(Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 29 - March 27, 2026)
For me, this
writing feels overdue, making this exercise in looking back more than writing for
the curious or those planning courses to reach a wider audience of their own. It
also benefits me to think out moments on the timeline that started with blogging
here and led to American Rehab
Charleston and Restoring Charleston.
Openness seems
to hold the greatest potential to help, twofold and perhaps beyond. Any effort to
appear as if I have things sorted out more thoroughly than I actually do doesn’t
make much sense either. I am making solid attempts to lay events out responsibly
and respectfully, but also to provide clarity. However, anyone who feels I’m
getting things wrong, or withholding details that should be included, please
don’t hesitate to set me straight at bloodsweatandpigsears@hotmail.com.
The
established networks and these Midwestern producers worked together, going back
and forth on the phone and electronically, creating the test reel about me and
my house. But they both made it clear, civilly and politely, We aren’t them
and they ain’t us. In some ways they were like a common law married
couple, together when it was a convenience, but separate for reasons they kept
to themselves.
And this is
worth noting here in this stage of my retelling because of how different they
were acting toward me in the wake of filming the test reel. This two-day collection
of sessions had been initiated by HGTV/DIY, but it was carried out by the team
of producers who reported to managers in the Twin Cities, producers who then answered
to their dispatcher in New York.
In general,
the people in Manhattan seemed pleased with my output on November 7th
and 8th, eager to get a look at the completed test reel. I’d done
well, they said. My energy level was high. My camera presence was notable and my
passion for home rehabbing resonated. And since these TV executives were driving
this effort to make a two- or three-minute short that featured me and my upcoming
project, that seemed to be what mattered most.
However, in
the opposite ear, it was quieter. Contact from Minnesota felt obligatory more
than excited. This was far from them being like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi: “You
wouldn’t claim to be addicted to rehab, so NO SHOW FOR YOU!” it was just
closer to radio silence. Nothing of real substance.
So, as I
was actively trying to size up this situation I was finding myself within, the contrast
registered, adding up to some clarity on my end. Pair of networks: Basically happy.
Production company: Not so much.
It was placid
for a couple weeks, creeping along, until it ramped up when the Director of Original
Programming and Development contacted me just before the Thanksgiving break.
She had progressed in her comfort. There wasn’t as much small talk as there had
been previously. The edges in her tone and delivery were more rounded, casual,
less guarded. It seems that her and the other producers in New York had been sufficiently
familiarized with me by way of my test reel. And she just jumped right in, like
a country girl and her friends who now knew how deep the water in the creek
actually was. Her voice exploded with enthusiastic pride saying something close
to, “The president of the network loved your test reel! You’re getting a series!”
It felt sudden,
hard to believe on my end, and I didn’t mirror her enthusiasm. Although she
reminded me of people I did know, she was still very much a stranger to me, and
I wasn’t sure how to really take this news.
I listened, began to process, and then prepared to respond by doing whatever they needed or asked.
(Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 31 - Coming Soon)
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