Category — Home Made

HomeMADE the reality TV show about designers renovating and interior designing peoples house will now be moved from the prime 6.30pm Sunday timeslot because of poor ratings the Daily Telegraph reports.

However www.crikey.com media writer Glenn Dyer claims it will remain in that timeslot for the next three weeks. So who knows what is going on, Channel 9 probably don’t even know at this stage.

HomeMADE had great potential. A fantastic host/mentor David Heiman, and a really forthright and articulate judging panel. But where it fell down is a lot of what we saw was the contestant’s talking to tradesmen. It turned into a pseudo Renovation Rescue.

People get bored with seeing similar challenges, they need to miss it up like they do on MasterChef Australia.

I hope the failure of this show does not put TV stations off on developing a really good interior design reality TV show.

The designers were definately in Chk Chk Boom girls territory in the Northern Beaches of Sydney as they were running around in Mole singlets after being told it was “game on” by the boys after they refused to give them a time extension they had requested. By the way I thought this was how you spelt moll.

Most of the episode it was more like Renovation Rescue which would also explain why you cannot find tradesmen in Sydney at the moment as they are all working on the show.

I love the judges, interior designers Sibella Court and David Hicks, and the Editor in Chief of Belle. They do not hold back. Sibella at the judges table had a bit of Top Design judge Kelly Wearstler about her with the feathers about the neck.

The control freak clients were to busy putting together Ikea furniture to  micromanage tonight so the boys did complete the house, and it looked pretty good. Jason’s summer lounge was definately a highlight.

Other people did not fair as well.  Matt received criticism for is winter lounge and study. He had placed the coffee tables in the middle of the room where you could not reach them if you were sitting on the lounge.

Stacey’s lounge particularly the Florence Broadhurst print wallpaper was criticised, I was surprised they did not criticise it being on the window alcoves as well, as that looked pretty hideous.

Annie who had been having drama with the tile is the kitchen ended up doing a great job. She was lucky she did not get the turquoise tiles as the space was so big the colour would have been overpowering.

Do to Channel 9 running overtime my DVR cut out so I did not get to see who was eliminated. However thankfully Injera knew and it was Stacey who was gone.

I must confess I have not watched a reality TV show for two weeks beside the American Idol finale, so even if this had been an episode of The Bachelorette Season 26 I probably would have gained some viewing pleasure out of it.

Obviously for any Top Design fans there are going to be comparisons. The question is why they did not take more of the format from Top Design? 

Renovating a house in five days is just not enough time for the designers or builders to do a good job. On Top Design they are normally given two days to design a little wooden room. Also with all the different challenges it allows the Top Design contestants to be extremely creative and interesting.

I know for Channel 9 Backyard Blitz and those make over programs have been successful for them in the past, but normally there is limited owner input. Here the designers have to cater to the whims of Mr and Mrs Suburbia and lets face it this means they want to keep it pretty bland.

Speaking of the owners maybe they need to psych test them prior to allowing them to be on the show, as Olly from last night was quite the egomanical control freak, and he seemed to think his tennis pro job gave him high level managerial skills.

Seriously the bones of their house was fantastic noone could stuff up a renovation job but he was wanting to sign off on every decision. Which was particulary strange considering looking at the state of their house it would appear they had no design flair and little taste.

I suppose unreasonable and demanding clients are probably a something all designers have to deal with on a weekly basis.

However I did wonder what carrot the producers were dangling to get the boy team to stay on the job.

The other thing is the deadlines appear to be flexible. The five days  are over but they designers appear to be  still working on the houses. Either have a longer deadline which would  appear to be a bit more realistic or make them down tools.

I agree with Injera’s post on HomeMade that David Heiman the mentor is a natural for TV, however I don’t see the point of him visiting the houses right towards the end of the renovation, it would be better if he got their earlier to help them sort a few things out.

Also I would have liked to know who decides who gets what room. It seems a bit unfair that some people have to do two rooms whereas others did one. For example Leonie had two bedrooms to do, whereas Stacey had a tiny baby’s room to do.

