Unspanned Leadership Gaps - Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 64

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 1 - January 23, 2026

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 63 -June 17, 2026

From the start of this TV break, I’d formed an impression that each production phase was operating on a shoestring budget. However, in reality, both shows had been robustly funded. The network had set us up quite nicely.  

It was a me issue front and center.

The running theme that flowed steadily throughout this opportunity was my inability to lead as needed. I suppose, as an excuse, I’ll put forth my reasoning that the programming director in Manhattan was in charge. She should have been. But looking back, I think the production company was in the driver’s seat, or at least they thought they were or wanted to be. And maybe this was some sort of male/female issue between them. Again, ignorance on my part prevails. Perhaps, like they wanted and needed me to be an expert of historic restoration razzle-dazzling Charleston, they also needed me to grab the reigns of this break and hit the ground running much more effectively. In this speculative beacon of guidance role that I never commanded, I seemed to have come up short for them again.

I suppose that my leadership style tends to be more organic, and I sure hope authentic. Rather than walking through a door and trying to start steering a ship like Thor in Avenger’s: Infinity War, I prefer to serve while learning and understanding. Eventually my voice will carry more weight, and if it doesn’t, I’ll make more of an effort to bring out the best in those around me.  

In my mind, and again this might be my ego leaking out, I think I could have grown into that role. But as I saw it, I was unknowingly in need of knowing and understanding more about TV than I did; the process, sequencing, industry terms, and so much more. Or at least finding a way to pick up these things much more quickly.

I found it disrespectful for me to insert myself too much. And I think most of the producers would agree. Once, while trying to suggest a solution to some filming issue, I upset an executive producer who cut me off saying, “Don’t tell me how to produce!” Within her moment of stress, she’d been candid with me, teaching some of what I lacked, shedding light on the dimness I struggled to work within.

From the beginning, I was out of sync. In 2013, it felt as if some producers were excited to work with me, while others were more indifferent. There were those who were ready to start three months of filming in January of 2014, and others more comfortable spreading the process over fifteen months. There was this same discordance in filming the pilot, the wait in between it and the pick-up, and throughout that filming. And then heading into 2016, some of the team really seemed receptive to the measures I laid out, but clearly, others were unmoved.

Along with this polarization, were the quantity of minds and voices weighing in, deserving of consideration. Not only were some taking my points into account, but they were also simultaneously weaving through the views of others with actual television experience, discussions about me, yet without me. And to add even more nuance to this dynamic, these players were often working together over the phone from each coast and flyover locations in between. FaceTime-types of meetings were less common then and although I was sometimes on a conference call speaking with multiple people, I didn’t always know who was sitting in until someone introduced themselves before their question or comment. So, I didn’t actually know who was in the loop and who wasn’t. I thought they were all comparing notes, but it would have been a lot to keep up with. And adding to this, I was one person and one show amongst dozens.  

There was consensus in my takes on the different steps I felt strongly about. But it may not have been resonating as necessarily with the right voices. There was compromising, but I wasn’t negotiating. I wasn’t suggesting twelve things as a setup to get the six we actually had to have. I’d laid out the key things we needed, and wiggle room was minimal. Without the right resolutions and results, we’d be filming rehabs in 2016 on fumes. I never said it so bluntly because I wanted us all to succeed. Pessimism may be in my nature, but I didn’t want to show these cards. And hindsight provides clarity.

The bottom line is. I was unable to adequately and clearly make my points as truly needed, in a way that resonated and moved the needle. They could say I didn’t try hard enough, and they would not be wrong. But being straightforward and even more honest with myself and as I write, I realize that I just didn’t know how to do it. And that’s on me, further evidence of what I’ve said before in previous posts of this series. I did not meet this moment.  

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 65 - June 22, 2026

Candid Off-Camera - Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 62

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 1 - January 23, 2026

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 61 - June 12, 2026

In some ways, my deficiencies in the world of television were compounding, with the first big mistake from 2013—no network written agreement—now spilling into where I found myself at the end of 2015 after American Rehab Charleston earned us a chance to do more. This hole in my capabilities was like a dark cloud, following, hovering, sometimes sprinkling and other times pouring down rain. My ignorance, my inability to take the right steps left me ill-positioned to focus as needed on my next thing, another weak area for me: effectively making my points clearly understood for producers in other parts of the country.

Even though I’d beefed up my efforts, I came up way short again. Too many of my calls to action went unaddressed. I’m pleased to remember times when my attempts to motivate have hit marks consistently. But not this time. They mostly fell flat, touching down inconsequentially like led balloons. I was hoping folks would dig into what I saw as urgent necessities. But I was unable to adequately stress the win-win-win of my viewpoints, how it was in everyone’s best interests to heartily consider how my input would benefit them big-picture. I was open to counterpoints, compromise or rebuttal leading to other steps that were better than what I felt strongly about. Yet I mainly found myself with good listeners, that were perhaps more inadequately supported and equipped than I imagined.

As I’ve mentioned throughout this series of posts, the producers I worked with were impressive. They were experienced, well-traveled, and talented. I overheard them mentioning household name celebrities, politicians, and entertainers they’d worked with. This was presented mundanely, while they were simultaneously discrete and professional, leaving me holding them in even loftier regard.

Yet being candid, I was surprised with how skittish many in vital positions seemed over the notion that we all could move up and ahead together, something I had wrongly considered more commonly understood than it was. This exemplifies some of my inexperience or perhaps overly wishful thinking. They came across as suspicious that I may be casting some sort of Jedi-mind trickery on them. I’m not sure if this was industry wide, just critical folks I’d been matched up with, or simply me in my own head too much. We would all be missing out, but since it was my big chance, it was on me more substantially.

