In this economy I think many folks will be staying home more and will look to ways to save on food. Vegetable plantings is a great way to go. I learned many of my techniques simply watching shows like Gardening Naturally (thanks for helping me recall the name of that show Marg). In that show I learned more about proper composting, the use of manure, seaweed of all things, and other stuff. Sure it certainly may not appeal to all audience, but it was very imformative. Too bad we no longer have such shows. The new Victory Garden - well it's simply rehashed segments with a new host - Jamie Durie, a well known garden designer/landscaper from Australia. The show focuses mainly on designing on a grand scale - although it does emphasis green techniques, water conservation, etc.. It does have a small segment with Kip as the actual gardener and Chef Michel cooking the organic way. However it just doesn't have that 'Organic feel' to it. It seemed too Hollywood or too New Age. In my opinion -- good eye candy, not much on substance. There is good show on PBS - called Cultivating Life. While it is short, it does have everything, from building trellis, to planting, to cooking. It's good enough - although not close enough to the shows of the past. I've pretty much given up on watching shows on TV. There's hope however, and it exist online. Look at such places such as Youtube and someone is most certainly going to upload a specific gardening technique. Ianna

I think HGTV is in decline frankly. It's got too much designer shows on, designer contests, designer competitions, etc... Don't get me wrong. When it comes to design, I'm normally very keen to learn new styles but in the past few years, the styles have been simply repeats. No real imagination happening. Someone has tried to inject the 70s design into it but that is fleeting and highly trendy and gets boring fast... The shows are more 'designed' to showcase the designers and the agonies they go through. It seems the recipients of the newly designed homes are always the last or the least to have any control as to how things can turn out. However, I'm just finding overall the stuff HGTV has been showing really blahhh and boring. I would rather enjoy watching other shows on cable and grab magazines for inspiration. There used to be shows like Carol Duval, crafters coast to coast, good bbc gardening shows like that of Geoff Hamilton who was a gardener foremost before he was a designer. He discussed plants, how to propagate them, etc.. how to start a garden from scratch beginning with ground preparation.... There used to be another American show with a couple of farmers who ran an organic farm. They taught composting among others. They taught how to to preserve root vegetables for winter and other lost arts like these. That's what we need. A visit to past practices in gardening. That would be a refreshing story. Oh... I do like City Gardener despite that it does devote the period to design. I've always found UK designs to be ahead but the only troubling thing about the show is that it's about an instantaneous garden. How it would look in the long run is what I'm curious about. Many of the designs seems to be a bit difficult to maintain... Ianna

Caution- I don't want to burst your bubble and I know we all have different tastes, so stop reading if you don't want to hear anything negative about the show. We've watched both seasons and I have to say, it's no Waltons or Little House. I really wanted to like this show, and I continued to watch it, hoping it would get better, but the scripts are pretty weak, in my opinion, and the acting is so-so, but the constant angst is annoying and seems forced. Everyone has angst in every episode, it's like the writers don't want anyone to have a happy, smooth life, ever, or if they are happy in THIS episode, just wait, we'll kill that happiness off in the next one. The scenery is beautiful. The actress who plays Grace is fantastic, I think, and as cute as a button. She steals the show. And I enjoy when the judge when is actually on the bench and trying to get people to compromise and do the right thing without her having to getting too heavy handed, or when she solves a problem for 2 opposing groups. Season 2 really focuses on the judge's daughter and she just seems to skate thru the motions, I can't force myself to care about her at all. And all the bad decisions (and there are a lot of them, constantly) that are made by the characters are so predictable. I hope the writers get it together or it's going to become a big negative soap opera. All that said, maybe my expectations are too high for a show like this. This post was edited by FlamingO_in_AR on Sun, Nov 23, 14 at 9:43

Bones is my favorite show, and I've never missed an episode. I hope this won't be the last season for it. It is based on the life of Kathy Reichs, who is one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists. She is involved in the production of the show, and has written a number of books, most of which I have read, that are about her character, Dr. Temperance Brennan--who is the main character in Bones. As for Battle Creek, I wasn't sure about it in the beginning, but I am starting to like it. I will probably continue to watch it, because I like Josh Duhamel. Hallmark channel has a new series called "The Good Witch", based on the series of movies with the same name. It stars Catherine Bell, and is an enjoyable series.