I thought Felizlady just started one last week in the other category - not sure anyone noticed it....

Didn't see that. This was a long one. If HGTV would have seen it , you'd think they'd change their programming.

I remember that one tribble, I think it was started by weatherwife. I also remember an even older one than that - it was a poll about property bros vs Hillary and david. No matter, people seem to enjoy commenting...

Great memory, thanks! Yes, I remember the other one too.

I have narrowed down my viewing to Fixer Upper, Byrk House, The Expandables, and Home to Win. Each of these shows have authentic, likeable, and creative designers and they are not cliché, so I haven't given up on HGTV just yet. Timelines are not important to me or the reality specifics, as I'm viewing for ideas and seeing an end product that is not run of the mill and the creative process that is involved.

Maureen are you in Canada? The only show that I recognize from your list is Fixer Upper...

@tgb1 - yes - HGTV Canada may also have many others that you may not have (Income Property, Income Vacation Property, House of Bryan, etc). You can probably view these shows on line if interested. For instance, Home to Win is about a beautiful home in the country and teams of 1 designer/1 carpenter are each assigned a room to redo during each episode (maybe 10 shows). They have dynamic ying/yangs, auththenic fun and it was great to see their various concepts and designs..vs seeing an entire home looking the same. At the end of the show, the house was to be won. House of Bryan is again about 10 or 12 episodes - Bryan is a very well known contractor and is a Gemini award winner and his wife is the designer. The show is about the trials and tribulations/rationale and lovely concepts and design decisions resulting in their stunning, large country home.

Thanks Maureen :))

i watched it once. and then i watched it again, a couple months later. i realized that the two episodes were indistinguishable from each other. decided not to watch again.

i like to look at pretty house pictures but dont want people standing around talking to each other.

Nnigrt - I so agree! Hgtv was much more enjoyable imo when we just saw the hosts and no obnoxious, whiny, unrealistic homeowners!!

I watch "Fixer Upper" if I think of it and have nothing else to do. Ship lap...how many ways can you use it?

I miss the decorating shows. Sarah Richadrson, who we don't get in the States anymore, and the old Candace Olsen shows when she worked with Hunky Paul and Chico.

I read somewhere that "Love it or List it" producers are being sued by a couple who claim they were cheated. Their accusations and proof of shoddy work, which cost them a lot of their own money, are very convincing.

Nowhere on that show are we told the owners have put up thousands of dollars of their own money to become t v stars. LOL

http://www.people.com/article/hgtv-love-it-or-list-it-lawsuit-claims-show-fake-botched-renovations

far cry from what it used to be. Hardly ever watch...

Hard to believe how popular the whole industry has become. I watched "This Old House" and then "The Yankee Workshop" when they were first on. I really liked both. Norm had a damn special tool for everything he did... Then the show "Home Improvement" aired and I thought to myself who is going to watch a comedy TV show on home improvement??? Loved that one. HGTV has done a great job and is a big reason home buying and renovating is so popular. Just remember when you were looking or renovating your first house and you could watch a show that gave you ideas, how outstanding. Most of the hosts are hard working- down to earth people that I would like to have a beer or a glass of wine with anytime. Living here in Waco and seeing what Chip & Joanna have accomplished is really something. Now if only Giada would go out and swing a hammer.................And if you are a Pro - my Dad always told me "Never bite the hand that feeds you".

This Old House also has had issues with the team egging homeowners on,... into spending far more than they wanted to. a house up the street was featured last year..the wife is at the boston design center being herded into tremendously expensive decorator fabric, and i know she had to be thinking 'wow i should just go to The Fabric Corner down on Mass ave'.....

IMO, This Old House isn't what it used to be either, and though I never liked the original host, I always thought those original shows were much much better than anything HGTV put out.

i hadnt watched it in a long time, but it was a lot of fun having scenes from our town on tv during the 'establishing shots'.

I don't remember seeing something earlier but, here we all are. I have gotten a few ideas, especially like the thought of tiling the shower in wood look tile. I do like Houzz better, HGTV filled that empty 2 week spot.

As a result of this thread, I tuned in last night and in my market, the shows were back to back real estate hunt shows. One was lakefront living then followed by beachfront living. Both shows were exactly alike "formulaic" as another poster put it. Not a single host or designer in sight. I guess the promotional value goes to the towns they were shooting in?

@nnigrt Boston here as well and one still like This Old House (TOH). The format may have changed a bit but I still value the lessons taught by the guys on the show. IMO in the battle for ratings, the educational value of TOH has not been lost. This is where I think HGTV has lost some of its luster.

