That must have been fun (and informative) to meet him. Cant' remember his name, all I can think of is "Norm" and I know that's not him.

Tommy Silva

Oh, I am so envious! He's my favorite one on the show!

Tom Silva is a great guy on the show, as is Rich Trethewey the plumber--but you can keep Norm. And thank god Kevin replaced Steve Thomas, who I absolutely hated.

I wish I could find tapes of the earliest shows with Bob Vila--there were some great projects, and it wasn't all about using new products back then!

Awww, I thought you were going to say you ran into somebody from this forum. TOH is nice, but OHF at gardenweb...what can I say. Fearless old house owners in the trenches, great stories, great advice and ideas.

Lol - I'm still waiting to "bump into" (stalk?) someone from HGTV's "Crashers" Shows. Any one would do... Kitchen, yard, BATH, I'd totally follow them around the store, then look confused & exasperated with a dramatic flair... Of course with my face "paint & spackle" full-on & my hair brushed, even! (Of course, if I did see them - which I won't, since they don't come to Kansas-of-all-places - I would be my usual mess in paint-stained work clothes, not a lick of makeup & my hair in its usual ponytail. I'd run SO fast from any tv camera that I'd be in the parking lot without what I came for before you could say "greenboard"! Which is what I need to go get, now I'm wondering if I should get dolled-up first... Nah.

DH isn't big on Trethewey since he's a plumber too.
I also like Kevin (didn't hate Steve though).

I just wish TOH would do some more realistic budgets, and more homeowners doing some of the work to save money.

Barb, you hit the nail right on the head. Those extreeme renovation costs, coupled with what I see as a sad lack of respect for old homes turned me off from TOH.

(They ALWAYS "replace" with new stuff rather than repair, and are more than happy to eliminate character in the house so they can fit in a "great room")

I find Old House Journal, along with this site, to be FAR more realistic and respectful for the 90% of us old house restorers who have real, honest, limited budgets, real issues and tons of respect for our old houses.

Have you seen "Ask This Old House"? This sounds exactly like what barbcollins and old_house_j_i_m are looking for. What they do is find small projects that people submit and go "help" the home owner do the projects themselves. Normally they do 2 or the projects in a half hour segment.

The part of the show I like best is "What is it?". Where one of the hosts brings in a strange tool or object and the rest of the hosts try to guess what it is. The only thing is that their guesses are funny. Here is one example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJjnREjT39g

Here is a link that might be useful: Ask This Old House

I agree Tom is much more personable than Norm. But be aware that consultants are used on this show. These ideas are carefully scripted. Tom just has better camera presences. I have met Steve, he was cool. It was at the Home Depot in Salem, Ma. , we were both looking for the same thing. Rich on the other hand , shows for the shoot and screws. I know this first hand from a plumber friend who did 99% of the work Rich got credit for. A lot of disagreements for the sake of the show.