7088 replies to this topic

[Decormaven]

HGTV takes a page out of the BRAVO TV playbook (and the phrase "It factor" - gee, how unimaginative!) with its upcoming new show, HGTV Design Star. Here's some corporate twaddle about the new show; set the dial for Sunday, July 23:

"KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Suspense, excitement and incredible challenges will be on tap when 10 aspiring designers seek to impress home viewers and an expert judging panel with their design expertise, ingenuity, creativity and "it" factor during the reality competition, HGTV Design Star. Hosted by Clive Pearse, who also hosts the network's top-rated real estate series Designed To Sell, the eight-week event will premiere Sunday, July 23 at 9 p.m. et/pt. and will air weekly through September 10.

As the HGTV Design Star finalists navigate a gauntlet of clever design challenges for the chance to win the ultimate prize—their own show on HGTV—their efforts will be critiqued by renowned designer Cynthia Rowley; one of America's favorite television designers, Vern Yip; and In Style executive editor Martha McCully.

HGTV Design Star contestants already have overcome significant odds for the chance to participate in HGTV's on-air quest to find its newest star. More than 1,500 designers submitted essays, portfolios and videos during last fall's call for entries. Nine designers were selected by the show's producers and network executives, while the 10th candidate was selected by viewers and online users during a week-long February vote on HGTV.com. During the competition, the finalists will be pushed to their emotional, mental and creative limits as they attempt to fulfill unique design challenges in extremely tight deadlines. On each show participating candidates will be eliminated until only two remain for a final over-the-top challenge.

[edited out some HGTV wig's comments about the fab-u-lous show]

The series' judging panel is the talented trifecta of McCully, Rowley and Yip. Ms. McCully is In Style 's executive editor as well as a trend watcher and style maker whose knowledge, keen insights and interest in all things home-related is second only to her expertise in beauty and fashion. Ms. Rowley is an award-winning international designer whose collection includes clothing lines for women, men and children, shoes, eyewear, jewelry, umbrellas, handbags, dishes and a signature fragrance. She also is co-creator of the bestselling line of Swell books and home products at Target. Mr. Yip is an award-winning architectural and interior designer who gained national acclaim for his expertise in transforming homes and restaurants in his private design practice and on primetime cable and network television series [ETA: on a Channel Which Shall Not Be Named]. He also has his own line of top-quality products and found time to write a book, Designing Spaces.

HGTV also will feature four lucky homeowners from across the country on HGTV Design Star. The network solicited and received hundreds of applications from homeowners who have a room that is in dire need of makeover. Viewers and online users voted in March to determine the last of four homeowner finalists who will get "matched up" with HGTV Design Star finalists for makeovers during the show. In addition, viewers will have the opportunity to vote on HGTV.com for their favorite designer finalist during the series' seventh episode. They also can text-in their choice via cell phone to HGTV1 or 44881. After the final viewer vote, one talented designer will catapult to fame as HGTV's next design star.

[Edited out more HGTV wig comments. Again, it's a fab-u-lous show!]

[rubyred]

Bump, 'cause it's comin'!

[pinetree22]

Woo Hoo! I was hoping there was already a thread for this show. I'm looking forward to weekly doses of Vern Yip again, even if he won't be doing any of the designing. Throw in Clive Pearse's sense of humor and I'm hoping this show is as "fabulous" as the HGTV's big wigs say its going to be.

[ChocolateCherry]

I didn't like Ramona on Wife Swap and I don't like her now. I'm very glad she's gone.

[Pomone]

Yay Vern!

Boo Ramona! I seriously hate when people think people just don't get their work. Ramona, slathering a vacuume with plaster of paris and finger painting design onto it isn't a good idea! It never will be! You are not the Vincent Van Gogh of this generation!

I didn't catch the beginning of the episode, but the next one looks like a doozy.

