Tornado Alley (PROG)

[dukeb]

Which is exactly why the show producers encourage (or even require) the participates to generate drama.

Part of my evening wind down routine is to watch episodes of House Hunters, particularly the ones where the protagonist(s) are looking for a place (either renting or buying) in overseas locations. The show is known to be phony where the "hunters" have already selected a place to live or aren't looking at all and just do it to appear on TV and sometimes to do a real estate salesperson a favor by getting them the publicity that comes along with appearing on the show.

I saw an episode last night where a woman from London wanted to get away from it all so she was looking for an isolated home on one of the islands that makes up the nation of Vanuatu. She saw 3 places including a couple that had no indoor plumbing. She chose a place that had an outbuilding where she would have to use a bucket to fill the toilet.

And there have been documented instances (including one local to me) where HGTV helps a family renovate or expand their home with donated materials and labor. It's usually a situation where the family has taken in foster children or one of the parents is disabled and can't work and they are in desperate need of improved living conditions. After the renovations are complete the tax assessor comes along and the property tax bill can more than double. The family then has to sell the house because they can't afford the taxes. Tragic.

Turns out that many people's reality is just not interesting, usually because the people themselves are not interesting.