Amy Matthews has a bone to pick with some television home-improvement shows.
Matthews, the host of DIY Network’s “Sweat Equity,” fumes when she sees shows squandering the chance to educate viewers.
“You just missed five great bullet points,” she says, reacting to an on- screen real estate agent who Matthews believes has missed a teachable moment. “I’m constantly bugged by the lack of good information on other (home and design) shows.”
That could be her competitive nature talking, but Matthews also points out how far such shows have come.
These programs — be they “Sweat Equity,” “Blog Cabins,” “Divine Design” or any number of fix-it reality shows on TV — offer people tips to reshape their homes or make them worth more on the housing market. And in this age of high-speed Internet, networks can include even more practical information on their official websites.
But viewers still need to separate the entertaining aspects of a home-improvement show from the cold, hard facts.
Andy Singer, vice president of programming for DIY Network, says his network spotlights the education portion of home-improvement shows by employing on-air personalities with real-life experience.
“Our hosts are experts, licensed contractors,” Singer says. And they aren’t afraid of telling do-it-yourself types when they need to step aside.
“There are times when (we say), ‘bring in a professional,’ ” Singer says. “Things may be too complicated to figure out or have an element of risk involved. We never want to insult our viewers. That’s more important to us than being entertaining.”
Rich Owen, owner of Denver-based RDO Renovations, looks back fondly on the early days of the long-running PBS remodeling show “This Old House,” when he says each project step was slowly and clearly detailed.
Today’s home shows favor the razzle- dazzle, Owen says, particularly those dealing with limited budgets, u la HGTV’s “Design on a Dime.”
Budget-minded home-improvement shows “sometimes cut corners on stuff,” Owen says. “That may give a home owner a bad idea on how to do (a project).”
Owen cites a show he once saw in which the participants painted a piece of furniture without priming it first, the result of which is rarely good.
James Wilkinson, owner of Denver- based remodeling company American Home, says reality shows mean well and impart valuable information. But homeowners should understand the “X” factors related to the hammering and painting on display.
“Homeowners should remember all the sounds, dust and the rest that go into remodeling are not seen with the camera and that they should be prepared to alter their lifestyles through the process,” Wilkinson says.
Getting projects done under a specific cost cap can also lead to delays, he says.
“It means that the (low-bidding contractor) is often scrambling from job to job to make ends meet rather than placing your project as his top priority,” he says.
Highland resident Jill Livingston appeared with her husband, Jason, on the HGTV show “Paint Over” last summer.
She loved the experience but was surprised by how little work she had to do on the two rooms in question.
“We would actually do a mock painting or mock flooring,” she says. “We would stop, and the experts would come in and finish it.”
Now, when she watches similar reality shows, she can tell what’s been staged and what is actually real.
Denver resident Kristen Thomas participated in two episodes of “Sweat Equity” and learned that shooting a half- hour show takes much more time than she thought.
The experience taught her how much work was done between takes. She came away impressed with how editors compressed that effort into a compelling narrative.
“They’re trying to pitch a story too,” she says.
Jennifer Darrow, an executive producer with Denver-based High Noon Entertainment, says the HGTV home-based shows she works on lean heavily on the Web to provide the most usable information for viewers.
“There’s been a big shift over the past two years, a real focus on the Web element,” Darrow says. The Web is “where detailed, step-by-step instructions can be found.”
Darrow describes her network’s shows as melding entertainment with “the takeaway,” or the core home-improvement information, “rather than a reality show where you’re looking for the train wreck.”
Jill Warner, owner of Mod Livin’ in Denver, has little doubt that home improvement shows have an impact on area viewers. Warner says the programs have been a bonanza for her modern and collectible furniture store.
“One of the reasons why we’ve been so successful is that all of the design shows are slanting toward more modern (furnishings),” Warner says, “which only helps me.”
She estimates about a quarter of her customers tell her they were inspired to drop in based on information they saw on shows like HGTV’s “Designed to Sell.”
Matthews has some simple advice for television viewers hoping to glean some genuine help from today’s crop of home-based reality shows.
Avoid shows that feel too much like makeover programs, ones in which “you see tools, but don’t see something happening,” Matthews says.
“You should feel like there’s a little light bulb going off in your head” while you’re watching, Matthews says. “That will give you a sign that (the show) has a lot of information.”
