Funny - I actually watched This Old House, New Yankee Workshop, Hometime etc non-stop on the weekends in my middle school and high school years. I think the rest of my family thought I was a little nuts. Then after college I actually was able to land a job doing production for Bob Vila's Home Again. It was amazing to be at the shoots, seeing the projects firsthand, and meeting the carpenters who I had previously only seen through the TV screen. It was a great experience right out of school. I have since left and now am an interior designer in LA but those shows had a huge impact on my younger years and probably pushed me into what I do now.

My mother and I watched This Old House, New Yankee, and Hometime together for my entire childhood and tweenhood.
My mom was super handy and would often carry a handsaw with her on trips to my sister's house in Philly so she could start her on projects (and leave her in the middle of them hahaha) When I lived in Virginia, I remember having to finish stripping a dresser that my mom started...coming from Brooklyn with a gallon of stripper, a scraper, and rubber gloves haha, only to leave me in the lurch!

Now my brother is a contractor/carpenter, and we watch This Old House together. I still love all those crazy guys and watch them as often as I can. AND I FOR SERIOUS love that they came to Brooklyn!!! :)

I also like Kevin more than Bob! HAHA!

I loved watching TOH when it really was a "How-To" show...

...now it seems more of a product-placement showcase - there's very little "How-To" anymore, and the projects are more and more unattainable.

My father watched these shows on the weekends when I was young and I'd often sit with him while my mother was at church. I have won many "battle of the sexes" games and impressed many a male friend with the knowledged gained from them!

Oh definitely!

I watched TOH all through high school and university; after grad school, my career in architectural conservation involved advising people with historic homes how to deal with all sorts of issues. And my husband and I bought a fixerupper as our first home: we basically did everything (and did it ourselves) except re-pour the foundation. TOH was a constant in our lives, showing and teaches DIY technique.

I've never gotten over the departure of Steve Thomas though -- I still miss him, and can't get used to Kevin O'Connor.

Absolutely! I would watch that show in the early days in our basement rec room with my dad. I think the show instilled a can-do ethic in me with regards to tackling home projects. It planted a seed in me that probably led to the purchase of my first ramshackle house out of college and other subsequent ramshackle old houses.
I have not watched the show in years, as bepsf said, it has really become a high cost makeover show with high end product placements. There was a time when they actually worked on normal old houses to make them better and even tackled low brow projects like building a basement rec room. Besides, who could replace that early post-hippy, boho 70s vibe of Bob Vila in the early shows.

My mom has an autographed photo of Bob Vila from 1985, so yeah, TOH was a big deal in my house growing up :)

I grew up with This Old House.

Another one of those shows where it seems like my Dad has a one way argument with the tv.

watched, and still watch all versions of TOH. love "Ask This Old House." Do miss Steve Thomas, but Kevin O'Connor seems to fit the changing times. Tom Silva, Rich Trethewey, Norm Abram, and Roger Cook--these guys are my heroes, in a way.

as for product placement, at the show is still on the air. perhaps they had to adapt to ensure that? just asking.

For me, it was the start of a life-long obsession with home improvement and renovations. I used to watch it when I was in high school, always dreaming of the day when I'd buy an old house to fix up myself. Like most things on television, the reality fell short of the dreams.

Years later, while working at Whole Foods, i had an opportunity to help Norm Abrams in the grocery department. He was so nice, so kind. Bob Vila, though, was quite different. He was aloof and seemed upset that he was recognized by customers and staff. He also kept stuffing his face with the smoke salmon samples set out at the seafood department.

My mom initially started watching TOH and eventually got our whole family interested in the show. We were glued to the tv every weekend to watch the next episode, looking forward to the transformations. This was definitely the first show that sparked my interest in DIY and eventually prompted me to paint my own bedroom when I was in highschool. I also loved Hometime (mostly when Joann Liebler was co-host) and the New Yankee workshop...which still has Norm using the same warnings about using safety glasses. Although home improvement shows are the norm now, these shows were the pioneers of DIY back in the day. I think that the DIY shows today are more staged and scripted, and have somewhat annoying hosts who seem to be on speed.

Who doesn't love Bob Villa? and who doesn't love Bob Villa's sears commercials in Spanish!

I only started to watch TOH and Ask TOH a few years ago. One is like continuing education for me as an architect, learning about new materials and methods. The other is like a weekly home owner's tutorial. Both priceless!

Hey Bob, Nice Hair.

while i've become a bit jaded with bob's patronizing attitude -- especially on the show where he worked with his son (home again?) -- and i lost a lot of love for him as a personality, he popularized the genre and for that i can't thank him enough. as for hosts, kevin is eager and accommodating and steve is a nice balance between knowledge and grace (something that bob was not able to achieve). overall, i'm much more a fan of hometime but i could likely sit and watch TOH, hometime and some of the more serious DIY shows non-stop (with a family-guy break every so often)... sadly, the shows that make you think that gluing hay to the wall is a great way to spruce up your neighbor's house is all but a travesty.

I grew up watching the show although, due to my lack of a television, I haven't seen it in years. I will, however, always love Tommy Silva.

Bob Vila looks a lot like Bob Ross in this pic!

I've watched the show since it started in 1979, and while it is not a DIY show anymore it is still inspiring.

