Home improvement television has been around long enough that it has created its own content in the form of inspired home owners attempting to fix up their homes and creating such colossal messes that only professionals can fix it. There are a few shows on now that deal with this and I watch them and scoff openly at the homeowners. Honestly sometimes you just need to feel like you’re not the biggest idiot out there and TV is always a good place to look.
I talk about this DIY disaster phenomenon in this pop culture focused blog. I also explain why I feel like I am gravitating towards TV like this now.
Recently my Mom and I have been really enjoying watching the second season of “Help! I Wrecked My House!” (HGTV, Mondays, 9/8 central) hosted by designer Jasmine Roth. This show is the second one we’ve watched like this (the first was “Nate & Jeremiah, Save My House” (HGTV). Jasmine Roth’s show focuses more on the disasters created by homeowners. The most recent episode featured a man who was so willfully ignorant and yet had such confidence that he had done major damage to his home. His wife kept saying things she wanted and the next time she turned around he had created destruction in pursuit of his wife’s dreams. It was sweet and unnerving at the same time. Jasmine Roth is the perfect host and designer for this show. She is stern with the homeowners without being mean. She is kind and quietly confident so that the homeowners instantly trust her. She also works with a crew of the most humble and likable guys (especially her general contractor Scott). Roth had another show on HGTV before but this one allows her to really hit her groove. Roth also won the first season of “Rock the Block” on HGTV that was the channel’s design competition show featuring stars from the channel.
So why am I attracted to watching shows like this that feature real people that have made real mistakes? If I step into the shoes of my psychologist for a second, I assume my attraction to these shows is that no matter how horrible the homeowners screwed up and how bad the house looks in the beginning it always looks wonderful in the end. I have always been a sucker for a makeover scene in a movie for the same reason. And I think because life has felt messy since my brain injury 5 years ago, I am even more attracted to the crisp and clean resolutions and “After” images. (Yikes! Kind of profound, right)?!
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