[jenners]

Ramona takes the cake for the most batshit crazy contestant I've seen on any competitive reality show. The vacuum sculpture? Fugly and crazy. The Miss Utah mermaid? What an insane way to make fun of a fellow contestant. The entire time of the show I was watching I kept thinking she better be the one who was kicked off.

The glamilistic chick is gettin' on my last nerve. She needs to tone the self importance down.

[lessa2010]

I think I may very well turn in next week. They actually got rid of the weakest player. I was afraid they would keep Ramona in hopes of her either going completely bat shit crazy on someone or one of the other designers smacking the crap out of her. Vacuum sculptures, murals worse then anything my 2 yr old could do. If EVERYONE is telling you its crap then maybe, just maybe its crap.

I'm not sure of Alison(?) who was declared the top designer tonight. She kinda took credit for everything, well except the artwork. Even that she made it sound like the guy was the hired help and not an active participant.

Blah. They earned another week because they got rid of the right person, we'll see wether they can keep it up next week.

[Lyddie]

Wife Swap! Thank you, ChocolateCherry. I couldn't remember where I'd seen her. Now I can't remember anything about her on that show other than there were dolls involved. Aside from her being a retread from another show, she has no talent, so how did she get chosen for this show?

[Sibella]

I think I may very well turn in next week. They actually got rid of the weakest player.

Yeah, I had this sinking feeling that they might keep around the player who would provide the most "drama."

I was disappointed that Ramona turned out to be both inept and unable to do teamwork, because the "found object" aesthetic appeals to me. And it can be done well.

I was impressed with Temple's "antiqued" thrift-shop armoire; that could have been a disaster. Overall, though, I was surprised by how average-looking the rooms turned out to be. I think you average person could have moved in a bunch of stuff and done as well as the "designers."

There was something a little weird about the pace of the show. It seemed kind of rushed.

Who was the contestant chosen by HGTV viewers?

[Algae]

I liked it. It kept my attention.

I liked how some of the contestants were so excited to see Clive. I liked the first task being a huge, feet-first idea. It made it easy to see some personalities emerge. I love the idea of the 2 brothers facing off. I liked the way the bedrooms and patio turned out. I didn't like the front room - I felt it was an awful lot of money for very little bang. And I had a hard time liking the family room, but that was probably thanks to the "mural."

Ramona was ker-a-zee. How did she even get on the show?

And Tym? I hate the "y" - my husband and I have pronounced it "Time" every time we saw it. However, the patio came out nicely, so we'll see if I can overcome my annoyance.

I also like seeing Vern again. He was my favorite designer on Trading Spaces and so far, his judging has matched my view.

I do have some qualms. Clive declared Vanessa well on her way to becoming the "Design Star", yet so far all she has done is helped to design a room. So far we haven't seen anything from her in terms of explaining what she plans on doing to the room or how to get the look. I don't want a full explanation - after all, that's not this show's purpose - but I want more than "Ooh, pretty! You win!" to this. I think being able to design a nice room is all well and good, but if you're unable to articulate how and why, it won't be a very good show. Of course, considering some of the shows on HGTV lately, that may not be an actual consideration!

[CrumbyButtons]

I was surprised by how average-looking the rooms turned out to be. I think you average person could have moved in a bunch of stuff and done as well as the "designers."

I totally agree. I was kind of shocked by average-ness of all the rooms, and most of all the family room. Plop! Here's some chairs and a table. In a clump. With an armoire. Woopeee. I won't even mention the mural. The room sucked with or without it.

So Ramona was on Wife Swap, too? Man, whoever thought "reality tv" could be an actual job? But seems like it's happening alot in the past couple of years. Glad to see Ramona gone, I think she may be a bit touched in the head.

ETA - I did like the patio (sans vacuum sculpture) - I thought it looked especially lovely with the snow.

Edited by CrumbyButtons, Jul 23, 2006 @ 10:49 PM.

[Nova]

They all came off as kind of idiotic to me, because they just jumped into a hodgepodge of design concepts without even discussing an overall theme or budgets. Why on earth did everyone wander off and just trust that they would get whatever money they needed when they were ready?