I have very fond memories of This Old House as a kid. It predated the plethora of design shows we have today and I would be glued to the TV on Saturday afternoons to watch. In fact, it was the only show my dad and I would watch together and BOTH enjoy it. During the "Steve" years, we would both mock the way he would deliver lines and his horrible puns.

PBS used to be the only place to get this kind of DIY TV. I also loved the Victory Garden, New Yankee Workshop, and the Frugal Gourmet (before he was outed as a pedophile - ack).

I have watched TOH since the beginning, and it is probably responsible for my interest in historic homes and renovation.

Regarding its current form, I'm less bothered than others by the "product placement" since I think often they're featuring unusual, green or other innovative products (not just subzero fridges).

FYI: Steve Thomas is now the host of "Generation Renovation" on Discovery's Planet Green channel.

Love TOH (although their last project was a travesty - those people had no taste).

I think it's great the show is aspirational - it's a nice antidote to the quick fix shows to see professionals taking their time doing a top shelf job. I still dream of the mid-century-modern house they did in Cambridge. I would love to live there.

"Ask This Old House" has enough DIY for me.

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane. Vila and the TOH crew invented the DIY industry. Too bad Russ Morash ruined that show. But the industry that it spawned changed the way America lives.

I love this article. Honestly TOH had to do a lot with my current career path. Whenever i get in after work i check PBS first for TOH. And to the Apt. Therapy user above, you made my day with a Bob Ross reference. Very true. "Happy Trees!"

I started watching when Bob Vila hosted. But my favorite was when family was up for Thanksgiving weekend a couple of years ago, and we put it on and they were interviewing a homeowner about the renovation and it was an old boyfriend of mine from 30 years ago!

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/this_old_house/page1

It was a great read -- Norm talked about being recognized at Whole Foods (does anyone else remember how in the 1980s he was voted 2nd most sex man on tv??), and they delved into the whole Bob Villa issue, reminding me how I grew to dislike him before he left the show (I'd been watching from the 2nd project).

It is still a mystery why Steve Thomas left though...

And does anyone else remember the project that turned really tense with the homeowners -- so much so that they didn't appear in the final episode? Apparently, they did not contribute enough sweat equity...

I never did like Bob Vila, as he seemed so condescending. He got credit, while Norm did all the work. I actually live in Norm's hometown and met him several times before he was ever on television. He is a great guy, and stayed a great guy even after becoming well known.

I used to work for WGBH and handled all the royalties and revenues for TOH on video and cable tv sales for many years. As people, except for Vila, "the boys" are all very nice guys. But once the show really went big time and they all lawyered up, it got to be quite the nightmare reporting-wise. I saw many, many episodes and they still are the jewel of the genre - but I still can't watch the show without a little bit of a shudder!

I watched the early ones, but eventually gave up. Too much about insulation not enough about decoration!

All I can remember about Bob Vila was the irony of a situation where he apparantly failed to get a building permit for a penthouse apartment in Boston, and was being threatened with having to raze it. (Never did hear the outcome.) You'd think a construction expert would know better...

Having lived in Brookline, TOH is pretty revered. I hated watching it, but my father loved it and would call us in to see things. it took 20 years for me to appreciate that show.

I loved the Newton season, but the Brookly brownstone this year is going to be awesome!

So I grew up and lived in 3 different old houses that my parents completely renovated themselves. My dad is really handy. and we used to always watch This Old House and he did everything around the house. The best part of this story is that my dad looks just like Bob Vila and has been mistaken for him a few times in airports, so eventually, his nickname became Bob Vila around the house when he was working. I love this old house!

When I was little, I watched this show with my dad. I thought Bob Vila was amazing and used to walk around the house with a toolbelt on telling everyone "Hi, I'm Bob Vila".

My mom still likes to show people the photos.

EVERYTHING!
I grew up in a cumbling victorian home, which my parents gutted, then onto a crumbling foursquare, which they rennoed then a series of new, but unfinished homes which we did all that work on.
The last project was a 6 bedroom home and horse arena they built from the ground up.

I always thought bob was a douche, but Norm (and Tom) are the best.

I'm egearly shopping for my own crumbling _____.

I miss the days when TOH was a DIY show about homeowners working on THEIR OLD houses, and not contractors working on posh renos for the well-heeled.

That said, I still watch it obsessively, and I have a wee crush on Kevin. :)

Anyone notice how Bob Vila was always TOUCHING things- Like priceless antiques with flawless finishes, "I think I'll just run my grubby old hand down that." It was so annoying! The furniture was roped off! In a museum! No touching!

For some reason that mole on Bob's forehead always fascinated me. I actually felt a little empty when Bob either discovered CoverGirl's concealer or had it removed. That being said, Norm was my guy. Hard working, talented and ruggedly handsome.

I still watch it occasionally. I can't relate to the pricey renovations they do now. If I had $600,000 to renovate, I'd just purchase a $600,000 house and forget the mess.

I watch it (not often, anymore) and am struck by the lack of minorities on the show. The cost of the projects also floored me at times - they don't even try to relate what they are doing to the average or even above average home owner. They aim for the very affluent. They got me interested in home improvement and remodeling - now I watch DIY and HGTV. The costs are more in line with what I can afford - usually- and the faces are more diverse. 'This Old House' was not comfortable working with minorities, it seemed. Oh well, I did enjoy them for quite a while.