House Rules (2003)

I was late getting into the new television format of reality TV. I have never seen any of those highly popular shows such as; Survivor, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire; Joe Millionaire or any of the myriad of shows which have been on television in recent years. When I was asked to review the new TBS Superstation show House Rules I was very excited to finally have a reason/chance to watch a reality show. This was even a show about house remodeling and I LOVE that.

House Rules, presented by Lowe's is a show which has three teams fighting to win their ultimate dream house. TBS Superstation had a national search to find three couples for their new show looking for people interested in this new kind of reality show. Each team will remodel a home in Houston,Texas with one house/couple being chosen by the viewers to win the home they've remodeled.

The show is being broadcast in October 2003 on TBS Superstation with Lowe's donating all of the material. House Rules turns home improvement into a full blown competition, as three teams remodel the three chosen homes each week competing to win the ultimate prize; their home. The homes chosen all have different basic characters but each one is desperately in need of a makeover. All participants, while not completely ignorant of home improvement and interior design, are regular people who will only have themselves to consult and do the actual remodeling.

In addition to the remodeling each week, the teams will compete to win their share of a money allowance to be used to pay for their renovations. We will also be privy to their private and not so private thoughts concerning their opponents' skills as each team host a dinner party. At these parties, the teams can spy on the others ideas and discuss them, which is not always the calmest and kindest.

At the end of the 12-week competition, TBS viewers will select the winning couple by voting. The team with the most votes will actually win the deed to their newly remodeled home.

One of the more interesting facets to this show, for me, was how each team was willing to give up everything and relocate for a chance to win. The two teams who are not picked to win their dream houses go back to their original lives, jobless and homeless. This seems a very precarious situation to place oneself in 2003, and it makes me wonder what in the heck is wrong with these people.

The three teams chosen for the inaugural edition of House Rules are Katie and Adam, newlyweds who will spend their honeymoon competing on the show; Cindy and Bill, who have been married for 11 years; and Rebecca and Joseph, who have been in a long-distance relationship for nearly a year.

This show is as much about the relationships of the couples as it is about the remodeling. The couples learn a lot about each other and perhaps themselves by participating in this adventure. It brings out the best and the worst in them.

The problems I had with the couples are that they are all so Middle American, normal. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with this, but it does make for rather boring television.

Katie and Adam seem to be snotty, whiny college kids. They are the kind of kids who never went to class and then grubbed around for a better grade at the end, citing all types of reasons why they deserved it. When we all know all they deserved was a giant kick in the pants.

Cindy and Bill worked well together in the first episode and I found myself rooting for them by the end of the show. They are the kind of couple I normally hate, loving, respectful and boring but I had to like one of them so I chose these guys.

Rebecca and Joseph were just weird. And not in a good way. They had a long distance relationship, which in itself is odd to me. The strangest part is when these two would compete they had "game" face and would high five each other. I mean what adults, who are intimately involved with each other, regardless of the game, high five each other?

I don't understand how the producers thought the whitest normality show on television was necessary but they did and this is the result. The concept is brilliant, the show itself interesting but the contestants yuck. There is nothing wrong with various colors and sexuality on a show such as this and the people conducting the search really should have remembered this. I believe reality shows, regardless of the concept are only as good at the contestants. Having said that, I did enjoy House Rules and recommend you watch it, because it is a great idea and you be the judge, literally.