HGTV Mismatch-Making - Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 52

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

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 51 - May 22, 2026

In the previous post, I tried to shed some light on the troubles the production company out of Minnesota had, how certain factors adversely impacted the budget. I wish I’d been able to do more to help them manage the money better. If I knew, I could have steered them into cost saving territory. The issue was, at least in part, that I didn’t feel comfortable offering. Besides them not asking, they appeared to have things well under control. I never imagined I’d be mistakenly held accountable past initially. This fifty-second post is further insight in why producing American Rehab Charleston was more of a battle than it might otherwise have needed to be.

From the way it was explained to me, the folks living, working, creating content for TV up in Minneapolis were cooking steadily before Rehab Addict exploded in popularity in 2011. They scouted for their own home-grown talent, coaching, teaching, and grooming prospects through sizzle reels they pitched to network executives. These were hopefuls who many times had become friends, people who the producers had come to believe in, grinders they wanted to help break into television. In her memoir Better Than New, Nicole Curtis writes about how their partnership began organically as they were working on another show and in need of a realtor.

Rehab Addict was a shiny exception, while year after year, pitch after pitch, the decision makers in Manhattan shot them down. Executives found flaws, poking holes in the potentials, dismissing the short videos as wrong or simply not good enough. This was not across the board, but apparently a lot, more than the pitchers would have liked or hoped. They’d invested thoughtful creativity, funds, heart and soul manhours into these show ideas and the people featured. And it was understandably disappointing if not hurtful to be rejected. And to make it worse, they then had to break the bad news to the hopefuls anxiously awaiting next steps, requiring the Midwestern producers to then explain how even though they liked them, the people in New York said “nope.”

But then, one of these Big Apple dwellers called up the Rehab Addict producers saying, “You know how so many of your show pitches suck? Well, we found a guy in Charleston that is an example of the sort of people you should be making test reels about. And we want you to send a crew down to meet him.” Then they worked out some details, connected us on the telephone, and away we went.

Now, if you were the production company, hurt and rejected over and over again, for months, or even years, how excited would you really be for this assignment south, to film someone like me? Regardless of what they may have been told, I didn’t live in Charleston and wasn’t a historic restoration expert like Nicole Curtis. I was me, a family man trying to breathe life back into my renovation career, working to get my hands on another property and then figure out a way to squeeze out some profit. Was I more dynamic than those who’d been vetoed? I don’t know, but I’d guess probably not. If I was the producers in Minneapolis, it would make sense for them to be less than enthusiastic about me, even prior to arriving to meet.

Instead of jumping on a plane to come get down here in October 2013, these producers said they’d make it in November. And rather than starting a four-episode series the first week of January 2014, this company had me wait, came down to film a pilot episode in March, and then returned for the rest in 2015. The network kept handing out marching orders, and the folks in Minnesota rejected them, saying “nope” themselves by not complying.   

This back and forth was not ideal and certainly took a toll.  

Regardless of all this, these crew members we met and worked with over the span of three years, were by and large cheerful to me and my family. Still, they did have some troubles, issues that oftentimes had nothing to do with me, us, or our productions of American Rehab Charleston, some of which spilled into Restoring Charleston in 2016.

Eventually, these producers in the Twin Cities were forced to close up shop.  

Just as budget issues described last week were out of my reach, it seems unreasonable to hold me to account for the behind-the-scenes skirmishing or to say that the shows made here in Berchador were at the root of the company’s downfall. I’m sorry they went under, yet my shows and I were not the cause. I didn’t reject all their sizzles nor was I part of their attempts to send HGTV/DIY executives a message. I tried to navigate the circumstances around this opportunity, and I obviously came up short in many ways, some that I’ve been able to describe candidly in this response series. I’m not super confident about much of the short TV season of my life. But on this defense of myself, my own limited authority and influence, I stand firm.

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 53 - Coming Soon