[Miss Quail]

Did I really hear Ramona compare herself to Van Gogh?

To be fair, she is like Van Gogh in that they are both crazy.

[Nova]

I figured she planned to go home and cut off an ear.




....she'd probably turn it into a sculpture.

[Scarlett Amos]

I liked the show okay, except I hate three of the four rooms I saw. I found that most of the contestants REALLY annoyed me with their ideas, especially that of shoving the couch in front of the doorway. I don't know about everyone else, but I cannot pass through furniture in order to get to my destination. And some of these people are Harvard grads? Yeesh.

I have the strange feeling that I will hate Donna later on. Her budgeting errors were careless.

Like other posters, Tym's name really bugged me.

Oh, Ramona. Why? Why did you include the hideous mermaidish thing that subtracted from what they had done in the room. Also, what the heck was that sticking out of her hair? When she turned her head it looked like it was about to poke the other designers right in the eye.

I think I may very well turn in next week. They actually got rid of the weakest player.

Or perhaps the most inherently crazy one. Vern was nice to her, IMO, and I really don't think he could take another episode of Ramona using spaghetti to make a tapestry or constructing a chair out of human bones.

[TheFinalRose]

I liked the show. It's a weird mix of stunt casting--Ramona, the twins, a Miss USA--and some decent folks who are established, with good credentials and some life experience.

Another good thing: the contestants don't vote each other off...a tactic which ruined Wickedly Perfect by eliminating the talented folks right off.

Except for the orange and chocolate bedrooms, their work was hideous. That living room? There are no words. They spent $500 on a couch but you couldn't sit down and have a conversation in that room. There was plenty of space to group a couch and a couple of chairs. If you can't work with a difficult space why should you get a tv show?

I hope they are planning to paint over that mermaid "mural."

[Bitterswete]

I hope they are planning to paint over that mermaid "mural."

I certainly hope so, too.


For a moment, it seemed like the judges were trying to talk themselves into keeping Romona, talking about her passion, and how that was important to have. It seemed like the network might be telling them to keep this "colorful character", and they were trying to manufacture reasons. But I guess they were really just trying to look at everyone's good points. Even the creater of mermaid mural and vacuum "sculpture".

You know, I can see Romona working as an artist. I've seen successful artists do wackier and get acclaim for it. But I don't think she'll work as a designer. It seemed like she'd show an idea to a client and, if they didn't like it, she'd:

a. Be insulted and get all teary-eyed.

b. Nag away at them until they let her do what she wants to do...or fired her.

c. Say she wouldn't do it, and do it anyway, convinced they'd actually love it once it was done. (As she seemed convinced the rest of her team actually liked her mural.)

The point of being a designer is melding your style with the tastes of someone else. You come in with ideas, but you have to be prepared for the client not to like them. Romona just seemed to stuck on "her way" to work well with others.

[Divine One]

Did I miss something? I thought Re Use It was going to paint the second fugly mural. When they debuted the room I was surprised it was the mermaid - it seems like there should have been some good WTF footage of her painting the mural noone wanted.

Overall - not a bad show. I liked the challenge, if not the results overall.

[Lawdawg]

Why are so many not-so-talented “artists” so freaking delusional? She had the house vote on the choice of two equally crappy ideas, they picked the one they hated less (although I thought they voted against the “Miss Utah” thing), that does not mean that they “loved it”. What an utter waste of time and paint.

Unless you are very talented, smearing spackle on a broken vacuum does not make it art. It just makes it crap. Vern, might be able to pull it off. Maybe. You? No.

And putting flowers in a broken bottle does not make it a vase. It makes it a razor sharp hazard for visitors.

And don’t even get me started on putting yourself on the same level as Van Gogh.

