The Real Estate Wonk: A housing (TV show) boom - Baltimore Sun reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins blogs about the local housing market

« Looking for a cheaper home? Good news | Main | Homebuilding in the region »

A housing (TV show) boom

Think television programs about homes and the housing market are suffering along with sellers? Think again. As The New York Times reports today, the two channels best known for housing-related shows -- HGTV and TLC -- are drawing more viewers now than during the boom times:

HGTV’s prime-time schedule — built around the shows “Designed to Sell,” “House Hunters” and “My House Is Worth What?” — now average more than a million viewers every evening.
Shows that were hallmarks of the bubble — like “Flip That House” (on TLC) and “Flip This House” (on A&E) — are still around, but have been retooled with less-than-happy endings. The TLC episodes are repeated several times each week and still draw an average of 700,000 viewers a showing.

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins on June 12, 2008 11:50 AM | Permalink

Comments

Think of all the other (non) reality TV shows we Americans watch. Were in a perpetual state of disillusionment.

Posted by: Kevin | June 12, 2008 12:19 PM

It's fair to say that the "Flip" series has been relegated to the ranks of "escapist utopian" television.

Posted by: John | June 12, 2008 1:49 PM

Post a comment

All comments must be approved by the site owner before they will appear. Thanks for waiting.

Note: Arguments are welcome, but please -- no calling people mean names. Jamie can take it, but she doesn't want to see personal attacks between Wonk readers.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

Please enter the letter "a" in the field below:

About the blogger

Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
• Baltimore Sun articles by Jamie