Is diy getting dumbed down?

I love the DIY disaster show

I always wonder how many DIY disaters never get shown?

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

It seems like it can go either way on DIY…..I do like to catch Holmes on Homes on Discovery Home….he’s a Canadian contractor who goes around fixing homes that people hired out other contractors and got ripped off…I like how he just goes off sometimes and he usally explains what the code says and how to do it right…not really a DIY show but tons of great tips on it

I think it has been “dumbed down”, but more as a result of DIY becoming more mainstream than anything else. As more “newbies” venture out on the road to DIY, the networks try to tailor the shows to appeal to the largest cross-section of viewers and there respective skill sets.

I’ll offer a +1 on Holmes on Homes, great show. And having spent some time with Mike over the years, I can tell you that he really is one heck of a nice guy.

Ryan

-- If you can't set a good example, at least serve as a horrible warning... www.rarewoodcreations.com

i dont get DIY network…just HGTV…so I am jealous…I get the four saturday morning shows…but they appeal to me since I am a noob…and I am pretty dumb…so its a perfect combo!!! lol

-- Matt, Napa, CA...177 days to sanity...

I used to love DIY but alas it has gotten itself stuck in a loop.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Yeah, I agree with Gary. But New Yankee recently started airing some new shows including a six(?) part series on kitchen cabinets that was real good. Holmes on Homes is great…nice to see one of our guys personally knows him. Some of the new remodling shows are good in their own way. The networks seem to be selling us on the “babes” though…which makes it a little more interesting. Especially in HDTV!

One thing I’ve found that makes it worthwhile is the DVR I have from Direct TV. You can program it to record your favorites to watch at your own leisure.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Good point Dadoo, if it wasn’t for Tivo I’d never see any of good shows. They seem to move them around periodically. But I think the whole DIY thing has gotten a tad silly. My boys deal in construction and home improvement and they often cringe at some of the thing the “experts” suggest and do. It’s a little scary sometimes. But David Marks and Norm Abrams make it worth my time to keep an eye on it.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

DVR’s are the bomb. We don’t ever watch live television at my house….it’s always at least on a 20 minute delay so I can blast through the commercials. I don’t get the DIY network, but I love New Yankee Workshop, and This Old House, and Ask This Old House. But the DIY shows I see on other channel’s are definitely aimed at the total beginner. I think also they tend to over simplify some home improvement jobs, glossing over important details that might make someone think they can tackle a complicated task.

-- Women love me.....trees fear me

Seems like there’s lots of program using 30something frustrated interior designers doing well intentioned but utterly horrific makeovers. I quit watching a couple years ago when on one program they were cutting a maple butcher block type countertop to length with a circular saw. The guy said “Maple is hard, so make sure you have extra blades.”

Extra blades!? It’s maple, not titanium!

They made the cut (don’t know how many blades they went thru) and the whole edge looked like burned toast. Now I know maple can burn, but this piece was just incinerated.

But it’s the American Way – take a good concept and keep doing it over and over until it becomes a farce.

So… Boardman tell us what you really think… Don’t hold back now… :) lol

-- Chris

It is owned by Scripps and unfortunately economics requires it go mainstream to secure audience share and get top $ from advertisers.

Besides DIY they own HGTV, Food network, and a host of publications and newspapers, as well as being an ABC affiliate. They also own United Media which maintains rights to quite a bit of syndication including Snoppy and Dilbert!!

Shopzilla on line is part of their online content.

It is a publically traded company listed on NYSE———

All concerned can write corpcomm@scripps.com !

-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ

Clay Shirky claims that the work that's gone into Wikipedia is about equivalent to the number of people hours spent watching the average hit sitcom. I figure the baseboards I’m reclaiming from mahogany box beams are going to be about the equivalent of me following a season of any TV show, and the cabinets will be several seasons.

So we don’t have an antenna hooked up to our TV, or cable. We watch the occasional movie, but in general I’d rather be futzing around in the shop.

Which brings us to the subject at hand: Even the much vaunted Norm will admit that he’s a carpenter first, woodworker second, and he’s probably the best of the bunch. Getting face time on a TV show has little to nothing to do with woodworking ability and tons to do with how personable you are on camera, so without competent writers in the background feeding the people on camera actual useful information, you as the viewer aren’t getting any useful information.

And, at least on the topic of woodworking, most of those competent people are probably not hanging out in Manhattan or LA. In fact,, I’d bet many many more of them are writing on Lumberjocks (or FOG or Sawmill Creek) than for the DIY channel.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke

Dadoo,

My favourite used to be Lisa Matthews with the bathroom remodels. But it seems like she’s started taking every advantage to lean over in low cut tops. The shows are still okay, but there’s too much play to her bod and not enough to what she’s doing.

Some of the DIY shows are plain crap.

-- Made lots of sawdust and pounded some nails. Haven't finished anything, though.

