I guess this television business is tougher than I thought.

Go Chicago! Maybe these sorts of things will help winnow out the crappy shows that mislead people who watch them to believe that they are, literally, reality. We see that all the time on this forum - not only the disbelief that a kitchen reno can take many months (but on TV it was 3 weeks!), but also the awful aesthetic choices that people think look fab and want to mimic (save me from faux-gray floors, word art, and most of all, the horrendous shiplap).

Meanwhile This Old House show has been going strong for what, 40 years? Can you imagine Tommy or Rich getting Code violations?

that second link is 6 years old....

I like when the host tells the homeowners they can have the $150,000 renovation done in six weeks. Then the homeowner says the baby is due in five weeks and the host says, OK, I do it in five weeks. Then they run into outdated wiring, load bearing walls, permit issues, mold, etc, and the host says that they will have to add a week. Tragedy strikes as the budget is blown. Then after the advertisement, everything is fine again since they made some insignificant modification.

This is actually not the case of this show, which tends to reno high priced properties in Chicago for budgets in the mid hundred dollars for renovations that last several months and are more realistic when it comes to problems.

Which goes to show that may be Chicago is stricter on rules than the LA area where FlipandFlop continues to flip houses in totally unrealistic conditions.

Nice to see something being done right in my home town :) My BF is a Chicago firefighter and he has seen first hand what can happen when electrical issues start a fire, not-to-code porches collapse, etc. As mentioned above, some of these shows can be so misleading about how quickly, cheaply, and easily a reno can be done. (Although to-code and expensive work can go wrong too. This house fire happened near me last year, started by roofers working on it. Gorgeous historic house that a friend grew up in, and I'm sure the owners weren't doing it on the cheap.)

@Joseph Corlett, LLC I'll have to share one day,with you a funny/frustrating story about my close encounter with HGTV , the rat bast***s LOL

What about the show House Hunters? I am mystified by the bit at the end of the episode which shows the family happily living in their new home. They tell the camera “it’s been *4 weeks* since we moved in, and we love it, especially after we gutted and re-did the kitchen, re-graded the backyard and replanted it, and changed out all the floors.” How???

:)

House Hunters is hilarious! I love when people with kids are totally focused on the counter tops, carpet and light fixtures, and there's never a question about neighborhood, schools, or anything practical. Or when people are looking at something off the beaten track, takes a long drive and a boat to get to, and then say they love entertaining. (umm, how often will people be dropping by?) I think most of those episodes are with people who already picked a place and fake-look at other properties.

Chicagoans,

Those porch collapses are always heartbreaking. I wonder how often that happens in other cities.

It's well documented that House Hunters have already selected their home. In many instances, they have moved in and production moves furniture out. In the good old days, there were a few episodes in which large pieces of furniture were draped with sheets and then mysteriously the same shaped furniture appeared in the new home.

In defense of HH, it's not intended to focus on anything but the superficial aspect of house hunting except in the broadest sense that sometimes commutes will be mentioned or proximity to schools already being attended.

I had never watched an HGTV decorator named Christina who now has a new show Christina On The Coast. All I can say is how in the world did this woman get a design show. The episode I saw last night had a woman who redid her kitchen in a "beachy style" - the result was a completely bland cheap looking gray slab doors. The flooring was a hideous fake gray wood laminate - I thought this was definitely not considered to be a good choice in a kitchen. Mid-renovation, the woman decided the hideous gray laminate should go into the entire lower floor - so for an additional cost of $3000 - tile floor was demoed and removed and laminate was put down. I have no idea what laminate costs but I can't imagine you can demo up a tile floor - properly prepare the surface - purchase quality flooring and lay it for $3000.

@helen,

I hate her show. She also has a show with her ex-husband and it is really not better, but for the show you see yesterday, it seems pretty clear she has a show because of her look and because she has been People Magazine material for the last few years (divorce + new husband).

@ Shannon_WI

I agree. You wonder how these people got the money to buy these houses.

@lg222 - I was kind of dumbfounded by the completely lack of aesthetic and functional design. I don't generally watch HGTV so all of these "trends" and "stars" passed me over. I did watch a few episodes with Gaines and although it wasn't particularly my taste, it did at least look as if someone with more design skills than I possess had put it together - as opposed to the hot mess of the Christina kitchen I saw last night that seemed to violate the most basic KD elements. It is as of she was deliberately attempting to design something that was both ugly and non-functional.

House Hunters is my guilty pleasure - I TIVO it and fast forward through all the crap and re-explanations of what just happened prior to the commercial break so it takes about 16 minutes to view. From HH I have learned that all kitchens must be white and have an island - nothing else seems to matter as the many of the flips and builder grade kitchens on the homes toured, are all doors on the lowers and have fairly low end looking fixtures. The appliances are stainless - nothing about the actual quality of those appliances obviously.

@lg222 @helen Her first show with her husband was cheap flips and her style was so bad...this show, in between bad design it shows her looking for a new personal home with 3 Mil price tags! I can't look away tho lol.

@shannon, house hunters is pure fiction. https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/06/house-hunters-true-story-of-being-on-the-show.html

RCKSinks, now you have to tell us what went down! :)

News flash: Reality television isn't reality.

Also, you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/3/15/18422939/trash-permit-violations-and-mud-why-some-chicagoans-hate-windy-city-rehab

This fairly recent tragedy brought increased attention to building permits & construction in Chicago. (Disclaimer: I knew Dan.)

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Building-Where-Firefighter-Died-Lacked-Proper-Permits-362144201.html

ETA: This also happened in Chicago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Chicago_balcony_collapse

And this: 21 Die in Stampede of 1,500 at Chicago Nightclub https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/18/us/21-die-in-stampede-of-1500-at-chicago-nightclub.html

Some hard lessons on building safety for Chicago.

mdln, I am so sorry.

mdln, so sorry for your loss.