TV shows about makeovers, fix-ups, and general improvements done to people or buildings, are a secret passion for quite a lot of us. I think our love for those kinds of shows sprouts from the fact that they appeal to our desire to see (obvious) problems solved in innovative ways. Or to put it in another way, we like it when some order is brought into chaotic situations.
However, no-one can deny that some TV shows about fixing homes or giving houses well-deserved makeovers are hilarious, unrealistic, and don’t make much sense. The Canadian comedy video production house LoadingReadyRun pokes fun at nonsensical home fixing TV shows in a short but hilarious video. Scroll down for Bored Panda's interview with Graham Stark of LoadingReadyRun about people's fascination with home renovation shows, as well as reality TV.
LoadingReadyRun's sketch makes fun of home renovation shows on TV
In the video, the LoadingReadyRun team makes fun of how some TV shows that are all about fixing up homes end up making weird and seemingly-random design decisions that simply don’t make any sense. Like putting hubcaps on the wall or framing a pair of chopsticks.
Obviously, these are over-the-top examples meant to make us laugh. However, the comedy sketch highlights how some shows are so removed from reality that they don’t even notice it anymore.
Bored Panda talked to Stark of LoadingReadyRun about the hilarious sketch. “The inspiration for this sketch was the peak of home renovation shows, where the hosts would take one aspect or one niche interest from homeowners, and redecorate based solely on that with no concern for anything else, least of all aesthetics.”
“I think, in the case of the kind of show we’re parodying, a lot of it is the appeal of watching a train wreck,” Stark shared his opinion about why some people have such a massive fascination with home renovation shows. “People just like watching these shows and going, “oh, I would never decorate my home like that, these people have awful taste."
In Stark’s opinion, home renovation shows warp our understanding of reality just like most reality television: “It’s hard to know what’s actually real, what’s been ‘smoothed’ by the producers, and what’s just fully staged. In the universe where it exists, Unf**k This House is definitely a documentary series.”
The fact is, home renovation shows have completely changed expectations and warped our understanding of what’s practical and possible. The Washington Post writes that renovation reality TV has influenced homeowners, real estate agents, home buyers, and sellers to a significant extent.
Blogger Kate Wagner from Baltimore said that these types of shows represent the idea that “if you improve or upgrade your house, you’ll improve your life. It’s appealing, but in many ways it’s escapism. Remodels and real estate transactions aren’t this easy in real life.” And as we learned from LoadingReadyRun’s jokes, not all changes are for the better.
The full clip can be found here
LoadingReadyRun has been making comedy shorts for over 16 years, since 2003. They’ve got an impressive CV, having produced videos for Wizards of the Coast, Penny Arcade, as well as Cards Against Humanity.
People thought that the sketch was brilliant
