Why give us the fake drama.

Why indeed! I think it's insulting to the viewing public's intelligence. Or maybe they just peg us all for a bunch of simpletons who think the manufactured crapola is all real.

I find it nice for sleepy late nights when I'm not into a book. I enjoy them strictly as entertainment, not as serious ways to learn some decorating or remodeling tips, I just find them fun. I enjoy Property Brothers, Fixer Upper and Flip Flop. Its like browsing through magazines looking at pretty pictures. Or looking on the internet through Houzz at pretty pictures.

That said, I do agree with most of the comments above. I can't stand the expression "friends and family" LOL. Not that I don't have and like my own friends and family, but I don't go around saying "oh, I punched that knife crease (or whatever you call it) on my pillows and now I'm ready if friends and family drop by". Or "oh this granite is perfect for entertaining friends and family". Oy Vey.

Shhhhh, don't tell but I also like to watch Say Yes To The Dress for the same reasons, usually while I'm on the treadmill.

I miss Bob Vila's version of This Old House! I so wanted Norm Abram to be my next-door neighbor!

I still like Mike Holmes, but that's about the only thing I'll watch anymore. He's a bit over the top, but he's a lot more realistic about the cost and time of a remodel.

I am so sick of "Oh dear, we need to completely redo the plumbing and electrical! But the value of the home doubles to make up for it!"

I remember one show that wasn't that bad. It was set in Northwestern Pacific. I think for the first time in my life I watched a show about the homes, not for the homes, but for the nature surrounding them:)

I watch Renovation Realities on Saturday evening purely for the entertainment value. Some of the things those people do just kill me.

I also like Decked Out with Paul Lafrance. He is so cool and quirky. Does outstanding work. Great designs. And isn't the "typical" pretty boy, meat head they seem to have on all these shows now.

I was so excited to see "House Hunters-Vintage" but guess that's gone now. I'm not sure we are giving young people enough credit-some do love historic homes BUT then the sponsors want them to rip out and update-how else would they sell their disposable products!

You know what was good? That building off the grid show. I watched one marathon and I was glued to the TV. Especially when the guy flew around on his motorized parasail or whatever herding livestock.

That may have been on DIY network, don't remember.

LynnNM, I've been watching "Holmes Makes it Right" for a few days. Wish that man was my neighbor! I thought I was watching him on HGTV, but maybe it's FYI or DIY

I like HGTV but I'm not locked on to it like I used to be. I know the shows are scripted, yada , yada so if I enjoy it, fine, if I don't I move on. It's entertainment. I like the subject :) I know everyone HERE will totally disagree with one of my favorites...The Vanilla Ice Project :D They're goofy, fun and Rob's designs are always over the top...I like it! I watch the HH and HHI shows if the houses and grounds are on the high-end. Renovation Realities is a hoot!

monicakm_gw, you reminded me of another show I thoroughly enjoyed and that was Bronson Pinchot's house remodeling show. Was it "The Bronson Pinchot Project"? He was a riot and so was his assistant, being the innocent butt of Bronson's jokes most of the time. Bronson re-purposed architectural salvage and some of the results were out of this world but SO interesting. ha. I wonder if he ever finished his Georgian Mansion?

My husband retired last year and really surprised me when I noticed that he had switched from watching Gunsmoke and other vintage shows to watching HGTV for an hour while having lunch! He's a colorblind engineer who has never really been into decorating but finds the shows entertaining and most of them hilariously unrealistic. Sometimes I'll join him and we will likely criticize or groan at the remuddle or clients. And occasionally agree that something looks good.

It's a little fun time for us but I predict he will get his fill like most of you have and will move on to something else.

I find myself turning more to DIY nowadays than HGTV. I'm so bored with HGTV. I like Rehab Attic and Mike Holmes.

What I can't stand is all these shows going into vintage homes from the 20's and earlier, painting the woodwork, covering over the old fireplaces, etc. Drives me nuts.

Week ending 8/21:

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): Fox News Channel, USA, HGTV, History, TBS.

#3 cable channel in prime time. Hard to believe.

Guess that says something about what's on TV these days :-). We usually just watch Netflix now.