One of my favorite old HGTV shows (can't remember the name of it) was where the host would show an inspiration room and then how you could imitate it for less money and some DIY. Also, for a short time there was one where the guy would "find" someone in the home improvement store and say "how about we come home w/ you right now and redo your landscape". And then) they would spend the rest of the day doing that, and show you the before/after. DH & I used to enjoy that one. It was somewhat staged, of course, but it was fun and different.

Olsen and Richardson were fun to watch. The same script for each of the Flip or Flop and Love it or List it got old real quick! After Fixer Upper made Chip's antics the focus, I quit watching HGTV all together.

Love it! I got to meet and interview some of the people involved in Showhouse Showdown a few years ago when they filmed in my area. I also love Love It or List It!

HGTV and one other channel were about the only things I watched until cutting my cable a year ago. The shows were too predictable and formulaic. For example, look at all the shows where the couple looks at three houses and buys one: The production company would have to follow most people around for months in order to get the house the couple finally buys. And too much of it made no sense...how Love It or Leave It always ran into so many unexpected problems that should have been clear before they started. It seemed like HGTV was taking me for a fool so I Googled something like "fraud" for some of the shows and found out how much they are contrived and misrepresented. And the Property Brothers...those two spend too much time playing cute with each other. I guess I am looking for more meat in the program and less contrived entertainment. But again, probably the biggest turn-off was the same formula being used time after time. For all its success, HGTV certainly uses little creativity on a day-to-day basis.

ecpt, I had forgotten those two shows and I really enjoyed them.

They would copy a room that cost $90,000 to complete and do it for $4,000.00...something like that and remember?... the designer of the expensive room was always there to comment on the finished product? It was fun and pleasant and no one had any issues.

The backyard fix up...boy I wish they would come to my back yard now. We have an enclosed pool area which is very nice. Behind the fence, in the back, is mean, mean. We can't grown grass for some reason (of course, I am ignoring the fact that Cape Cod is an island of sand). I scroll through houzz landscaping ideas, but to no avail.

Love it, especially the 'Bro's'. I watch the same repeated episodes over and over again just so I can study the finished kitchens during the big reveal at the end over and over again to get ideas --love their decorating style choices!

Remember when the shows had the original programs from the BBC? Those were really good; how to clean up tiling, old hearths, woodwork.

Used to love HGTV. It's really gone downhill. It should be called BSRETV; BullSh** Real Estate TV. Shows follow an unrealistic formula. All new homeowners want granite countertops and stainless steel appliances and basically, have no taste. All reno shows feature blowing out the walls, installing a support beam, and the obligatory barn door and then show it all completed in record time with furniture from China.

So Bev, do you like HDTV or not? I couldn't tell by your reply...

I have to say I love HGTV. Flip or Flop is my favorite. I love how Christina and Tarek interact with eachother. They crack me up sometimes. I also love watching their little girl (and now new baby boy) grow up. I follow them on facebook too! Beautiful people inside and out :)

Flip or Flop IMO is the worst show on HGTV. Kind of a one note program. It's the same story every time.

At least with the real estate programs, I've learned about other places in the world where I'd like to live.

Miss viewing Curb Appeal and some creative solutions presented. Property Brothers can be interesting, but they may be overexposed now.

What becomes so apparent in watching these programs is that people have way too much stuff and have no ability to organize their homes. Really depressing.

I like to see houses in their "before" states, and how they're decorated, remodeled, etc., but the staged "ignorance" portrayed in some of the shows is irritating to the point where I don't look forward to watching the programs anymore. For example, if you're going to buy and flip a house in a community with an HOA, surely you have enough sense to research what paint colors are approved before spending thousands of dollars to have the house painted. Or if you're in the market for a house, don't expect to get into a desired neighborhood or stay in your own neighborhood if you're are not willing or can't afford to pay for it. Or, if your top priority really is the school district, you need to tell your real estate agent not waste your time (or theirs) looking at properties outside the district's boundaries.

HGTV...meh. I can take it or leave it. I only watch when nothing else is on.

There are no original ideas on that channel. Just personality-free trends and product placements.

Don't get me started on Flip or Flop! Tarek bemoans every project as it takes miserable, unexpected and costly turns, and they (he, mostly) know they will lose their shirts on the deal and be forced into bankruptcy, then make a handsome profit at the end of each episode. Time after time!!! Then there's Joanna and Chip. Chip comes off as such a dufus you wonder how Joanna ever got together with him and, worse yet, has stuck by his side all this time and let him father her children. He must be more together than the show's producers direct him to be...empty-headed but amiable. Either that or Chip just takes the place of a pet dog or cat in Joanna's life. It's too bad. It would only take a few really talented people in HGTV management to turn things around and make it look like the channel isn't taking us all for suckers. What'd I tell you!!!??? Don't get me started!!!!!!!!!