The other thing about Top Design in both series there were about a dozen of contestants I would have loved to have come to do over my house. At the moment I would not be touching any of this lot. Annie spent three days picking tiles for the kitchen, now if I am paying for an interior designers time I want them to be a bit more efficient then that.

Even though she felt the girls were ganging up against her did she really help her cause by going for a coffee on the beach after she finally had picked the right shade of turquoise of the tiles.

She will be lucky to survive an elimination.

For those wondering about the house the contestants are staying in some eagle eyed SMH The Guide reader and clearly a reality TV fan spotted it was the same house used in the TV show Single Girls.

Last night was the first elimination show on homeMADE and the cracks started to show in the concept.  Even having a three-degrees-of-separation connection with the guest judge didn’t help.

Why?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m a complete sucker for reno shows, so was expecting this to grab me.  Unfortunately, it is just grating.

• The arbitrary deadlines for the finished bedrooms were shown to be just that: arbitrary.  Whilst other team members stepped in to help the bedroom designers reach their deadline, those designers just seemed to spend the remainder of the time perfecting their rooms rather than reciprocating.
• The bedroom designers seemed to get the benefit of input from the “guru”, which the others didn’t.
• One of the so-called “designers” fell at the obstacle of measuring the space and selecting appropriate furniture. Surely that’s Decorating 101. (The good news is that she was eliminated, I guess.  Suzie Wilks is now the wearer of the second shortest pair of short shorts ever to grace a home reno show.)
• The judges criticised one of the houses for having no design cohesion, but there didn’t seem to be any time or structure built in for the teams to work as… a team.
• The houses looked so badly put together that it made me anxious.  Looking at the hideous finishes screamed “poisoned chalice” rather than “free reno” to me.
• I find that I really can’t get over the mix of upper and lower case in the title.  Petty, yes.

Will I watch it again? Probably not. If it was a once-a-week show in the 6.30 timeslot, I’d keep it on the radar, but I’m not going to watch the first half of a weekly elimination show.  Nor am I ditching Model.

*RR might want to continue with it on her return, but it doesn’t bode well for a show that my reaction to the recording ending before the final judging for first elimination was “meh”.

Full disclosure: I loved Top Design. I loved The Block. I loved Changing Rooms. I’m saying this because I might not be the best judge of a renovation show – for me, it’s all about the sense of relief that I’m watching someone else’s reno nightmare.

The premise of homeMADE is straightforward. A cast of 10 “designers” has been assembled. They are split into teams and each team has five days and $50,000 to makeover an entire home. Each week, the losing team will lose a team member. Each team has a builder “free of charge” (i.e. the builder’s costs don’t come from the $50K; I doubt that the builders themselves are working pro bono) but all tradies are paid from the budget. In addition, all bedrooms have to be ready in the first 48 hours as the families need somewhere to sleep. Each reno is screened over two nights, Sundays and Tuesdays, with the elimination taking place on Tuesdays. It is being billed as “The biggest renovation competition ever attempted on television”.

On first viewing, this seems entertaining enough. The host/mentor (or “Design Guru”, as he is styled in the caption) is David Heimann, of Orson & Blake. In a previous post, RR noted that he is a TV novice – he’s doing a sterling job. His to-cameras were used for quite a bit of exposition, which was a quick way to orient viewers to the new show; as mentor, he provided detailed, constructive feedback to the designers.

The cast of designers is young and attractive. As with all reality shows, there are contestants with eccentric spelling (Chontelle and Tonie); contestants who get the clueless edit early (Annie, a flight attendant who “has never worked with a client”); and contestants who defy simple categorisation (Jason, the model, whose participation in the competition is “a spiritual thing” and who is relying on “forces from the universe” to help him. Also, his pants fall down a lot).

It will take a couple of weeks to settle into a rhythm with the show. The reality schedule is chockers right now, though, especially with the elimination episode programmed against Top Model and Masterchef filling up so much of the week.

Positives:

• no auditions! (although it might have been fun to see a prospective designer try to impress a producer in five minutes)
• the focus is on the work, rather than the personalities and back-stories
• the host
• I had to check the website to find out what the prize was, which means that they weren’t banging on about it every five seconds like some other shows *cough*Masterchef*cough*.