"I find it nice for sleepy late nights when I'm not into a book. I enjoy them strictly as entertainment, not as serious ways to learn some decorating or remodeling tips, I just find them fun."

Same here. I only watch HGTV with the exception of a couple of Bravo Real Housewife shows, Millionaire Listings NYC and LA and Jeff Lewis' Flipping Out.

I love HGTV, it's mindless entertainment and I find it very relaxing. Personally, I really don't expect or want tv to educate or instruct me on anything home-related; I know what I like, I have enough of a repertoire of home improvement techniques in my pocket and know plenty of 'guys' to call if I need professional help :). So watching HGTV is just a way to wind down at the end of a work day.

Rarely if ever watch live; I record so I can surf through the commercials. Regularly watch House Hunters and HHInternational, although I skip the lengthy laundry list of what they want/have to have/can't stand because it rarely seems to match what they end up buying LOL. Forgive me but I also skip the many HH featuring millennial singles or couples looking for their first home because I'm not that interested in properties in Kansas for $119,000. Love the occasional deep pocketed buyer who is seeking a million dollar home in Atlanta or a nice 2 million dollar property in Paris!

HHRenovations is also entertaining although I like to watch the intro to figure out which house they buy, then skip the tours of the other prospects and zoom straight to the renovation. I'm currently entertaining myself waiting for a kitchen to be designed on that show that is not white shaker style cabinets, gray counters and subway tile but that's probably a vain hope, at least until the One True Kitchen becomes something else.

Property Brothers is watchable other than the obligatory dumb sequence of the female homeowner acting like a ditz as she swings an ineffectual sledge hammer she can't lift, and I am a complete and utter sucker for all the island/tropical shows. Well, except for Beachfront Bargain Hunt. Most of those seem to feature really boring people looking for the most godawful cheap condos in tourist trap towns-yuck.

On Island Hunters I'm mystified about how that skinny little Canadian kid, the one who looks and sounds about 14, is an expert on islands all around the world???

I also enjoy Flip or Flop mostly because I think Tarek and Christina are so cute. Although it's always astonishing how they start out with a $50K budget and end up spending $200K!

I do like Flip or Flop - it seems the most realistic of the shows and I do enjoy seeing the before and after scenes of Fixer Upper and Love It or List It. I just don't care for many of the homeowners who have bad attitudes or seemed spoiled, whiny or use valley talk or creaky voice.

I like many of their shows. I like a lot of the flipping shows, but it's just too much. I like Fixer Upper and Flip or Flop, but I don't need an entire evening dedicated to each show. It's overkill.

I would like to see more variety, and I'd love to see more DIY type shows. One of the reasons I like Trading Spaces was because it was unskilled home owners decorating on a limited budget. Granted I think Trading Spaces went too far on some things (I will never forget the room that put straw all over the walls of a person who had allergies), but I think the concept of taking a space and reinventing it on a budget was a good idea.

I wish they would rerun the Christopher Lowell shows, he always explained how to do things.

I still turn it on when I am looking for something short and mindless. I watch while I a drying my hair. I do enjoy the shows where they go back and visit home buyers from previous shows to see how they're doing. A recent one was about an English couple who bought a wreck of a place in the south of France. They admitted that they spent a boatload fixing the place.

I like HH International, except, as Jakabedy said, when it features countries with palm trees.

I think Chip and Joanna are kind of engaging but I don't like their decorating style. I watched it while I was dressing today and Joanna was putting some old section of fence that she had found by the side of the road on someone's wall. Ew.

I like the real estate sales shows. I think they are/were on Bravo. I like Frederic the tall Swedish guy. I think that one is Selling New York? I like (or maybe liked, since I have not seen it in awhile) Millionio Dollar Listing. I could have these entirely mixed up with each other.

Frederick is on Million Dollar Listings New York. I love both of those Million Dollar Listing shows, New York and LA

Ya know, I hope this doesn't mean I'm shallow and cruel, because I actually think they're really handsome men ... but today I was purging some old photos and came across this one of a batboy doll that I inexplicably have (and who knows why I would've kept it), and it instantly dawned on me when I saw his funny little lopsided grin that he could be the lost triplet of the Property Brothers. Maybe?

