House Hunters Overload

I have been watching way too many episodes of House Hunters. It used to be really fun and somewhat educational. Now it's more like watching a car crash. I swear that the earlier episodes always had 3 great houses to choose from - "Will they pick House 1 with the pool and terrace overlooking the Hollywood sign, House 2 that looks like a castle complete with moat, or House 3, the 4000 sq foot house with a built-in cleaning lady?" It was hard to decide which they would pick, they were all pretty cool.

But lately, when they have the 3 houses to choose from, I'm wondering if that is the best of the lot in their price range? It should be called House Hunters - Recession Style. We're all barely getting by so I guess the houses they can afford are not the best on the block. Now their choices are "House 1 with 2 ft of water in the basement and the barely noticeable smell of mold, house number 2 that needs work - or torn down, or House 3 next to the junk yard and with the colorful graffiti on the back fence". Really - how long did it take them to find these awful houses? And did the families actually move into the house they choose or is this all a hoax to make us feel better about our own lives?

I want to see an HGTV show called "Choose your Neighbors". They take a family into a neighborhood where all of the houses pretty much look the same but they have to choose their house based on who they want to live next to. Do you want to live next to Neighbor number one, who can't help it if their dog can only poop in your yard (and no, they don't see a reason to clean it up), Neighbor number two who has a wee bit of a drinking and drug problem and plays loud music on their patio every night under a strobe light, or Neighbor number three who has not had electricity since 1999 and does not believe in mowing the lawn or towing away their broken cars?

Or how about a show called "Here's $100 - Make your Trailer Over." That would be great fun to see the end results. I'd probably spend $50 on pizza and beer for my friends and then once they are feeling pretty tipsy, hand them a paint brush and car pin-striping tape. I think people might watch that.

I would go on and on but they are now at the point in House Hunters International were a guy has to choose between an apartment that is very run down and the previous owner had left with the kitchen as well as the bathroom sink, or the 2 bedroom apartment that is 400 sq meters and the previous owners took the bedroom closets, or the fixer-up apartment with the small terrace that is only big enough to hold their washer and cat box.

If HGTV is trying to make me feel better - it's starting to work!