Perhaps Dorothy was right in “The Wizard of Oz” when she said, “There’s no place like home.” According to a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders, 75 percent of Americans identified themselves as home enthusiasts, and television is amplifying the desire to be domestic.
Why are people flocking to television with this sudden urge to nest? According to Virginia Smith and Lynda Goldstein, Pennsylvania State University researchers who are writing “Reading Martha Stewart: It’s a Good Thing,” Baby Boomers have professionalized home life. And although Stewart, the doyenne of domesticity, didn’t originate the home show concept, she has popularized the genre.
“It wouldn’t be fair to Bob Vila and `This Old House’ to say that Martha Stewart started all this,” says Goldstein, “but if you think of the history, most of the home shows originated on public television, and once you had the beginnings of cable, there was a new avenue. In part, it’s a technological change, but I think Martha Stewart had the kind of visible personality that was able to popularize home shows and now there has been a proliferation.”
Russell Morash, long credited with introducing the “how-to” concept to television through such celebrated series on WTTW-Ch. 11 as “The Victory Garden” (9:30 a.m. Saturdays), “This Old House” (7:30 p.m. Tuesdays), and “The New Yankee Workshop” (4:40 p.m. Saturdays), says the flood of home shows is due to the economy.
“There are more people with more homes that cost more today and the home improvement budgets are greater than ever before in our nation’s history,” Morash said. “Some of these programs we offer are important in maintaining your investment. . . . Everybody’s house is melting out from underneath them. It never reaches a point of doneness. Even if you buy a new house, you will have to repair it sooner or later.”
Statistics gathered by Home & Garden Television, a 24-hour cable network, support that statement. According to an HGTV survey, Americans spend more than $587 billion annually in building and remodeling, decorating and interior design, home electronics and computers, gardening and landscaping and crafts and hobbies. Advertisers are excited about this new nesting niche and gladly peddle their products for on-air use and demonstrations, in addition to paid-for advertising. HGTV launched in 1994 with a mere 50 advertisers; currently it has 700.
Are people turned off by all this product advertising?
“We have a curious cynicism about advertising. We literally swim in it, like fish in water, yet we claim we don’t like it,” says media analyst Alan Caruba. “The only way we know about new technology, new inventions or new gadgets for the home is through the process of advertising and promotion, and while we complain about it, the fact is we welcome the information.”
Whether it’s decorating on a budget, do-it-yourself fix-it projects, building a new home, how to change a faucet, how to stamp out scuff marks, the best family pets, tips on child rearing, it’s part of a massive appeal to improve our home life.
“It seems as though this is truly a trend that is going to last,” says Burton Jablin, senior vice president of programming and production for HGTV. “The reason people find HGTV so attractive is that it is a contrast to the other kinds of reality-based programming–local news, talk shows and tabloid-type shows. The kinds of programs we do in the home and garden field are an antidote to that. They provide information that people can really use.”
Dr. Carole Lieberman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles and media script consultant in Hollywood, says that the shift from corrupt to cozy TV is a response from Americans to get back to good family values.
“By talking about issues that are important to the home and family such as child-rearing, health issues, decorating and relationships, they tell the viewer that this is something that should be important in their lives,” says Lieberman. “Otherwise, what they are left to see are sitcoms that show bad family values.”
TUNING IN TO HOME SHOWS
The following is a sampling of home shows:
“The Carol Duvall Show” (weekdays at 8 a.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. on House & Garden Television): Previously on ABC’s “Home Show,” Duvall features crafts for both rookies and professionals. “HGTV Guide” (Sundays at noon) provides viewers with previews of upcoming programs for the week.
“Our Home” (weekdays at 10 a.m. on Lifetime) co-hosts Deborah Duncan and Toni DiBuono promise to cut through the clutter of life with a program mix of news, entertainment features and “how-to” segments with America’s leading experts.
“Home and Family” (noon, weekdays The Family Channel): broadcast live, the two-hour long home show is filled with answers, ideas and alternatives to home and lifestyle challenges. Cristina Ferrare and Michael Burger co-host the program in addition to resident experts who inform viewers on topics such as cooking, home improvement, home decorating and gardening.
“Interior Motives” (2 p.m. weekdays, Discovery Channel): Host/designer, Christopher Lowell, makes this show unique. His playful personality motivates viewers to discover their own innate sense of style as he shares ideas on how to decorate on a budget, where to shop, how to make accessories at home and how to create dream home interiors and exteriors.
“Furniture To Go” (1 p.m. Saturdays and 8:30 a.m. Sundays on The Learning Channel): Previously titled “Men in Toolbelts,” hosts Joe L’Erario and Ed Feldman show viewers how to transform basement relics and garage sale giveaways into beautiful furniture.