I needed to rally the Scripps assigned troops and I wasn’t moving the needle. At least not nearly or quick enough. This might be me excusing my own inabilities, trying to sooth ego or conscience, but I began to form an impression that they’d been trained to think more win-lose, as if me and others they were working with needed to benefit measurably less in order for them to achieve worthwhile success.

Since I felt strongly that I knew better than these amazing people, at least in this critical area, this was tough for me to accept and move through. And in this period, I was left feeling powerless, outnumbered or outmatched once again, for some means of inspiring them on the importance to at least think about the key details that would help get us on track and make the most of this opportunity we had been given.

Rightfully so, it was more important to me than it was for them. They didn’t live near in or around Charleston. Their lives, families, and friends were spread throughout other parts of the country. They were going to keep working in TV regardless and I was in no position to help them see how it was in their best interests to get ARC on HGTV in Charleston and be more renovation minded with us all leaning into organic authenticity as a team.        

It’s unnecessary to write this in a way that might make a reader hopeful that I would eventually right this ship since most know it ran aground.

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 63 - June 17, 2026

Authenticity is Better Than Fashioned Spontaneity - Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 54

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 1 - January 23, 2026

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 53 - May 27, 2026

Warning: Soapbox Rant Up Ahead

Making both American Rehab Charleston and Restoring Charleston was a cool experience that spanned three years of our lives. And with streaming TV, it’s lasted longer than most could have expected, which has been a neat surprise.

I suppose, what I’m stepping into here, along with pointing out my own awareness, is educating in the form of some reassurance or alternate view to those on the home improvement television side. If you don’t have a big budget, there’s another way. And in the end, it might just be the best road to high ratings.

Early on, someone mentioned having the secret sauce, how this was needed to make a show that documented the renovation of a house, and that producers of ARC would be ready to pour on this goop. In my opinion, authenticity is the most important ingredient for this sort of recipe, and the more of that sprinkled or even dumped in and on, the better. However, not everyone is pitching their tent in this camp.

As we filmed the test reel, I said something I believe wholeheartedly. I think Charleston, South Carolina is proof that my statement was and still is valid. It was previously thought out, shared within a post on this blog long before I’d even started speaking to the networks. And this likely helped this conviction roll off my tongue easily while I was being recorded. In part, this remark, and the attitude and honesty that went with it, helped to get me the initial four-episode series. I explained how the Holy City had put in the effort to save its old homes and buildings, leading to all the attention that it has been given, and subsequently the tourist dollars that come with it. And the point I made then, what I’m getting to now, is that it wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. In my opinion, what I said in the clip that was eventually included in the pilot episode, was that what Charleston has worked hard to preserve is “better than brand new.”

I have lived in older homes that someone else renovated. I have also lived in project houses that I have reworked myself top to bottom. I’ve called new construction that others built my home too. But I’ve also been able to move into a home I designed and oversaw, starting with foundations I dug, and engineered with rebar I tied myself. Now I subbed out the big scopes, but it was my plan and I managed it start to finish, same as my own rehabs in most cases. Through this I’ve come to understand that I prefer to live in a home that’s been renovated, and ideally, one I’ve worked on and throughout myself. That’s the best scenario, at least for me.   

This is all being spelled out here and now because of my experiences renovating my houses for television and what I grew to understand, what I see as the value, the TV gold, that is authenticity. This is my opinion, but it’s a seed that was planted back in 2013 by the production director and it blossomed somewhere after. The network encouraged me to just be myself, a continuation of where I’d settled while filming the test reel. But they hired a production company that had a different take, knowing how hard that sort of television creation is. And if done wrong, more of a truer documentary style filming and producing can be a budget gobbler. Ringing close to that tone captured in the introductory episode of ARC, authenticity in home rehab TV isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. And in my view, it’s better than something plotted out and assembled creatively, yet inorganically.

I had glimpses of the production side. But it was here and there by way of breaks and gaps. I witnessed and certainly benefited from an extensive pre-planning. As I’ve already mentioned, yet perhaps inadequately, this was all quite impressive and something I saw as extraordinary. It could be said that this was all needed for things to run smoothly, and I don’t disagree. But the case could also be made, that this effort toward scheduling and coordinating, were means to the ends equated to justifications for money allotted, more than an honest to goodness necessity.

Genuineness for a TV show about a home being saved, reborn, needs people with experience doing this sort of documenting and storytelling. And that team must have eyes and ears ready to pivot when something is discovered in the walls or when a neighbor or local preservationist introduces some attention-grabbing history. These are blessed gifts if they’re used. But when ignored due to a time crunch created by the demands of preapproved talking points, then it’s like tossing a handcrafted door to be replaced by an off-the-shelf hollow core or taking a sledgehammer to antique brick work to make way for concrete block or modern tile. Planning and prepping for what will happen is surely easier than the effort required to accept the unexpected, but as I see it, not superior.

I can understand how someone might think that reality is expensive. But that’s a larger issue when the right experience is absent. People who know when to start watching closely and how to spot what can be used, from doing it and being in there—that can be the nuggets that pay viewers back heartily for watching. The proof is in the pudding, the realization that it’s either a wash or a money saver. Yet, if you don’t have the confidence of stumbling onto the amazing, yet-to-be-discovered unknowns, you will most likely wince at the thought of this approach, considering it too much of a risk.

Authentic home rehabbing TV is not easy, but it’s worth it and in my view, that tactic is better than fashioned spontaneity.

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 56 - June 1, 2026