I love when they paint over a nice piece of wood with purple paint :(

-- Tom, Central New York

I traded HDTV for the cost of additional 50 channels on dish network so the bill stayed the same jsut to get the DIY channel. I am sad to say I am not impressed with the show line up, although I do like Amy I would rather see some useful information sometimes. Cool tools is all but a joke, they need a new host that is more into information than craking jokes. I am not sure he actually knows what some of the tools he shows really do nor has her every used one !

I kinda rank it up there with the discovery channel, man I used to be glued to it…they had shows that fed the brain on space, animals and such, shows you leared from….now what do we get???? mindless shows like “american chopper”, “american hotrod” and for a short while “american beauity shop”. I have sinced stop checking the line up since I can get “realality” shows on fox and nbc. The history channels seem to have stuck to the roots so all may not be lost yet.

runngt

-- It seem's I just make scrap wood and saw dust most of the time !

A DVR does make TV worthwhile. Like others said I always record everything and watch it later.
Amy Devers is easy on the eyes too. Amy Mathews on the bathroom show seems to know her stuff.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I had DIY free for a couple months, and before the free preview was over I was tired of the repeats. I really get sick of it when they repeat the same shows a day or two apart! I did really like WoodWorks and the disaster show. I also liked watching that Look What I Did show some.

-- If it's adventure you seek, ask a child to design your next project. - Chris Cook

Well, I am happy to see that it is not just me…

-- There are three kinds of people... those who can count, and those who can't

i remember before on friday and saturday beginning at 8 there were 2 episodes of the New Yankee Workshop and 2 woodworks followed by Hammered. now it is the same for saturday but they changed the whole friday around to start at 9 with 2 woodworks and then only 1 New Yankee Workshop and Hammered. that got me mad as i liked the other lineup better. who knows how long until they change the saturday too.

Of course there are other alternatives to the DIY channel…Like The Food Network channel! And if you’ve never seen Giada DeLaurentis in the kitchen, then you need to go look. By the way…she can cook too.

Gotta love that DVR!

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

My favorite is when they take some MDF and cut it with a circular saw, butt joint the pieces and shoot it together with a nail gun, then slap two coats of house paint on it and call it furnature…

-- Women love me.....trees fear me

Come on, Brad. Sometimes they even put on some glue.

-- Made lots of sawdust and pounded some nails. Haven't finished anything, though.

I’ve never seen them use glue. Musta missed that.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

I like that Dadoo mentioned food network. I think they have a show called semi-homemade. I’ve seen some episodes and really felt that it was dumbing down. Here is a great example:
recipe

I think too many people just want to go into zombie mode in front of the tv instead of learning somethign while watching programs. I think there will always be some good stuff, but I’m afraid the bar is getting set lower and lower.

I’ve never watched any of them. I would rather spend time in the shop and not in front of the TV.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I’m with Karson

-- bbqKing, Lawrenceville

It’s not just you, Slacker.

When “Toolbelt Diva” or “Trading Spaces” come on, I can’t get to the remote fast enough! HGTV has become a channel of selling houses, buying houses, finding houses, appraising houses, staging houses.

I find myself watching more and more cooking shows while waiting for some fresh episodes of Holmes.

-- Ron, Bakersfield, CA. Measure twice, cut twice anyway.

Amy Devers, Amy Devers. I should know a good looking chick with a MFA who likes to work with wood.
I hope the IWF brings her back this year.

Although Tommy from TOH is a good guy to talk with.

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I’m with you on this one, Lee. Amy Devers in a T-shirt. Yeah, baby!

-- Ron, Bakersfield, CA. Measure twice, cut twice anyway.

Amy Devers used to have a way cool show on Saturdays after David J Marks, and now that is gone too. There is something about a good looking woman who is not intimidated by a power tool.

Unfortunately for me, I have no luck finding the cool chicks.

-- There are three kinds of people... those who can count, and those who can't

I used to not like Amy Matthews but I guess I am getting old and anything under 50 is starting to look good <laugh> maybe it is just my eyes are getting bad. Thank all that is good that there is TIVO
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/press/article/0,,DIY_13703_3165740,00.html

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

I feel the same way you guys do. I am just glad we have a great PBS station that carries current shows. they just finished this season of The New Yankee Workshop and This Old House and are now repeating them for those of us who missed some. I am hoping they start carrying other woodworking show. I canceled my premium channel and started supporting PBS.

-- Joey~~Sabina, Ohio http://sleepydogwoodworking.blogspot.com/

Yeah, I vote we BBQ Toolbelt Diva this coming Fourth of July. I don’t mind her working on things as she is usually competent, but the cool chick stuff too is overplayed.

Amy Devers is sharp and knows her stuff. I’ve read some derogatory posts about her work, but mostly people there were just mad that she was, 1. competent, and 2. wasn’t David Marks.

-- Made lots of sawdust and pounded some nails. Haven't finished anything, though.