Decker corded drill, even though it was old, the paint and colors had rubbed off I could tell by the housing it was in that it was a B&D like my dad had.
Now, every tool is a new tool, obviously provided. Every jig is extraordinary. Every episode features a Palace.
I just thought people, and people other than contractors, liked seeing what some tradesmen did. Then, it all changed and now we have something less than authentic. It's like smart people showing us gadgets. Gadgets like the latest radiant floor heating coils. And, if it isn't the "Latest" something then it is the expensive 'time honored' method/material. Italian cut marble. Italian cut marble is fine, so are gadgets, but anymore that's what they show the majority of the time. I did like it once when they showed the installation of a "transfer beam." But, they didn't even call it what it was because 1)they thought it was over the heads of the audience (DIY), or 2) only grunts do this type of dirty work and therefore, 'it's not worth much mention.
That's why FHB has something, they showed a toilet installation a few issues back and they told ya 1)how it is routinely done; 2) what sometimes complicates matters; 3) new parts and supplies which they then give you names and addresses; and they show ya the type of sealant and where it has to go. Then, you can tell them what they missed in the 'letters.'
If you think TOH the TV show is bad, check out the Mag! ssseeezzhh, I've read longer stories in USA Today! I don't need to know that HE's a banker and SHE's a house mom but was trained for culinary school in Paris and that's why she demands a stainless steel kitchen!
They ought to stop doing whole house renews if they don't have the time to do it right.
OK
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Jeff Goldblum's Geena Davis, no? Or did that end?
I only buy TOH for the pictures and the supplier listings! It is odd that it all has gotten so remote, like Architectural Digest, given it's public TV. Well, maybe not, public TV/radio have tended towards to snooty for years. Thank God for Car Talk. Yeah, and Garrison Keillor sometimes.
I've never watched TOH or any show much -- it irritates me, like having someone read to me, to have to go at their pace or spend time on somrthing I'd skip. But the scuttlebut I remember is that Vila was fired for becoming TOO COMMERCIAL. Easy to believe, with his frequent mentions of brand names, and his current cheesy career. True? Did things improve with Norm? Why do we talk about this show so much???
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Probably because we find it paradoxically hilarious. Besides, who else is there to laugh at except Clinton?
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How can you discuss Steve Thomas without mentioning his favorite word, the word he uses to describe ever facet of every project on every show, whether it's the gutters or the flower arrangement or the termite damage: "GREAT!!!"
He might be a decent guy if left to his own devices. But the director turns him into this asinine Boy Scout character.
Do you remember when This Old House consisted of Bob Vila actually doing small home repair projects? I remember an episode where Bob showed how to jackhammer old concrete steps. Bam bam bam! Bob himself, surrounded by dust. Shot with what looked like an old 8mm home movie camera.
No jackhammers today. Now the dweeby homeowners who hit the lottery scramble over themselves to build the most trendy, ostentatious structure possible.
Fortunately the ever-stoic Norm and that other New England contractor they use, whose name I've forgotten, serve as welcome ballast. As Steve Thomas says "PEPPERONI AND SAUSAGE! GREAT!!" to the pizza guy and the poor homeowners agonize over which $5,000 oven to buy (after all that, Steve, we just decided to buy both---I mean, Rachel might learn to cook someday), those two guys often seem more than a little amused at the madness.
*Can you guys actually belive that this Riley guy goes on national TV and announces to the world that he cut his finger on a table saw! I once worked with a guy who wore overalls like that Riley and every time he used a nail gun is was like a war zone. I've never trusted anyone who wore them since.
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dead on!
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Stay with me a bit here - I've got this idea for a show called "This crappy old place". It would last a season, and the first show would involve the happy young couple walking through their "dream fixer-upper" with a surly, tattooed contractor. They'd point out the stone walls, the brick floor in the kitchen, the old exposed beams, and various quaint relics of the past. They would babble happily about their plans as the contractor looked at the floor and spat.
With each succeeding week, the drama that is an old house would unfold. The brick floor would turn out to be cheap linoleum over spongy, urine-stained particle board, the stone walls would be asphalt paper over asbestos shingles, and the hand-hewn beams would be polyurethane.
Toward the end of the season, the increasingly disillusioned couple would resort to cursing at each other and the contractor as they passed in the ripped-apart rooms.
The final episode would involve the accidental destruction of the remaining skeleton of the house, the fire starting during an ill-advised attempt to strip paint with a welding torch. It would conclude with the contractor being arrested and convicted for molesting the happy couple's nubile daughter, and divorce papers being served.
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The other guy is Tom Silva.
I guess we talk about TOH the most because 1) FHB doesn't have a show, and 2)Norm still does some work, and 3) it is on Saturday AM which is the only time i'd even consider 'wasting' infront of that box. And, being the first show of its kind this combination makes it the yardstick in the industry. Boy, that's scary, an industry of improvement shows. Heard, although I don't subscribe to it, that there is a DIY Network. Is that true? A whole cable network devoted to this?
Now, if they wanted to put a show or network together on something real interesting they should do "DIY engineering services" that way folks could actually look at the project more comprehensive-like and structure some of that crap they try to pass off as 'good design.'
Or, on a more serious note, they could go out to various jobsites and not have any one crew to follow around; this would be the equivalent of "COPS," except I guess they would have to call it "CONS."
Ok, that stinks but...
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Away from the show for a minute, I was in a bookstore recently and noticed "Home Renovation for Dummies". One chapter each, as I recall, on carpentry, plumbing, and electrical. I'd never seen it before (too busy thumbing through "Sex for Dummies", maybe), but I figure we'll all be out of work before the end of next year, what with TV and literature.
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"no" adrian.