Well, Frederic et al are certainly well groomed, and I think they are attractive, too. As for your little friend, Ida, IDK.

I also love Flipping Out. Jeff and his buddies crack me up and I do love their decorating style.

Oops - corrected my post above! I meant to refer to the Property Brothers. D'oh!

Oh, now I see the resemblance.

Heehee!

Sadly, we don't get DIY network = (

& all the comments here about the changes to show themes got me thinking about a recent report I heard on NPR. Might this be an indicator? Whom is HGTV targeting these days?

why-high-income-households-benefit-more-from-product-innovations

Carol, I'm not following your point--what does income inequality and purchasing patterns have to do with HGTV?

Sounds like the targeted market for HGTV is not high end buyers if I'm reading it right. Makes sense. I've not paid much attention to the commercials but that might be a good indicator.

I think it's targeted towards the mass middle with some aspirational stuff thrown in.

Do they still do lakefront bargain hunt and that seaside one? Those budgets were pretty modest.

Heard on cnbc that the diy and renovation sectors were hot. Think HD and Lowes. Those are the two biggest advertisers on HGTV.

The shows follow the money.

My thoughts were the opposite of rgrs: that programming is targeted toward people w/ more $$ to spend. Why else the virtual disappearance of the 'decorating on a budget' & DIY type programming?

I enjoy Rehab Addict (that's HGTV, right?) But she's the only designer on the network whose style I really appreciate. After working on selecting finishes for a home for a year, the stuff they show on their shows always seems so cheezy/cheap? Even if it isn't actually cheap!

Yes bring back the gardening shows.

Aw, I enjoy a lot of the shows on HGTV! Granted, I don't have time to watch a lot, but the renovating ones are difficult to stop watching until you see the end. The network seems to be the standard for innocuous waiting room viewing-it always seems to be on when I am at the orthodontist or dentist with my kids! I get annoyed when we leave before I see the reveal, lol. Most of the decorating isn't my exact taste, but that is a good thing bc it exposes me to new ideas. I think the couple shows are so cute! Fixer Upper, Flip or Flop, and the new one with the blond wife with the cute haircut and he bald husband with the hat. It is interesting to compare the regional differences where they all live....CA is so different from TX which is different from TN. And they are ALL so different from Canada! Gah, those poor people...houses are so expensive up there!

I do not like the House Hunter shows....I am not interested in looking at ordinary, often unattractive, houses unless they are going to be renovated. Otherwise it is just depressing.

I quit HGTV when they stopped the G part of the programming. That must be at least 10 yrs ago.

I really miss the good gardening shows, whatever network they happened to be on. Gardening by the Yard was one of my favorites.

I still watch hgtv on occasion because it's quick and easy. I caught a few of David Bromstead's shows where he helped lottery winners find their dream homes. A bit cheesy but also fun to see what the couples did with their new-found money and why.

I do miss the designer shows and touring shows from the early days of HGTV - I really wish they would do throwback programming once a week just showing all those old shows

Have to say, I'm liking the flipping show like Masters of Flip, Vintage Flip, Nashville Flip and the mother & daughter from Indy - at least they're not so cookie cutter

Came across a show last week where 2 guys from the PNW --I believe Seattle, reno and build houseboats.

Enjoy Texas Flip & Move because the people are real likeable characters.

ETA: Does anybody remember the name of an entertaining/food HGTV airing in the 90's set in the south - I believe it used to be on Sat afternoon.

It was such a lowkey genteel elegant show.

And I can't stand Hillary of Hillary and David (not the presidential candidate).

We did away with cable, so no HGTV....and I do miss it sometimes. Just don't watch as much tv anymore.

Actually there is something on HGTV that's been bothering me; in the past few months they have started doing sponsor placements that are actually embedded into the shows, rather than simply showing up in commercials.

