This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers • Hacker News Board

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#11

Post by Townley » Mon, May 20, 2019, 4:54 PM UTC

The intellectual successor to This Old House's take on the entertainment potential of skilled craftsmanship probably isn't drama-filled reality TV, but rather YouTube channels like that of Paul Sellers. My drama-detesting father-in-law and his grandchildren watch those videos all day long to appreciate the craftsmanship, learning opportunities, and creativity of final products.

I don't feel particularly concerned by the espoused narrative that skill is being replaced by drama on TV. We live in a world where people seeking drama-free, skilled craftsman content can access all they could want and more, and This Old House can be proud of their contribution to this through a 40 year legacy of television content (and, relatedly, an awesome YouTube channel)

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#12

Post by bluedino » Mon, May 20, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

These guys always do things 'the right way'.

I'd love to see a similar show on software development. Building an interface for ecommerce with an existing 20 year old computer system.

'This old mainframe'

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#13

Post by MDWolinski » Mon, May 20, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

Wasn't a fan of This Old House, but was a huge fan of HomeTime, which is of a similar vein and as other's have said, much better then the current crop of Reality Home Improvement shows out there.

http://www.hometime.com/home.html

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#14

Post by DoofusOfDeath » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #12

These guys always do things 'the right way'. I'd love to see a similar show on software development. Building an interface for ecommerce with an existing 20 year old computer system. 'This old mainframe'

> I'd love to see a similar show on software development.

Given the quality problems with most software systems, I would expect the host to be Gordon Ramsey, not Norm Abrams.

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#15

Post by abakker » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

Townley wrote: post #11

The intellectual successor to This Old House's take on the entertainment potential of skilled craftsmanship probably isn't drama-filled reality TV, but rather YouTube channels like that of Paul Sellers. My drama-detesting father-in-law and his grandchildren watch those videos all day long to appreciate the craftsmanship, learning opportunities, and creativity of final products. I don't feel particularly concerned by…

Agree so much with this. Frank Howarth, Abom79, This Old Tony, Welding Tips and Tricks, Jimmy DiResta, Stumpy Nubs, Stefan Gotteswinter - there's so much great content like this on youtube. TV was never a great place for craft because it has to serve a general audience. Youtube has so much niche specific content with pretty great production values.

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#16

Post by dec0dedab0de » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:06 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #12

These guys always do things 'the right way'. I'd love to see a similar show on software development. Building an interface for ecommerce with an existing 20 year old computer system. 'This old mainframe'

Building an interface for ecommerce with an existing 20 year old computer system.

We had e-commerce in 1999. But that does sound like a fun show, I'd watch.

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#17

Post by sgt101 » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

The New Yankee Workshop

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0184144/

Just sayin'

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#18

Post by lifeformed » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

Wow, I totally kept reading this headline as: "The Rare Home-Improvement Show That's Spotlights killed Workers".

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#19

Post by mcguire » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:08 PM UTC

Then there was that one season (roughly around when Bob Vila left) where they had new carpenter who was missing some fingers. One episode he shows up with a mass of bandages on one hand, gives a lecture on saw safety, and never appeared again.

Re: This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

#20

Post by mcguire » Mon, May 20, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #5

I haven't seen This Old House in years. As an apartment-dwelling teenager in the 80's, I watched it every week. My grandfather had been a carpenter and I was amazed at the skill of Bob Vila and Norm Abram, who at first was a peripheral character. The current "reality show" home improvement shows all have the same flaw: no one cares about the actual work; it's all about the fake drama. We used to love the Restoration…

The only reality show I've watched was Swamp Loggers---they seemed to have half a clue and be interested in the actual work involved. I understand the show was cancelled because the production company wanted them to drama-it-up.

Flipped over to watch one of the other logging shows and in the first scene they were loading logs over the cab of the truck (!), which was occupied by the driver at the time (!). Nope.