[nyll]

I was disappointed that they didn't show more drama in the 'studio' when they decided who would be voted off. When Ramona spouted out that everyone loved her Miss Utah idea, I could see quite a reaction from the other contestants, but they didn't show anyone protesting that that was a lie. Cheap drama is what reality TV is supposed to be all about!

I also thought there would be more reaction to Victoria taking credit for the bedrooms. That seemed a gross exaggeration. They don't show the men taking offense to this, and then they make her the winner of the task. They based her winning upon her self-assessment alone? I feel like something was missing from the footage we saw.

Oh, Ramona. Why? .... Also, what the heck was that sticking out of her hair?

That was a paintbrush, of course..... she's an artiste!

I hope they are allowed to paint over her mural and throw out the sculptures.

[nyll]

duplicate. sorry.

Edited by nyll, Jul 24, 2006 @ 11:22 AM.

[Latsmile]

Maybe I've been watching too much Runway but this seemed very choppy and forced to me. I might tune in again but may not stick with it. I'll have to see some talent to buy into it.

And was that really a mermaid? What I guess some saw as scales I saw as fishnet stockings. Besides it being silly and not fitting with the room, I thought she was insulting "pageant girl" by making her look skeevy.

[wdallan]

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this show. I expected just another reality show rip-off that I wouldn't watch after the first episode. Sure, it copied "Project Runway," but at least it got most of the elements right, instead of being like Tommy Hilfiger's "The Cut."

[lessa2010]

I also thought there would be more reaction to Victoria taking credit for the bedrooms. That seemed a gross exaggeration. They don't show the men taking offense to this, and then they make her the winner of the task. They based her winning upon her self-assessment alone? I feel like something was missing from the footage we saw.

Well, the guys both did look startled when she said the bedrooms were her concept and the one(too many to keep names straight) who did the artwork did seem put out that she alluded to him as if he were just hired help. Maybe they just laid low because they actually got praised so knew they wouldn't be on the chopping block. Or they did voice protest but got overshot by Victoria.

Maybe the guy who painted the artwork in the bedrooms can paint something halfway decent to cover up Ramona's awful mural. I was sympathetic to her during the shopping trip simply because the other two appeared to shut her out. I thought that bowl she picked up would have made a unique and interesting art piece. Then she had to find a vacuum and pull out the plaster of paris. She went from eccentric style to kook in minutes.

[Bungalow Joy]

I agree, wdallan. It was a much better show than I was given to expect from stodgy HGTV, though a transparent rip-off of PR. I am disappointed, though, that Ramona even made the casting cut. I know I can't stand Vanessa already. The way she sells herself makes her look cheap. She doesn't seem all that talented on top of it. What was that word she made up? "Delishicity" or something? Good God. Checked her bio too: Loves P. Diddy and fancies herself a Carrie Bradshaw. I don't think the bridge and tunnels go to 1998 anymore.

[Sibella]

The point of being a designer is melding your style with the tastes of someone else. You come in with ideas, but you have to be prepared for the client not to like them. Romona just seemed to stuck on "her way" to work well with others.

Well put, Bitterswete. It bugs me that someone with whom I felt some pre-show kinship could come out so laughable. I was hoping for someone more like Genevieve from Trading Spaces--someone with the bohemian thing going on but not unable to see the bigger picture or work with other people.

I know I can't stand Vanessa already. The way she sells herself makes her look cheap. She doesn't seem all that talented on top of it. What was that word she made up? "Delishicity" or something? Good God. Checked her bio too: Loves P. Diddy and fancies herself a Carrie Bradshaw. I don't think the bridge and tunnels go to 1998 anymore.

Hah, BungalowJoy!

She looks and seems like an ex-co-worker of mine--who was from the same region (not that I'm dissing Jersey, mind you), and who, while talented, just seemed to want to get by on the force of her ambitious, winsome personality. Simple competence was just gobbled up by the maw of her powerful cuteness. She was exhausting and very hard to work around, because you had to be very sure of your own gifts not to feel inferior. At least my co-worker didn't claim primary responsibility for group work.

