So, This Old House... makin' bank! (Page 1/2) 82-T/A [At Work] JUN 30, 05:34 PM So, I mentioned in another thread that I signed up for This Old House - Insider. It's basically the streaming service for This Old House. You have to really like this stuff because it was basically $100 bucks or something for the year. Especially since there are two TOH channels that stream 24/7 on Roku any time you want it. For me, I wanted the toll bag with the TOH logo on it, and they finally suckered me in. Never the less, it comes with a separate Roku App that allows me to watch ALL the shows on demand. All the spin-offs, etc. So I watched the entire first season of This Old House in the background during the day while I was working. The original episode was in 1979, and it was Bob Vila. Norm Abrams didn't even show up until like the 3rd episode. Anyway, the show was almost literally on a shoe-string budget. I mean, these guys were broke. They weren't even sure it was going to be successful. After about half-way through the season, it became such a success that Bob Vila was getting inundated with letters and other things. The first season ended with huge successes. But this is where it gets funny. The very first episode of the second season proved just how successful the first one was. Where as Bob showed up in an old-ass beat up pickup truck from the early 70s in the first season... he arrived by helicopter in the second season. He wasn't wearing his old combat boots anymore, and instead was wearing fancy penny loafers and nice slacks. It was hilarious... IMSA GT JUN 30, 08:13 PM The difference is that Bob Vila never actually did any work. He was handed sponsorships but in reality he was nothing more than a glorified inspector who knew codes. He hosted shows where the contractors did the work and he stood there rambling. Norm Abram was all hands-on. Even when Norm had guests, he would participate in the projects. I loved that show back in the day. 82-T/A [At Work] JUN 30, 08:22 PM quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: The difference is that Bob Vila never actually did any work. He was handed sponsorships but in reality he was nothing more than a glorified inspector who knew codes. He hosted shows where the contractors did the work and he stood there rambling. Norm Abram was all hands-on. Even when Norm had guests, he would participate in the projects. I loved that show back in the day. I've heard people say this before... but there's a difference really... Bob Vila was really just a good General Contractor. He's done almost all jobs himself before, but didn't consider himself an expert in any of them. In this case though, Bob Vila was the host. Norm Abrams was never the host of the show, he was always the carpenter. This Old House has only ever had three hosts, Bob Vila, Steve Thomas, and the current one which is Kevin O'Connor. Of the three of them, Bob Vila was by far more knowledgeable than the other two. The other two guys started as novices, and learned the various trades as they progressed through the seasons. Like Kevin O'Connor, he's pretty good now, and can pretty much do it all. In the early seasons, he had no idea what he was doing. Now he just gets right in. Bob Vila left because there was some disagreement with him benefiting off This Old House with his Sears endorsements. He ended up having his own show, which was actually quite good, and ran for 16 years called Bob Vila's Home Again. TheDigitalAlchemist JUL 01, 07:14 AM quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: He ended up having his own show, which was actually quite good, and ran for 16 years called Bob Vila's Home Again. Huh, didn't know that. Was the show "Home Improvement" inspired by TOH? *makes the "whuuuuh?" sound* 82-T/A [At Work] JUL 01, 07:38 AM quote Originally posted by TheDigitalAlchemist: Huh, didn't know that. Was the show "Home Improvement" inspired by TOH? *makes the "whuuuuh?" sound* Yeah, it was really quite good too. It was called Bob Vila's Home Again, and it was basically exactly like This Old House. MOST of the homes were vintage / classic homes... but he started doing homes in places like Miami (where he's originally from) and other places. Here's a 16-episode season where he restored a home in Richmond, Virginia: https://www.bobvila.com/sec...ernor-s-mansion-tour Here's a 16-episode season where he restores a Miami Beach Condo: https://www.bobvila.com/sec...i-real-estate-search You have to click the tab "Follow This Project" to see the complete listing of the shows. I don't remember what channel these shows used to air on. It wasn't PBS if I remember correctly, but like ABC or something like that on Saturdays. But my dad would occasionally watch it too, and that's how I started watching them. Jake_Dragon JUL 01, 11:01 AM I didn't watch much of TOH but The New Yankee Workshop was a show I watched a lot of. I loved working with wood but soon found frustration when I couldn't afford the right tools or a place to work. I enjoyed watching the process and understanding how its done. I still miss working with my hands but life is what it is. ls3mach JUL 01, 11:50 AM I thought this was going somewhere else entirely. How well do the tips hold up 40 years later with modern tools and materials? Not to say old ways still can't be used, but we have come a long way in building (everything) since then. 82-T/A [At Work] JUL 01, 12:58 PM quote Originally posted by ls3mach: I thought this was going somewhere else entirely. How well do the tips hold up 40 years later with modern tools and materials? Not to say old ways still can't be used, but we have come a long way in building (everything) since then. I've thought about that as well, and with a lot of the things I've seen, there's some things that are good, and others that definitely are not. Some examples are... the NEC has changed somewhat, but not a lot. So there's things they are doing that generally wouldn't be done the same way. But a lot of the things that we do today, they did back then as well. An example might be the heating and cooling stuff. They apparently ALREADY had tankless water heaters back in 1979... which I was unaware of. The home inspector for their first house mentions it. I guess it's kind of like VR headsets today. Wealthy kids had them in the mid 1990s, but they didn't really take on because they subverted mouse control and they only did 800x600 resolution. Now, everyone is buying one. So kind of the same with tankless stuff. Generally, lots of good advice, and... since they're usually restoring old homes, what you would do then, is pretty commonly the same thing you'd do today. Zeb JUL 02, 02:25 PM quote Originally posted by ls3mach: ....40 years later .... modern tools and materials? ....old ways..... Okay, I'm older than I want to think when 1982 is "the old days." 82-T/A [At Work] JUL 02, 04:45 PM quote Originally posted by Zeb: Okay, I'm older than I want to think when 1982 is "the old days." Yep... it was the old days. I was born in the late 70s, and in my last job, most of the kids I was working with were born after 2000. So yeah... it happens.