This Old Host poll

[short bus president]

I had JUST gotten used to Steve Thomas when they brought in this O'Conner fella. He ain't so bad, tho. At least the REAL important characters are all still around. My heroes Norm Abrams, Richard Trethewy, and Tommy Silva. And this new landscape guy they've got for the "Ask This Old House" show is pretty cool, too.

Gawds - I'm a "This Old House" geek!

[supernova]

1. I always fantasized about Steve

but I think I like the new guy too. ;-)

[short bus president]

4. Kevin's a bit too young and wide-eyed.

Steve finally had that "old hand" feel about him, then BOOM! He's gone. I wish I knew what happened there. All I know is I wanna be the next host. I'd move to MA for that, no doubt.

[supernova]

9. I lke the enthusiasm

That's very attractive for me. :D

[miss_kitty]

2. so far Kevin is good

I liked Bob ok, but he's arrogant. I always wanted to punch Steve. Hard. In the bread basket. Just to get him to STFU.

[short bus president]

3. Heh - so you and Supe BOTH fantasized about Steve

albeit in vastly different ways...

;-)

Mornin' Miss Kitty! And Miss Barkwell!

:hi:

[acmavm]

5. I like Steve better for some reason. And Norm is good too. I love New

Yankee Workshop. When Norm is building something, he ALMOST makes it seem like anyone can do it, although very few of us could afford all the tools and machinery.

What was the show that used to be on where that little squirrely guy showed how they did it in the old days? I loved that one.

[supernova]

6. The Woodwright's Shop

He's still on here in NC, where he originates. :D I think he's adorable.

edit: Roy Underhill



http://www.pbs.org/wws/

[acmavm]

14. Thank you. I love to see how beautiful furniture was made before the

days of power saws, lathes, and routers.

[short bus president]

18. Roy's good, isn't he?

He's like the Bob Ross of human-powered woodworking!

[sundog]

7. Why do you insist on watching those political shows???

You know it's bad for your blood pressure! :7

[supernova]

8. Oh yeah, lathes and mitre saws get me hot

:7

[sundog]

11. how 'bout 2 x 4's

do they bring sweat to your forehead? :P

[JimmyJazz]

29. ALERT! ALERT! Sex thread in progress!

:spank:

[sundog]

31. tattle tale!

O8)

[GOPisEvil]

10. I like Kevin better than Steve.

Bob...is...just...so...so...Bob.

Ask This Old House is a favorite I must admit.

[short bus president]

12. Yeah!

The one where they were looking at log-splitters was great! And I LOVE the "What's it do?" feature. Between the ATOH crew and the Car-Talk guys, I have lots of buddies in the public TV/Radio realm. ;-)

[GOPisEvil]

13. I want to write them and have them send Silva to help me with drywall.

And Trethewey to help with some plumbing.

I figure they can do a whole season here at Casa Evil. :think:

[short bus president]

15. I need the landscaping guy here.

I forget his last name - Roger someone. Cook, maybe? I know it's not Roger Moore...

But yeah, he and Tommy could get my property looking right, with some nice plank boardwalks snaking around through the woods, and a 2 or 3 story wraparound deck...

[GOPisEvil]

16. I'm getting some landscaping help from my temporary roomie.

We've got lots of work to do, but we'll get it done.

I need to get rid of the masonite siding and slap on some hardiplank. Oh, send the painting guy, too. Someone's going to have to paint the siding. I want to replace the crappy carpet with hardwood. Retile the fireplace surround, re-roof, re-insulate the attic, replace the HVAC system. I'm telling ya, a whole season!

[short bus president]

17. Screw hardwood! Go laminate!

And screw siding, too. Find yerself a swimming pool contractor, and just gun(nite) some concrete over the whole thing. Watch out for the windows, tho. And ya better put some rebar in so it doesn't collapse yer house. But it'd look cool when you were done. Like a big rock, with windows. :D

[GOPisEvil]

19. Right...laminate that looks like wood.

Ooooooooooo....I can mask off the windows so that they're round, so the house will have that "Flintstones" look. :thumbsup:

[short bus president]

20. You laugh,

but I've long wanted to build myself a dome-home with a rocked-out exterior.

[supernova]

21. You wanna live in Bedrock?

:-)

[GOPisEvil]

22. I had a professor in college who lived in a hill-house.

He just emptied out a hill and free-formed walls, etc. Smart-ass me asked if he had to mow his roof. And he did. He heated with wood stoves, and didn't need a/c with the constant underground temperature.

