HGTV used to be on from morning til we went to bed, if only for background noise. I'd hear something interesting coming from an HGTV show, it was really easy to turn on the TV in the room I was in or go running into the TV room to watch that particular part of an episode. The last couple years, HGTV is only on in the wee hours of the mornings on Saturday and Sunday while husby and I wake up over coffee. I will watch David Bromstead's show, Devine Design and Landscapers Challange because I can usually see where I could incorporate one of those hosts' ideas into my own home, even if my version doesn't cost nearly what theirs did, the idea is doable. But seeing this post, it reminded me of some posts I read the other night/wee hours of the morning. Seems IRS has caught up with Banyan Productions via Discovery Channel and the homeowners are getting big surprises in their mailboxes in the form of 1099's. From what I read, the homeowners themselves are writing about their experiences and about receiving the 1099's. Some of the homeowners were never informed....ouch! Wonder if HGTV homeowners are seeing the same in their mailboxes? On Designer's Challenge where the cost of a landscape re-design costs as much as my whole house did, I feel for those folks if they weren't notified in advance. Here is a link that might be useful: Posts from Trading Spaces Participants re; Taxes

HGTV has the same problem just about all the "discovery" type channels have, and that's making everything look too easy. Until HGTV started doing shows about it, how many people did you know that flipped houses? I knew exactly...none. Suddenly, HGTV shows it and Bam! in a year, I know two people who are attempting to make a living at it, and about five other folks who are buying property and trying to flip it as a "hobby." And most of these folks have no more experience in renovations other than maybe painting their own home. But because HGTV makes it look soooo easy, they think they can do it. None of the folks I know were ever successful at it. One did three houses and realized she was working for two dollars an hour when all was said and done. So much for that killing she was going to make. It's like the storage shows. Very few people knew about storage auctions before and there was a good reason, because there aren't many of them and making money at them isn't easy. A few guys knew about it, and they would buy them and try to make a living selling the stuff. Sometimes they hit a jackpot, but most of the time they got a unit full of junk. But if you watch those shows, you start to think every unit is going to have a pot of gold in it! Next thing you know it, there are five hundred people at the auction, bidding on three units. You drive the people who used to make a living at it out of their living and instead you have a bunch of ammatures who just mess it up by inflating the cost of units. On SOME they try to explain that they are only showing the few lucky ones, but on most of them, they neglect to tell you that, and make it seem like this is an awesome way to make a living. It isn't. If it was, you wouldn't have learned about it on a TV show, you would have known people who did it. I'm waiting for them to start doing shows about the flea market people. I'm sure they'll show people buying this stuff and the sellers making huge money. What they won't show is the hours in the hot sun trying to make enough money to justify buying the space. They won't show the endless customers arguing about the cost of a twenty five cent item. They won't show the days that start out sunny, but turn rainy, or the windy days where half your stuff gets blown to the ground and destroyed. Or, if they do show it, they'll show it once in a blue moon, making people think it's super rare, when it's not. All these shows are a farce. The latest are the auction shows, where they give people the idea that their stuff will auction for HUGE money, often OVER the estimated value. Sure, maybe if you own something that's one of a kind, but desirable, but in truth, the economy has affected everything. I've seen stuff worth 400+ go out the door of an auction house for 10 dollars.

I don't think there are all that many people watching the real estate shows. But they are so cheap and easy, that you only need a fraction of the viewers to make it worthwhile financially for the network. And if you've got people watching them because there's nothing else on, it brings up the numbers. Sarah's old shows might be 10 times as popular. But if HH costs 10% to produce, even if you only get 20% as many viewers (10% actually liking it, and 10% indifferent) , you're actually making twice as much money. Plus, they can probably produce 5 HH shows in a week. I have heard that there are hundreds of episodes already filmed, just waiting to be aired. The only hard part of creating one of those episodes is finding people who want to pose as "buyers". And everyone and their dog wants a few minutes of TV time. What we need is a new channel to come along, producing new original shows, stealing the viewers who watch HH only because there's nothing else on.

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,