I like Canadian HGTV shows. I even continued watching them after moving to the US. My favourites were probably Open House Overhaul, about making a place pretty for minimum money, and I Wrecked My House, about the types of renovations people do when all they have is spray foam, duct type, and no knowledge whatsoever. The host of I Wrecked My House is really funny, and being a Canadian show, the people get very sympathetic treatment. And the first show actually taught me to look behind "spit and polish" to the bones of the house, which may or may not have been its intention :) I cannot stand the House Hunters-type shows.

Dan, so funny but true!

Fixer Upper is the best one on there right now. HGTV needs more of this type of shows as that is what it's suppose to be! Not realtor shows! DIY is better!

Ken

I am enjoying the DIY show "Flipping Nashville" because it features a guy doing the smashing and rehabbing and uses a delightful designer to dictate finishes, colors and décor. The guy doesn't have to take his shirt off and the designer showcases sources for her choices.

One thing I hate about Property Brothers is when they have to remove a toilet Jonathan has the couple bag up a water filled toilet to throw out. He doesn't bother to empty the water out first! I learned how to do that from watching TOH and it is not hard. They also throw the old fixtures in the dumpster. How wasteful! Recycle them, please.

I <3 all the shows on HGTV! So interesting and I've learned a lot from them.

I like the remodels, but not of the high priced homes and remodeling budgets. The normal east coast person cannot pay $200,000, and have a reno budget of $100,000. That is all they seem to have these days, so we are viewing less and less.

@Wayne Mason, i'd like to see HGTV bring some design shows back. Well, LOTS of design shows actually. I subscribe to Sarah Richardson's youtube channel and lots of us Yanks wish we were Canucks as least as Sarah's shows are concerned as I think the HGTV-Canada still airs them. The there are the really old shows like Cash and Cari where Cari did estate sales in Michigan and the one where'd they'd explore the neat things about old buildings. The early days had the Carol Duvall show which was all about handicrafts. I don't think they show any gardening shows either. Those are on DIY and elsewhere. Even Bravo had a gardening show this year. Bring back the old HGTV!

HGTV is pretty predictable now days. There's a lot of repetitiveness in designs at times, and i always felt like a few of the interior designers took their designs right off of pinterest haha! However sometimes I still enjoy watching! Lottery home is one of my favs. I like watching the lottery winners pick a vacation home or new house, and hearing the stories of when they found out they were lottery winners.

Used to watch Fixer Upper all the time.

Two versions of Love It Or List It were written by the same person. One with young hosts and the other with more “mature” adult hosts. The scripts are interchangeable. Both shows have an arrogant guy and a b....y woman making snotty remarks. I can’t stand either of them.
I would love to see Sarah Richardson doing shows again. Smart, nice, talented. Great sidekick in Tommy Smythe.

HGTV is losing viewers because practically everything is reruns. RERUNS OF RERUNS. Fixer Upper was good for a long while if you could get past that goofball Chip.

Hey, HGTV, how about some new shows!?!? Decorating, gardening, landscaping, remodeling, building...surely there is some new talent you can build a year or two of shows around.

I like This Old House on PBS / YouTube. Much better than HGTV, IMO.

@felizlady, Sarah Richardson's shows still come on HGTV Canada. Those of us in the US have to get our fix on Sarah Richardson Design Life and her Youtube channel. If you go to her website, you can subscribe as I did. This summer, she's renovating her island cottage.

On Fixer Upper, I couldn't get past Joanna either. Shiplap has its place (a cottage on the Maine coast), for instance, but it's not on the walls of a ranch house in Waco.

HGTV is reality TV, so, while some of their hosts may be knowledgeable, they are all chosen for their onscreen presence and not their talent and the shows are ridiculously formulaic.

I used to like watching it at the beginning, as it was something new, but it is all the same thing from one show to the next (and do not get me started with their real estate shows), and their new shows are more and more ridiculous (Unspouse my house? Really?)

Appears I am like a lot of others on this thread, my affinity for HDTV has waned.

I used to be an HGTV junky. Defined by I watched it daily at least a little, on weekends it was airing on the TVs in the house as I did my chores, and I might have even recorded some shows. Now, if nothing else is going on, I flip it on. Agree, it is a lot more of the same.

When I watched more frequently liked Curb Appeal, House and Yard Crashers (pick me) and Flee Market Flip the idea of repurposing and sustainability.

@Marie Johnson, I watched a marathon of Flea Market Flip yesterday on GAC. I've not seen it on HGTV in quite a while. I did appreciate how Lara and one team were just horrified when someone painted some antique mahogany.