They only teach the small and remedial tasks that other Americans don't want to do anyway -- oh, wait ... that's just what I remember from the NAFTA debate ... yeah, we're all going to be outa work real soon.
Frankly, most people don't have time,
but, they have money!
It's usually more cost effective for them to pay for it. This holds true for me on my own home sometimes.
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I am afraid that all of you are not showing sufficient respect - it is MASTER CARPENTER Norm Abrams, as they indicate repeatedly in the magazine. What I find interesting is the role of "unknowing questioner" that they have to play on the TV show and then the casting of MASTER CARPENTER Norm Abrams in particular as the know-all guru of home remodeling in the magazine. Far too much of rying to play up a cult of personality in the magazine; but then I have bought and read each issue... Great layout and great photographs even if the text of the articles is a bit thin...
*Forgot to add: for those devotees who haven't chased down the web site for TOH and New Yankee Workshop to check out the schedule for this season they are:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/thisoldhouse/home.htmlhttp://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/tv/nyw/nywindex.html
*Hee-hee, thanks I needed a chuckle after a long day. Tommy DeSilva is the contractor, and he's total New England. Stoic no BS. Sounds like he has the fanciest tool trailer in creation, though.I like the forced grins on the homeowners' (or should I say mortgage-owners') faces when the project is 25% over budget and unfinished. (Vila: "This week we're gonna take a look as JoAnne and Bob go down to bankruptcy court...").
*I think the magazine is gorgeous design ... it almost won a design award, but the award was yanked when it was reveled that one of the "articles" -- a pull-out on circular saw blades was sponsored by Ace Hardware. Not a big deal I'd think, but prohibited by the group giving the award.Hey, I subscribe, and it has given me some worthwhile design ideas and turned me on to unusual products or suppliers. Not exactly "how-to," however.The godlike status given the contractors in print has gotta go. Let their skill speak for itself. I think the message of the mag is that only the gods can do this stuff.
*TOH is like Howard Cosell -- the one you love to hate. A masochistic tradition. But it's handy -- when conversation around here starts to lag, all you gotta say is "This Old House."
*More "reality-based" TV?
*Steve is an annoying worm who should be in an office somewhere. Tommy Silva is the other contractor Mark. I met him at a trade show. Nice guy for a Mass.hole, and a true carpenter. I think I could build like Norm if I had all the time in the world ,like he does, and Porter cable sent me a new tool every week. Ever notice that when he uses a Makita on the Yankee Workshop the lable plate is taped over?
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The label is taped over!
Boy, that stinks... I guess they're in tune to who butters their bread.
I can't remember if it is DE Silva or Silva.
I think we like to pick on 'em because we've (for the most part) stopped learning from them. With the exception of a coupling fitting or a gasket in a hose line, I can't remember the last thing they've suggested that made a difference to me.
In the other TOH post I asked if anyone had ever seen the movie "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," star'g Cary Grant. No one posted anything, so I guess not. But, it is about an old house fixer up that turns bad before turning good. It is all about the eccentricities we've talked about here, well, add a sappy love story.
*Well, maybe that is it. We rip on the show because we stopped learning. Yeah, along with the other stuff about Steve being a putz and the overcommercialism and only working on mansions and doing everything totally high-end and building garages in one day and all the latest tools and technology. And clients with money to burn.Back here in the real world,DOGPS: Russ Morash-email me for my address. I know you'll want to get me on the next available show!HAHA...xxx
*Well, maybe that is it. We rip on the show because we stopped learning. Yeah, along with the other stuff about Steve being a putz and the overcommercialism and only working on mansions and doing everything totally high-end and building garages in one day and all the latest tools and technology. And clients with money to burn.Back here in the real world,DOGPS: Russ Morash-email me for my address. I know you'll want to get me on the next available show!HAHA...xxx
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PRP; I've seen "Mr Blandings" twice. Classic. Everyone in building should watch it.
*I thought everyone had seen it! Haven't seen The Money Pit though.
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HGTV - Home and Garden Television - is entirely devoted to DIY. VERY dilute content. Almost entirely H20. It has shows that purport to be about remodelling, home improvement, landscaping, interior design. They do (or did) show reruns of TOH and Hometime, which were the cream of the crop as far as the building/remodelling content was concerned. Even for me, that channel is a waste of time.
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i remember when toh meant someting to me. the last few episodes I saw when they were in San Fran. If i wanted to see alcatraz on tv i would watch tlc or discovery channel. riley? somebody must have been on vacation. oh and if norm is a "master carpenter" ther are others i would rather work on my house who do not present themselves as such.
p.s. if someone could pass my name on to delta / porter cable i could use some free tools too.
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TO andrew d, you should not only watch The Money Pity, you should all give a copy to clients upon completion of the job. Kinda like a going away present.
*From spending over 20 years in the business of television, industrial and broadcast, you learn not kill the messenger. How most television shows work is the people on the screen has little to say what is going to be on the air. That's what Producers, production staff and sponsers are for. You think Norm and Steve stay up at night and edit the day's footage? I would have killed to have a front man like Steve in a outdoor show I did. The host was an expert in hunting and fishing and he was a nice guy BUT big 300lb and ugly. A guest hunter once remarked that we should hang a sign on him saying that "I am not a moose. Don't shoot." He once wore a "F**k YOU" t-shirt under a white shirt once and you could read it if the sun hit him just right. (I didn't notice it till after the shoot.) Being an expert is no help either sometimes. You need someone that knows he doesn't know squat and will ask intellgent questions. An expert will often forget that many people don't have the background knowledge that they have. So when watching a show like TOH you have to remember the other powers and politics that are involved. How much say will they give to a carpenter and a yacht racer when millions of dollars are involved?
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Favorite phrases and happenings from TOH and the like.
Bob Vila's favorite saying -- "OK, nice job Norm."