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 excellence.

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 extraordinary amount of 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 - Coming Soon