[heebiejeebie]

I caught this today during lunch ( we tend to watch reality show tapes for the most part), and I was a bit taken aback at how stiff and awkward the show was. Trying to hard to crib off PR's success and still stay true to itself. The host might be HGTV's wink Martindale elsewhere, but he is horrible. And Vern does all the talking for the judges when it comes time for discussing who to toss.

I'm glad that Ramona got the heave. But why on earth was she on in the first place? That was so showing its derivativeness from the Foodnetwork's efforts. Stop with the freaking "all walks of life" bit on these shows, please. Qualified designers only need apply!!! And Ramona? A little math lesson. You pick up crap off the street for nothing? You fix it up? You might get 500 times that all right. But 500 x zero? Is zero.

I will admit. I fell out of my seat laughing when they asked for the ones responsible for the deck step forward and Ramona plunked her little ass self out on the line. For dumping garbage on it apparently.

Her outright lie about the mural was the clincher though. Clearly the show does not have a great production staff as they should have milked that for more drama as well as really delved into the issue.

Ramona bringing her dog was the clincher though in my Ramona hate. Small dogs as accessories have become the ultimate passive -aggressive tool in my opinion. Not only a cry for attention but also an attempt to strong-arm people into accomadating you and your pet. I love dogs. Adore, practically worship my own. But I don't impose them on others. You come to my house? You have dog hair, the occasional dog fart, howling when it thunders and ferocious barking when a siren goes by or the garbage truck comes. But no way, no how, would I bring my dog with me to a public locale let alone something like this. Not to mention her "don't touch him" crap. If the little beast isn't friendly? Don't bring it out in public. If I was one of the other contestants I would have been marching right over to production and said "uhunh". Not to mention that there are people who are allergic to small dogs. Rabidly. No pun intended.

Hate the silly tv monitors. Hate the send off tag line. And the abrupt "you're off the air" seemed almost jarring, even if it was Ramona getting her plug pulled.

I don't like the money being tossed out to one person. True it is a drama incentive, but it also creates chaos in a show that has plenty of that already just in the nature of the tasks at hand. And it would have bene more interesting if each contestant had equal money and the politics etc that would go on to team up and make the most of the money. And see what Ramona would have done with 700 of her own to spend.

All in all, much better than FN's disaster. Though Vern, much as I love him, needs to step away from the boys dept at J.C. Penney's and their rack of 3/Tees for $20.00. Ya got a good little gay boy rack, Vern. We get it. But even donny Deutsch knew when to put his tempurature gauges away eventually.

[Honey Wheeler]

I enjoyed this show more than I thought I would. I was afraid vanilla HGTV wouldn't show any conflict or nastiness, but they did. Yes, it is a blatant Project Runway rip-off, but I'm a big PR fan so I'll keep watching. I love Vern from his Trading Spaces days so it was good to see him on air again.

Like many here I wasn't impressed with the decorating. I liked the patio, but don't think the wintery weather did it any favors. The glamtastic rooms were good, but I couldn't stand the way Vanessa took full credit. I'm inclined to dislike her anyway for combining two words into one. Judging from the previews, this week's glamtastic is next week's craptacular.

I can't believe Donna and Twin 1 took a third of the budget for that front room. And no, a $500 sofa isn't the deal of the century. At least the women in the other room got some bang for the buck with thrift shop finds.

I think the judges made the correct choice for elimination. I thought Ramona was very flaky and didn't work well with others, but was basically harmless. I didn't like the way the other women treated her so disdainfully. There will always be that divide between artists and interior designers. One of my favorite people on HGTV is Debbie Travis (not Painted House, but her newer show); IMO she is a good example of someone trained as an artist who is also an excellent decorator.

[allfarkledup]

Finally, a competitive reality show that boots off the crazy one right away instead of keeping them around forever at the expense of someone that really is trying in the competition just because the network thinks the crazy one makes good TV.

Her vacuum was ridiculous!