As much as I love watching DIY and HGTV, I am pretty bummed that none of them are in other cities such as Boise. It's always major major major cities.

There are homeowners not living in major cities that could use DIY expertise.

watch and learn, grasshopper.

the programs are usually made within a half hour drive of the producer's offices. access to talent and facilities generally dictates all this stuff clusters in larger cities with TV or movie production histories.

some of them are road-showing, in particular the "crasher" shows from BigTable (Idea Factory) get out of Dodge fairly often. you could try agitating with them if you want to see Boise skylines on the tube.

otherwise... "DIY expertise" in the form of somebody getting their house taken over for a show happens to one in ten thousand. the shows are showcases for products and techniques, and meant to spur you to your own action once you've caught the bug. it isn't that hard to do, we've basically redone the whole house... as in gut and rebuild the basement to the block, same for the bathroom, redo the kitchen while sanding and refinishing the existing cabinets and building new doors and drawers... .

watch, surf the web for best practices, try some stuff on junk wood to learn procedures before you do them for real. learn a few new words and don't forget your safety glasses.

and have fun. save money. and don't mix pink, orange, and purple.

I beleive from watching these shows that they look staged to me not the real people deserving a make over..Advertising for companies that sell their products.. I wish they were for real people..geriepew Georgia

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GERIEPUGH,

I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt - they are all real people. The reason it looks staged is simply because the homeowners are real and not actors.

actors have to be given their marks and direction as well. difference is actors look like they just walked in, looked over there "that way" and said the right things at the right time. part of it is training. part of it is confidence. making TV with average people, you have to do the confidence part.

I'm an old news guy and raised a "broadcast brat," and I fully believe that there's been a lot of talk and encouragement "on set," because that's what their house becomes when a producer does a makeover for TV there. and after the homeowners warm up to the personnel, they look to me exactly as interview subjects started to respond when I finally started rolling tape on a news scene.

watch the homeowners change from the ambush in the toilet aisle to the little side tasks they do in a crasher show as a room gets gutted and redone. call it "before" and "after" if you like, but that's the process.

"who ARE these strange people with tape around shoulders and microphone poles and that d(!) hot square light and cameras? and this schmuck I never saw who says he will rebuild my house in three days?"

after: "woo! hoo! sledge another one!"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: swschrad,