Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

  I decided to post this rather than gamble on losing several pages of text,
which sometimes happens in Notes, and continue in a reply.
  "This Old House" is at its best when it stays local. When they went on the
road, it was sort of funny. Nobody in his right mind would hire a plumbing
contractor in Boston to do a job in New Orleans. Not only does he have to
travel 2000 miles at someone's expense, but a lot of things are "different"
there. But that's what happened on "This Old House". I enjoyed the first few
nights with general stuff on New Orleans and the history of the house, but
then it got boring. The London job actually was interesting the whole time,
simply because London is so different from Boston that almost everything was
a new experience.
  The original host, Tony(?) Vila, bugged me because he was imperious, always
interrupting people when they were trying to explain things because he seemed to
be in a rush to move on. He got fired from the program 7 or so years ago (be-
cause of trouble outside the program, which I won't get into) and was replaced
by Steve Thomas. I liked him at first but now he has the same "rushed" manner,
which makes me suspect that maybe he and Tony are/were being told by the pro-
ducers to act this way. It's unfortunate because only interrupting occasionally
(when people are truly long-winded) would only add a few minutes to each pro-
gram, and there is plenty of "fluff" that could be omitted to make room for
this.
  I like the basic format of a full-time host interviewing the homeowners, con-
tractors, architects, etc. and showing the work in progress. Which leads to...
  Last week Channel 2 began (at 6 pm Sat. nights) a new, short-run series
called Hometime. It is produced in Philly and appears to be a "This Old House"
knockoff. It's the opposite of T.O.H.; the homeowners do most of the work 
themselves and are the hosts too. It doesn't ring true; they somehow know how
to handle big, heavy nail guns and the like. Also, the program goes much too
fast and therefore skips over 2/3 of what a homeowner couple would actually
have to do. And the flashbacks to the 1950's are a distraction and a waste of
time. So if WGBH thinks this show will fill the need for a "frugal This Old
House", they are wrong. Anyway, it looks like this series, at least in Boston,
will just run for 10 weeks and then stop.

    Regarding Hometime:  It has actually been around quite a few years
    (maybe even longer than TOH, I'm not sure).  They are currently on at
    least their third female co-host:  Joanne Leibler was on for several
    years, last year Suzanne Egli joined, and now Robin {can't remember her
    lastname at the moment} has joined Dean Johnson ( who also has a role
    in the production).  The show really deserves its own note, but here
    are a couple of things that come to mind quickly:
    
    	Although it is produced by the Phila. PBS station it is done
    entirely in Minnesota
     	They have produced an extensive library of how-to videos -- just
    take a look next time you are in Somerville Lumber, etc.
    	They stage it so that it APPEARS that the co-hosts are married
    although they never really say anything explicit.
    	The new look of the show with Robin and Dean has more 'fluff' --
    funny segments, flashbacks, voiceovers, etc. although they've always
    had an element of humor.
    	They are a bit more oriented toward telling YOU how to do things
    than TOH.
    
    enough for now.  By the way, I watch BOTH shows as much as I can
    (although I can't use most of what they discuss).
    
    	/jeff

    I also watch Hometime (usually on a New Hampshire station) and This 
    Old House....
    
    The previous host of TOH was Bob Villa and he was told if he didn't
    stop endorsing Craftsman Tools (because it appeared to the public that
    TOH was also endorsing the tools) that he would be out of a job, so Bob
    chose to leave (has it been 7 years, nah maybe 3 or 4) and now has his
    own show on NBC called Home Again with Bob Villa.
    
    Roberta
    

    RE: Hometime.
    
    I watch it too and have been for a couple of years.  As .2 pointed out
    they have been around for many years.  I also enjoy Hometime over TOH
    for several reasons; 1) they show people actually doing the work, not
    just contractors and it was great to see Joanne L. (when I started
    watching the show) carrying dry wall, handle a screw gun, lifting roof
    shingles and other heavy manual labor.  Granted the hosts only do a
    small portion of the show, I would imagine but they still do a lot.
    
    2) They stop and inform you when it may be better to call a
    professional or a contractor and they tell you of all the different
    options.
    
    3) They don't always use the most up-to-date or most expensive supplies
    and decor.
    
    Great show, very informative and easy to watch.  Though I disliked the
    'flashbacks' and corny take offs on movies they didn't last long and so
    far those are the only negatives I have of the show.
    
    Joyce_whose_dabbled_in_construction

	Well after the Hawaii project they started reruning a project
	from 1991.  Anyone know when they plan to start a new project?

     Next season.  Seems reruns will fill in from now on until then.

    They started the new season of This Old House last week. They're going
    to do minor renovations and put an addition on the oldest house in 
    Acton Massachusetts. It's a center chimney colonial built in the
    1700's.  
    The house needs structural work, but they're going to do as little 
    as possible, because the budget is only $150K.  The addition will 
    probably use up that amount. 
    Should be interesting!
    

> They started the new season of This Old House last week.

	FWIW, there is an active discussion of the new project in
	the 12dot2::Home_Work conference, topic 1974.  Press SELECT
	on your keyboard now .....