What are you watching this summer? After over a year of staying home are you sick of watching TV and streaming movies? Do you have plans to be out and about or are you still sticking close to home until all the states get their acts together and get their citizens vaccinated?
Since I’m planning a home renovation this year, I’ve been watching more HGTV than usual. There are three new shows that interest me. I found an Australian series on Tubi that stars Erik Thomson, one of my favorite actors. I’ve mentioned two other shows starring Thomson, Packed to the Rafters and 800 Words in previous articles and I finally checked out the Timothy Olyphant series, Justified which is streaming on HULU.
No Demo Reno stars home renovation expert and social media influencer, Jennifer Todryk who lives in North Dallas with her husband and three kids. What makes this show shine is Todryk’s personality – she’s funny, sincere, and a bit snarky, and she enjoys balancing work and her fun chaotic family life. Todryk has this incredible ability to transform rooms/homes without major demolition. In the first season she has worked for a diverse group of clients in different stages of their lives and with different budgets. She walks the houses with them and really listens to how they want to use their space. She reuses, repurposes, and sells items whenever possible to keep them out of landfills and stretch her clients’ budgets. If you are looking for clever cost-effective ways to update your home, grab your notebook and a sharpened pencil because class is in session.
$50K Three Ways stars interior designer Tiffany Brooks who is based in Chicago. It’s nice to see another midwestern city represented because the architecture is different from southern or western states. Midwestern homes often have basements and in winter months people spend more time indoors. Brooks meets with clients and walks through their home to learn what does and doesn’t work for them. She devises three plans to spend their $50k budget. Each plan covers a different area of their home. The homeowners decide which plan they want, and Brooks goes to work. I’m blown away by her sense of style and design knowledge. She’s patient, always upbeat, and her excitement is contagious and surprisingly reassuring even when the wiring in a hundred-year-old house threatens to be a budget buster.
Bargain Block stars designer Keith Bynum and contractor Evan Thomas who are business partners and life partners. They have their own design and furniture store in Detroit, Nine Furniture + Design. Bynum and Thomas buy rundown houses in Detroit and live in them while they are being renovated. Many of the houses they buy were slated for demolition. They rehab each house on a budget careful to keep the finished product affordable. Unlike other shows, the furnishings and home décor are incorporated into the price, so a first-time homebuyer can move right in and not have to buy anything but the house. Bynum selects a theme for each house and pushes the design envelope with creative use of color, textures, and furniture placement. Thomas somehow manages to repair rotting walls, crumbling ceilings, and dodgy plumbing. You won’t see any “cookie-cutter” homes. You also won’t see many marble or quartz counter tops at this price point, but you will see clever design and pride in what they are doing for the community. They typically work with Detroit realtor, Shea Hicks-Whitfield who knows the area well and helps keep them grounded.
The Alice is an Australian series based on a TV movie of the same name. Alice Springs, known as The Alice, is the third largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. The show follows the quirky lives of the locals and incorporates the mystical veil of Aboriginal legends in each episode. Erik Thomson stars as Jack Jaffers, a former rock star who walked away from his band’s reunion to return to The Alice where they had their first success. Jaffers now runs a bar/hotel in the middle of nowhere. The cast includes Caitlyn McDougall who is married to Thomson. She plays Helen Gregory who returns to The Alice for an inquest after the death of her husband. Accompanying Helen is her best friend, Patrick (Simon Burke) who is a ghost only Helen can see. Helen stays to help run the bar. Rounding out the cast is a talented ensemble of actors who float from one screwball situation to the next with some serious situations thrown in for good measure. Sadly, The Alice lasted only one season, but it’s 22 episodes with interesting plots and excellent actors.
Justified stars Timothy Olyphant as deputy U.S. Marshal, Raylan Givens. After a shooting in Miami, Givens is transferred to the Appalachian Mountains area of eastern Kentucky (Harlan County) where he was born. Givens works out of the Lexington, Kentucky office and investigates gun runners, scam artists, white supremacists, religious zealots, and drug dealers – many of whom he grew up with. The acting is excellent and Margo Martindale shines as Mags Bennett the leader of a local crime family. This critically acclaimed series ran for six seasons (78 episodes) and was nominated for eight Emmy Awards.