Thursday Movie Picks #411: TMP Television Edition - Home and Lifestyle Shows

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five titles and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Home and Lifestyle Shows

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I enjoy watching Home and Lifestyle shows. I don’t follow them like regular TV shows but when there’s nothing to watch on TV, it’s easy to just tune in to them since there’s no plot you need to already be aware of. In the past I used to watch a lot more of the American home decor and renovation shows like Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, Flip or Flop and Tiny House Nation. But I got really tired of them after awhile. They tend to be about the personality of the hosts, how charming they are and their “cute” banter. Some start to bring in their families into the show, making and selling themselves as a wholesome “brand” and less about their renovation/decor work. These shows are also super scripted. Like they would receive a call about some building supply issue or pest problem all as the camera happen to be rolling, drama ensues - so much bad acting. Then there are ones like Tiny House Nation where one of the host is the builder and the other sort of give lifestyle advise to the homeowners on how to minimalise their life and like give pep talks as they get rid of their excess stuff - I mean if the homeowners need someone to advise them how to be minimalist should they even be building and live in a tiny house? Also the builders and interior designers on these shows tend to have a certain aesthetic (when I watched them a few years ago, it was all about open concept), so all the homes they do are just variations of the same style - extremely boring.

Then I found some British building renovation shows and they are so much better. They tend to be more of documentary style, where the host doesn't provide the building/renovation service but instead follow and sort of document the home owners as they build their dream homes. Here are the ones I like:

The Restoration Man (2010 - 2017) & George Clarke's Remarkable Renovations (2021)

Both of these shows are hosted by George Clarke, a British architect. Remarkable Renovations seems to be the successor of The Restoration Man as the concept is pretty similar - they both follow people converting non-residential structures (old churches, barns, windmill, etc) they have bought into homes. The transformation of something that isn’t residential and often very old (with planning and conservation restrictions) into a home is very interesting to watch. In Restoration Man, Clarke would also do a little research on the history of the old buildings and at the end of the episode when the building renovation is completed he would then present the home owners with a book of photos of the old building as how it was used in the past as well as photos of the owners own building renovation journey.

Grand Designs (1999 - ) & Grand Designs Australia (2010 - )

I’ve seen both editions (more of the original British version) and they are both very good. Both editions are hosted by architects and the show follows people who are building their dream homes and the hosts would visit the home owners periodically to see the building's progress and interview the owners and sometimes even the architects and builders the owners have hired. The building projects range from a year to maybe five years for the longer ones. One of the best things about the show is the different type of homes they feature and their budgets. The homes range from modern type homes, rustic homes, container homes, restoration of old residential and non-residential buildings into homes, modular homes, sustainable homes and homes to meet the needs of the owners who have medical conditions or disabilities. While I love watching Grand Designs because it is so interesting, it makes me never want to build my own home, it is just so stressful so I would rather buy one from a developer. A lot of the the owners actually work on their own houses themselves. My guess is so that they can better project manage the building and keep track of where their money is going to and to save on some labour costs. They often look so exhausted and stressed, especially when delays happen and the project goes over budget. The owners are quite candid too with their struggles with money and when they run out of it. Some try to get more bank loans, borrow from family and those that had taken time off their job to work on the building full time eventually had to put a break on the building project for a time to go back to their day job to further fund building costs. Most do complete their homes. However, there are two building projects that stuck out for me as both of them had went on for too long and were over budget, that had by the last visit (several years after the first visit) by the host at the end of the episode, the couples ended up divorcing. One of them - the house was at least completed but the interior decor was still unfinished. The other was much worst - at the end of the episode the structure was only partly done, the project had gone on soo long (8 years) and the owners didn’t have any money left to finish it with them already being millions in debt. They were trying to sell the building but with it partly finished not many would be interested in it; I mean what buyer would reasonably want to attempt to finish it themselves and sink their money on such a publicly known money pit. I think the owners said their only option if they can’t sell it would be to declare bankruptcy…which is just rather foolishly tragic. The project strained and probably ended their marriage and in the end they had nothing to show for it.

 

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