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Kitty Bartholomew wherever you are, thank you for making it okay to "live" in my little house with a cat that sheds and a husband that nests.Even today I receive comments on this article because, back in the day, HGTV resonated with a whole generation of women that loved to create. The industry of scrapbooking and craft supply stores sprang up around these shows. Then, one day, they were all gone. Carol Duval vanished from the face of the earth and Kitty disappeared from our lives. Maybe it was just too much of a good thing. HGTV does tend be over zealous with a few shows.
Why is it that there can't be a trend that is not ground into the dirt? Now HGTV is running House Hunters all day. If I hear "I just love this space but we will have to replace all the kitchen cabinets before I can move in" one more time I will scream out loud.
While interior design is a wonderful calling and realtors are nice, there are only so many ways you can talk about a house and still be original. Either HGTV doesn't have deep enough pockets to provide a variety of shows or it is stuck in being simply a real estate channel.
So HGTV, here goes. Before you drive away yet another generation of viewers by getting stuck in a rut, consider this...why can't you introduce a show once in a while that might be about being creative...maybe even rerun vintage HGTV just for the fun of it. I bet viewers would love it. While I don't want anything all of the time, even Kitty, I would love to be able to go to your network and see something different.
I invite you to go back, read that original post and take a look at the comments. It is very interesting that even after all these years people still love Kitty Bartholomew!
I'm just saying.
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Oh, I agree! Although I enjoy watching HGTV now and then, they do seem to be in a rut. Although not crafty, I remember a show my husband and I loved called Designing for the Sexes. I wonder where that went?
ReplyDeleteYou know what, they may be gone forever. We will see!
DeleteSeveral years ago, Scripps Networks (which owns HGTV) starting DIY Network and that was where all those crafty shows went. Only I think even DIY is defunct now. I know Fine Living is. Food Network used to be a wonderful place for cooking shows. Now it's all travelogues featuring insane excess and cheesy competitions. Feh. Bring back Design on a Dime - now, that was worth watching.
ReplyDeleteOne of the funniest shows on TV today is one called "renovation realities". Honestly, DIY makes it look so easy that people think they can just remodel the house in a weekend. The guy that left the frig in the kitchen so he could deal with it later decided to "just work around it" eventually forgot it was there...until he tiled the big monster into a corner. That was when the friend that was helping him abandoned ship. Needless to say he hired a contractor to clean up his mess. It was hilarious.
DeleteI miss those shows so much. I don't even know what channel HGTV is since we have a new cable provider. We moved into a new patio home and they have nothing on that interests me. It's sad.
ReplyDeleteI really don't watch cable TV much anymore. My husband loves sports and golf so we keep it. HGTV has been my last hangout. We could get an antenna setup and see the basic channels. That is a possibility.
DeleteI so agree about the way networks drive one thing into the ground and let other, legacy programs disappear. Such a damn shame.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteHGTV is designed (pun intended) to make the viewer dissatisfied with everything about his home and living conditions. I live in rooms, not "spaces. I don't need to gut a kitchen to cook a meal. I don't need a master suite with a 7 foot sunken tub to get ready in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI am not the target viewer of HGTV because I am not constantly looking to spend myself into the poor house to live in a home.
I used to watch it because it got my creative juices going. There is very little of that feeling left.
DeleteAnd you are right...we do not need or even actually want what they are selling. It has gotten a little disgusting. However, there are a few that still have some appeal. Nicole Curtis has the Rehab Addict show and it is very interesting. She is tight/frugal/creative as she redesigns very old houses. I like that.
I totally agree. I liked the craft shows and Design on a Dime. And I don't think regular people live in "spaces". I am sure they are coached on that. Once in awhile I watch house hunters International to see what homes are like in other countries. The difference is amazing. It makes me grateful for what we have, but most of the time we have much more than we need.
ReplyDeleteI agree Judy. Isn't it wonderful that we can simply turn it off if we are not interested.
DeleteAside from being tedious in their endless repetition of the same theme, these shows do real harm when it comes to home sales. Whoever buys a house that is exactly to their taste?
ReplyDeleteWhen I bought my prior house, it was a real dump! The price, location, flow were right. It took me 18 years to fix it up. When I went to sell, my agent ordered me to do several minor repairs, claiming the house wouldn't sell without them; eg, fix the small gash in the screen door. Shoot, when I bought the place, the screen door was so warped that one day, a cat came in through the gap. I called it the HGTV effect.
I just happened to stumble on this blogg, when googling where Kitty Bartholomew was these days. My co-worker and I were just discussing how disappointed we have become with HGTV and the Food Network. No all it is, is cookoffs, and unrealistic DIY shows, that no DIY'ers could do. I have pretty much QUIT watching both networks, with the exception of Rehab Addicts. I would venture to say there are many many move people who feel like we do. Shame on these networks, for getting the real working families, and the people who really want to learn something from the DIY, HGTV and Food Networks. I miss Kitty, Paula Deen, The Neelys.
ReplyDelete