JBot Mania

I’m pretty sure that it started when I saw an ad for “Over Your Head” on HGTV. I said, wait a minute, that’s the guy from “Clean Sweep“. As you can see from this fairly outdated picture, I was right. I then saw an episode of “I Want That Kitchens” on HGTV and again, I said, wait, that’s Tava Smiley from the same TLC show.

So I started looking around and I started noticing how many people from TLC are now on HGTV. Kind of made me wonder if there was some mass exodus, strategic poaching, or both. Eiither way, gone are the days of TLC’s reign over home improvement. Alot was riding on “Trading Spaces” and once that went downhill (not soon enough) it became clear that TLC didn’t have alot to fall back on in that area.

But it’s The Learning Channel after all. How much learning can you do from second rate design shows? And how much learning is encompassed in home decorating? With that in mind, I suspect they set their sights on other reality based shows that would hopefully have something to do with learning. Or maybe TLC broke up with home improvement entirely and it was bitter which would explain why they’ve basically given up completely on the genre.

This is where HGTV comes in. Instead of just having a few disparate shows about design or organization, they throw the entirety of their budget to it. This affords them the wherewithal to design 20 of the same show with say one different angle. “We do the usual design thing but we do it… blindfolded.”

I’m not complaining. I like it. It really only matters that there is a before and an after. The dribble in between is really just window dressing.

For what I think is a complete list, check out the table below:

I’m sure that after more watching I’ll find more turncoats, but until then, this is what I’ve got to show for my inordinate amount of HGTV watching.