[short bus president]

23. See.. this is what I'm thinking.

At least half of my "rock" dome would be underground. And don't even get me started on the pneumatic slingshot escape pod system...

[librechik]

25. I want one of those too!

I love earth houses

[librechik]

24. I love me Pergo

It's beautiful! and easy to live with, for sure!

[FuzzySlippers]

26. I always thought Steve was too preppy for that gig.

Like he was trying too hard to be a regular guy. I absolutely adore Norm. He seems so warm and cuddly.

[short bus president]

27. Norm used to be my favorite,

but now I lean towards Tommy Silva. I dunno why. But I don't think you could beat Rich Trethewey for warm and cuddly, either. Hell, all those guys hafta be warm and cuddly, 'cuz they live in the friggin' frozen Northeast! Ask Pitt - he's warm and cuddly, too, but I wouldn't trust him with a nailgun. ;-)

[FuzzySlippers]

28. I guess you gotta be an endomorph to survive

in the friggin' frozen Northeast.

[Astrochimp]

30. We joke about.....

having Villa around when our house is done- we have what would be very scary guys to most, as contractors - think 6'6" tall bikers with the deepest gravel voice you have ever heard, who would not have time for Villa's BS- Joke goes- "Do Christ Bob" Nail gun noises.


I met Steve not long after he took over as host, he gave a great talk, but was not very sharp when we spoke- lot of blank looks from him when common old house terms were used by me.

Also the "The Furniture Guys"* did such a great impersonation of Norm and Steve, I could never watch TOH without thinking of it.

*http://www.furnitureguys.com/index.html
http://www.furnitureguys.com/aboutus.htm


David

[welshTerrier2]

32. i've met some of these guys ...

When i was building my house, i spent about 2 hours on the phone with Rich Trethewy ... he was trying to convince me to go with radiant floor heating ... i didn't do it because i was worried it would mess up my hardwood floors ... he was incredibly generous with his time though ... he really is a down-to-earth very nice guy ...

I also used Herb Brockert who does most of their excavation work ... he also was very easy to work with and very reasonably priced ... he did some great things grading our site ... a real class act and a good guy ...

and finally, we actually hired Tom Wirth who used to be their landscape architect ... not sure whether he's still affiliated with the show ... he was a nice guy but he got way too expensive and things didn't work out to well with him ...

of course, being a wannabe carpenter, Norm's the real hero of the show for me ... and i have a closet full of flannel shirts to prove it ...

the best shows were the oldies with Bob Vila ... while he may not have been as personable as the newer "tv hosts", i liked the fact that the shows used to walk you through the basics ... now, it's all high tech products being installed with billion dollar tools ... Bob used to show you exactly how to trim out a window or layout a deck ... many small, simple projects took the whole show to complete ... now, many of the projects are a blur ... you might get the basic idea but you don't get the details ... the Q&A show they now do is more like the old shows ...

[short bus president]

33. My favorite parts have always been the visits to various factories.

And the single best show in recent memory was when they dedicated an entire half hour to that prefab cast concrete foundation stuff (Superior Walls). That just blew my mind.

Bob Vila had another show fairly recently (Home Again) with Bob Reilly, who was his "Norm." Reilly was personable, I 'spose, but never really had Norm's "leading man" charm. I always thought Norm and Reilly should've paired up for a show - real carpenters.

[supernova]

34. I saw the prefab concrete show

very interesting. It kinda makes me wish I were building a new house instead of trying to fixup this old house.

*sigh*

[short bus president]

35. Pssst! They're building a new place with Superior Walls foundations

out on Orange Grove, near the intersection with Borland. And yes, I SHOULD point out that Al Borland is a sitcom building-stuff-guy, not a real one. ;-)

I'm not embarassed to admit that I've parked the car by the road and walked up to take a look. It's cool stuff!

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

36. Bob Vila RULES.... FOREVER!!!

[short bus president]

37. "Bob Vila's Guide to Historic Homes of America."

This will be my first DVD purchase ever, once I step into the late 20th century and obtain a DVD player. I wonder if "This Old House" has a DVD box set planned...

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

38. WHAT?? You don't have a DVD player?

:wtf: That's crazy talk! I have.... 1, 2, 3, 4... I have more DVD players than telephones! You can borrow one, if you'd like.

[short bus president]

39. Well, I have one in my peecee

and I have a little portable one I can hook up to the TV if I so desire. But my man-dreams of glorious home theater have not yet come to fruition, so it really doesn't count. All or nuthin' with entertainment, don't ya know?