The jury’s still out on:

• having all the competitors share a house – why? It’s completely unnecessary and might become a crutch for some filler drama
• the judges - we’ll meet them tomorrow
• the decision-making process – David can’t have a role, being the mentor, but what about the home-owners?
• the structure of the show – will assigning rooms to designers have a bearing on the result? There seems to be a lot of pressure upfront on the bedroom designers
• the editing – hopefully we’ll get a better look at before/after
• the random upper/lower case title.  Actually, that’s a lie – I hate it.
• the “Dodge Journey” giveaway? Dodge? Really?

Australia’s Next Top Model Severs Ties With Vogue Australia

A new host is not the only change of this season’s Australia’s Next Top Model, as Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan will take over from Vogue Australia as the magazine represented in the show. The Sunday Tele gossip column (scroll down the article) states the split could have occurred because they did not put Demelza Reveley last year’s winner on the cover as they did with Alice Burdeau. However I think this is bollocks as Alice was the first winner ever to be put on the cover and there was never any expectation that other winners would get this honour.

Head Judge For Interior Design Show Home Made Announced.

Belle magazine editor-in-chief Neale Whitaker has joined the team on Nine’s lifestyle reality series Home Made. It is thought his role will be as head judge. Similar to that of Johnathan Adler of Arena’s Top Design. Sorry I should not have mentioned those shows in the same post as apparently they are going to be completely different. Each show is about interior designers competing to design different spaces and a designer is eliminated each week.

The producers Julian Cress and David Barbour of The Block fame, look like they are on a winner with this show. Also they always have high production values. David Heimann, proprietor of Orson & Blake will be the host.

Masterchef Australia – Another Melbourne Chef/Judge Announced.

As a Sydneysider I am about to crawl into a dark corner and curl into the feotal position with shame. Matt Preston a chef from Melbourne has been announced as the third judge to join the other two chefs from Melbourne Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris. Just a minor snipe why no female judge? Are there no good female televisual chefs in Australia?

The show is currently in pre-production and carrying out auditions throughout Australia.

Project Runway Australia Season 2 – Applications Are Now Open.

Project Runway Australia Season 2 applications are now open for aspiring or otherwise fashion designers. It will start filming in April and will launch midyear. Kristy Hinzes will continue to be the host.

Aspiring designers need to upload a CV, design samples and a video audition at arenatv.com.au

David Heimann - Daily Telegraph

 

David Heimann, the owner of interior stores Orson & Blake has been named host and mentor on Channel Nine’s new reality TV show Home Made.  It is a bold move by Nine as David has no previous TV experience. I am loving there is going to be some fresh talent  on TV this year, this follows on from Channel Ten’s decision to make another unknown Sarah Wilson as host of Masterchef Australia.

The Daily Telegraph  reveals Home Made will have up and coming interior designers competing with each other as they work with real clients – families in the suburbs looking for a professional interior makeover. I am presuming this is an elimination show and the last one standing will win some fabulous prize.

Heimann denies the show is a copy of popular US show Top Design.

He points out that “Top Design only works with sets whereas here there will be real clients,”. Personally I am not seeing a huge amount of difference, but really who cares, Top Design which is shown on Arena TV is a fantastic and entertaining show.

Season 2 of Top Design  premieres on Arena TV on Monday 19 January at 9.30pm. The second series will not have first season host the serene Todd Oldham, but model and designer India Hicks. Todd will continue on as an occasional mentor.

India Hicks

The Futon Critic has an interview with India Hicks about Season 2 where she mentions the differences between series 1 and 2.

“The main different is going to be that we are really designing outside of the box. I mean, quite literally this time. On Season 1 they were designing inside these white boxes and this time we’ve taken our kids out in to real places and real settings.”

The shows sound pretty similar to me. I think Channel 9 could be on a winner with this one.  Oh and if they need volunteers to have their houses  made over, my Ikea chic house could do with a bit of razzle dazzle.