Welcome! It was the week when Abbott Elementary returned with a special guest. It was the week when a Wicked game of casting continued. And it was the week when, thank goodness, Billy On The Street made a special return. Let's get to it.
Opening Argument: HGTV will not prepare you for real home renovations
I want to make clear that I did not really believe that, as a result of having watched an absurd amount of home renovation television in the last 20 years or so, I knew what it was like to have contractors working in your house. For one thing, I didn't have a house until the last few years, so the closest I had to contractors was a guy coming into the apartment to change a filter or repair the garbage disposal. For another, television is always far from reality -- just ask anybody who's ever watched a criminal trial.
Obviously, the timelines are ridiculous -- there are lots of shows where they show up and "fix" your house in a day or a week or whatever; that's not real life. You probably wouldn't even want that. But I'm not even talking about that.
Courtesy of HGTV
What happened was this: I had some flooding in my basement from an unpleasant sewer line problem (why must trees have roots, I ask you?), and this meant that my finished basement had the flooring and some of the walls cut out, plus the basement bathroom was torn up and so forth. Basically the basement was gutted, and reduced to an unfinished cellar, and I had to have it redone. In the process, I decided to have some additional work done, the specifics of which aren't interesting to anyone except me, but boy, I have learned a lot about contractors. (Before you ask: I like mine very much; they are polite and helpful and as near as I can tell they are doing an excellent job. This is not a "boo, contractors" story, and I hope it will never be one. Please cross your fingers with me!)
For one thing, I had no idea how accustomed I was to not waking up particularly early until I learned that people will show up at your house at 7:30 in the morning and be quite surprised if you are not dressed. This is not what happens on television, where generally the people who actually live in the house are secured at Disneyland or at a relative's house or sent on a cruise. My dog and I both started screaming (I internally, he externally) the first couple of times we learned that we needed to drag ourselves out of bed significantly earlier than usual.
I also discovered that the little things that come up during a project are not nearly as interesting and dramatic as they are on TV. On renovation shows, the homeowners will be called in because the Property Brothers (or whoever) have discovered that there is a full haul of dinosaur bones under the house or everything is full of asbestos and lead, or they can't put the hot tub on the roof they way they planned. In reality, what I have found is that changes to the original plans begin with a phrase like, "See this?" They call you downstairs (in my case), and they show you something that looks relatively innocuous, like a two-inch gap between the edge of the floor and your new tub (just for example). And they say, "See this?" And it's as if you can see actual cash fluttering away, far away, out the windows and into the sky. It is mundane and ugly and a very annoying way to spend money. "See this?" is not about dinosaur bones. It is about the bulkhead nobody accounted for or the light switch that has to be moved. A show about the boring parts of having work done on your house would be even more boring than you imagine.
I also underestimated how much time I would spend trying to figure out what various noises coming from the basement were. When they did the demo in the bathroom, it was loud enough that I could feel vibrations in my feet while I was sitting at my desk upstairs. I know what hammering sounds like. Now I know what saws sound like when they cut baseboard and tile. And just yesterday, I sat and thought, "That is the unmistakable sound of stapling." (My memoir about my house will be called The Unmistakable Sound of Stapling.) I have never seen an HGTV homeowner sitting upstairs in their own home, staring idly out the window, saying to themselves, "Hmm, it sounds like they are doing extensive dentistry down there, but why would that be happening?"
In the end, which is approaching, I will be so glad I did this. I will get my washer and dryer back for the first time in months. I'm considering walking into the basement with my eyes closed and then opening them and saying, "Wow, it's amazing!" just to get the full fictional experience.
Newsletter continues after sponsor message
Listen to the Podcast Sponsor-Free
Support your favorite pop culture junkies AND listen without sponsor interruptions with a subscription to Pop Culture Happy Hour+! Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org/happy.
The Discovery+ documentary Batali: The Fall of a Superstar Chef is ably made and raises some enormously important questions about sexual harassment and misconduct in the restaurant industry (and elsewhere). It does raise the question of how to make sure films like this remain constructive and respectful and don't simply gawk at awful stories, but for the most part, this one stays on the right side, I think.
A story from Bob Mondello kicked off an NPR series about regional theater this week. Give it a listen -- and stay tuned for more.
Stephen, Aisha and I talked aboutDon't Worry Darling with our pal Ronald Young, Jr. (This is a non-spoilery episode -- we'll have a more spoilery one next week.)
I also wrote a little aboutDon't Worry Darling for NPR, particularly about the way the setup and the payoff are both fine, but somehow they don't quite fit together.
Did you know Glen has you covered every week with House of the Dragon recaps? Well, it's true. And now, they have their own home, where you can relive all of the episodes at once.
What's Making Us Happy (and other show notes)
Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are:
You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
No comments:
Post a Comment