I used to see occasional online home mortgage companies flogged via the happy young couple gazing at their laptops or phones while the camera focused on the logo for Acme Financial Services, and they would have some kind of staged little dialogue about 'oh our payments would work for this'. But within the last 2 weeks I've seen: extreme close ups of a GMC SUV as the couple starts the hunt, followed by interior shots of the dashboard of a GMC SUV driven by the real estate agent, followed by exterior shots of a GMC SUV driving up to a house, followed by a commercial for (wait for it) GMC SUVs. And on Flip or Flop this week I was astonished to see Tarek and Christina rhapsodizing about a Joss & Main chair, followed by the stager bringing in lots of Joss & Main furniture, followed by a closeup of a Joss & Main table complete with a caption identifying it as a Joss & Main table ;). 2 weeks ago Tarek was thrilled about 3M sticky hooks to put on the walls of the flip...and so on.

I mean, ok sponsors are sponsors but this is sorta kinda really new; integrating the sponsor products directly into the show itself. More like what movies do but I guess I need to let go of the shred of pretense that the shows are actually about anything real LOL.

Subliminal advertising...

Why does HGTV and the Food Network do back to back episodes of the same show all evening long? I don't have a TV, but occasionally I try to watch stuff if I am in a hotel or motel. Suddenly, it's back to back Fixer Upper or back to back Guy Fiori or whomever it is.

Please, you guys (if you read this thread) go back to having ONE episode of something, and then switch to an episode of SOMEthing else, then carry on like that from there.

Oh, yes, some more informative shows might be worthwhile, too. I missed ever seeing most of the old shows that people earlier in this thread have mentioned, but even seeing something like This Old House would be good for the soul. I'd like to know HOW to fix up! Hey, I might even decide, now that I'm retired, to subscribe to TV again!!!

@ artemis - reruns are always cheaper than making new programs.

& the term for what runninginplace describes is 'product placement', I believe - it's been everywhere for some time time now...

artemis_ma

Why
does HGTV and the Food Network do back to back episodes of the same
show all evening long? I don't have a TV, but occasionally I try to
watch stuff if I am in a hotel or motel. Suddenly, it's back to back
Fixer Upper or back to back Guy Fiori or whomever it is.

Those two shows are very popular so they run them into the ground w/supersaturation.

I remember reading on the old GW, US posters being excited about finally getting to see Mike Holmes show and the Canadian we're replying the show is repeated so often they're sick of it. Later, the same did happen here.

Have to say though, sometimes on a Sat or Sun I don't mind a marathon of a particular show I like,

I honestly cannot take one more episode of Chip and Joanna. He is a case of arrested development and she has NO color sense at all. Even her clothes have no color.

"Have to say though, sometimes on a Sat or Sun I don't mind a marathon of a particular show I like"

Chijim, you answered your own question (:

I wish they would show something besides all white kitchens or mostly gray. I love them but that's not going to work in my house and I'd like to see some other ideas on these shows. Once I'm done updating my kitchen I'm going to stop watching these shows because they keep me dissatisfied with my house :)

"the term for what runninginplace describes is 'product placement', I believe - it's been everywhere for some time time now..."

Right, but what I don't recall is the product placement becoming part of the 'script', ie the GMC being driven by the agent (then appearing in a commercial) or Tarek and Christina surfing their iPad on which appears a Joss & Main chair followed by the stager putting the chair in the room and a screen caption about Joss & Main tables being used. Incorporating the product into the plot as it were...

Survivor has been doing product placement for years.

People like to binge-watch things. I confess that my daughter and I have binge-watched Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and/or New York. An extremely guilty pleasure. Guy Fieri is forbidden in my house.

Embedded advertising is the term I forgot in my previous comment. It has also been around for awhile now. Here's a piece from early last year...

http://www.marketplace.org/2015/03/02/business/advertising-built-house-cards

There used to be a show called Design on a Dime in which the person would show you how to make your home attractive with inexpensive things. The last part of the show was a segment where she took the homeowners furniture and arranged it in an attractive way. Would add a lamp or two but very cost managable. Was geared to the average homeowner....not one with boocoo bucks.

While I can appreciate Nicole Curtis the Rehab Addict and her mission to save old homes, I cannot buy that she does it all in Daisy Duke denim shorts and a wife beater t-shirt. It's obvious who the target demographic is for that show.