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

theatlantic.com

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

#41

Post by selimthegrim »

skookumchuck wrote: post #28
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…

Try "Detroit Muscle", "Truck Tech" and "Extreme Off Road". They show how to customize/restore cars without any drama. Just straightforward exposition.

Vaguely remember an Orange County Choppers episode taking gratuitous potshots at Intel

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

#42

Post by scrooched_moose »

As an aspiring woodworker and handyman, I just want to suggest This Old House Insider [1]

The subscription gives you access to the entire This Old House and Ask This Old House library. They're in the process of adding all New Yankee Workshop episodes as well as PDF plans of those projects (normally $14.99 each). It's become my Sunday morning go-to now.

1) https://www.thisoldhouse.com/introducing-this-old-house-insi...

The most recent episodes of the current season are also available on PBS Passport which you can get for a $5 monthly donation to your local station.

Edit: It's something like $95.60/year. I've been getting it as a gift so didn't realize how bad the signup form was. Also, they don't have any app/roku support yet so I cast the video from Chrome.

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

#43

Post by karlshea »

zachrose wrote: post #35
paddy_m wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow you named almost every channel I pay attention to. I would add Matt Cremona, AvE, NYCCNC and April Wilkerson. I listen to the Welding Tips and Tricks podcast that features a 60 year old from Alabama (Hi It's Jody from Welding Tips and Tricks) talking to two guys in rural Ohio. They regularly mention how Instagram in particular has encouraged friendly competition amongst welders. Whereas previously a great welder…

Project Binky, from Bad Obsession Motorsport Two rally car fabricators and lifelong friends in Shropshire who, over the last five years, have been fitting an AWD turbo Celica into the rusted out shell of an old Mini, while adding an air conditioner and a stereo. The craft and attention to detail are absurd.

Binky is absolutely fantastic. I've been following it for years and it's great they're posting more often now that their Patreon is supporting the show.

I'd also add B is for Build.

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

#44

Post by dsfyu404ed »

0xffff2 wrote: post #30
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hate the "code worshipers" that pop up in the comments on everything building related. You give someone advice on how to do something and then a million assholes take it as their opportunity to butt in with some comment that usually start with "well actually". They're all just virtue signaling to each other about how much they know the code. Like, screw you. I told OP how to replace his water heater. If the…

On the one hand, yeah, it's annoying. On the other hand though, if a piece of advice is wrong, it's wrong. It's not really a great idea to just ignore the building code when it doesn't suit you. There's a real problem in some parts of the internet where people with a superficial understanding of the problem space offer advice as if they were experts, and it needs to be pushed back against when those people offer bad…

Yeah, but bad advice is easy to tear down without resorting to the "hurr, durr, check your local code, my code requires X." The people that just worship the code without understanding why the code says what it says are what I'm complaining about. A lot of building code is there to facilitate consistency and ease of inspection and in those cases the "wrong" way of doing things is perfectly fine at small scale but it would be impractical/expensive to do that at a larger scale.

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

#45

Post by ghobs91 »

brodouevencode wrote: post #38
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…

Nice. Came here to mention Paul Sellers too. Humorist Adam Carolla has pointed out several times on his podcast that guys who work with their hands (his examples have been car guys and carpenters) don't have time to worry about the drama-filled escapades that the creative types or the white collar types engage in every day. Having worked in both there seems to be some validity in this.

This is a pretty big generalization. If you've stepped foot in many construction sites and seen no "drama" between workers, you weren't paying attention.

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

#46

Post by evandev »

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…

Don't forget that Roy Underhill in the Woodwright's Shop on PBS is also an intellectual predecessor to people like Paul Sellers.

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

#47

Post by mywittyname »

legitster wrote: post #6

Man, I love This Old House. Even as someone who is not terribly handy, it is so nice to see professionals at work. Even though they are all hosts, you quickly can see that they know their stuff. Contractors and handymen are so hit and miss - it's a great way to understand quality work. And again, the professionalism. These guys are all old fogeys who know their way around 100+ year old construction techniques. But th…

> But the show has a great focus on embracing new technology and weaving it in successfully.

My favorite clips from This Old House is when the hosts talk about how much better the new tools and techniques are and why.

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

#48

Post by schoolboard »

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…

Matt Risinger. My hero, although would love him to do more of an "amazing quality on a budget price" diversion.

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

#49

Post by gallamine »

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…

This Old House has a very active YouTube channel.
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