Bob Vila & This old house

[Anthona]

Years ago when Bob Vila was in the Old house, he left because he said that he didn't like the way the show was going..building and repairing luxury homes only. I agree then and still agree, the way they show how perfect they can make million dollar homes look great is sickening. How many of us can afford such luxury? Maybe they felt some guilt and now show another show right after that, "Ask this old house"...which is fine. But so far i have never noticed them visiting someone in a city, like NY or Chicago...its always a private home in some boon docks areas.

[aemeijers]

IIRC, Vila got booted because he was trading on his fame from the show getting an endorsement contract with Sears. From various interviews and reports since then, the rest of the cast and crew considered him an idiot anyway. (That agrees with my impression from watching TOH back then, as well as his own copycat show. I grew up in the business, so I knew a lot of what he was spouting was pure BS.)The first replacement was okay, but really more of a boat geek than a carpenter. He is pretty watchable on his current series with some other channel, about historical buildings. The current puppy of a TOH host, pretty much of a look-alike for #2,is no expert, but he doesn't pretend that he is, and thus acts like a stand-in for the viewer.

They have heard all the people bitching about the show becoming 'This Old Mansion', and are trying, sort of, to get back to their roots this season with the New Orleans arc.

[Art]

There was a hilarious true life story of what happened during a TOH renovation. It was a disaster.

A major lumber supplier backed the show and promised to give all of their products needed at cost.

So these people had a major renovation including red wood siding. The project was approved. Unfortunately, the owners found out later that the lumber company did not carry red wood siding so they would be on their own....

and so on and so on.

The smooth tv project actually cost at least twice what was predicted and took 3 times longer than predicted. But it looked smooth on tv.

[Chris Miller]

vila left because they wouldn't allow him to do endorsements for products (like the bella wood floors he's hawking these days). this old house does tend towards expensive renovations, but they have had budget projects as well: new orleans and washington d.c. to name two most recent examples. ask this old house goes all over the place, including nyc where tom silva helped two girls with a vinyl floor in their apartment. they've also gone to the southwest, texas, california, etc. both are great shows undeserving of anything less than praise.

-chris

[Chris Miller]

washington d.c. predates the new orleans project and was a non-profit project. also, it occurred to me that they did visit chicago (lake forest, il to be precise) with a kitchen remodel for a family with three kids.

-c

[Chris Miller]

regarding hosts: steve thomas was a boat geek, but i liked his approach to hosting the show. he was knowledgeable, but only showed it in spurts, instead allowing the others to show their expertise (sometimes at the cost of his own appearances). but when you watch enough of his work you realize that he's just asking questions that the average person might ask. he also had a strong command of the language and talked about architecture with grace. kevin o'connor was originally on ask this old house as a homeowner with a wallpaper problem and eventually got hired as the new host. his role is essentially that of an apprentice who is learning the trade. he asks the obvious questions and, as time has gone on, has learned more and more about the trades which has made his commentary and questions even better. steve was my favorite, but i think that kevin is coming into his own.

-c

[DerbyDad03]

Even though the Washington DC project was a non-profit and the budget was ~250K IIRC, one has to wonder how much of discount and/or free materials/labor they got from the various vendors.

In other words, could you or I have renovated that place for $250K?

I'm sure the same holds true for other "low-cost" projects.