This Old House (This Old Host?!?) (1 Viewer)

[Lance Nichols]

Hey, just caught episode 2 (or 3) of this seasons TOH. What the heck happened to Steve Thomas?

There is a new host, who seems to be greener then me even, and (according to the TOH website) was picked up after he appeared on a segment of ATOH last season.

The website has nearly NO references to Steve, and it looks like a couple of images that may have contained Steve have been altered to remove him from the image.

No word from TOH, it appears. This separation looks to be even messier then the one between Bob Vila (who was pushing to get more control of the show, and bigger freebies from the corporate sponsors)and TOH.

I miss Steve.

 

[Jim_C]

There's a blurb in the recent TOH magazine about the new host. Apparently, he was on Ask This Old House (as mentioned above). He had the painter guy come over and show him and his wife how to strip off multiple layers of wallpaper, IIRC, and he asked a ton of really good questions. A few months later he got a call from TOH and was asked to be the new host.

I don't know if the break up with TOH and Steve Thomas was nasty or not. At this point all I know about ST is that he's doing radio ads for Energy Star in the Boston area.

 

[Lance Nichols]

Yeah, I caught that in the magazine, but this is just, well so sudden. No notice, no clean wrap on the season last year.

Makes me wonder if the real reason PBS has been bouncing it around the schedule is so no one really finds out about Steve being gone until half way through the season.

 

[ChrisMatson]

I was able to find this article:
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/tvradi...wheadlines=all

 

[Nelson Au]

I also saw a short blurb in TV Guide that said the same thing as above, he wanted to move onto to other thngs. They should have done something on TOH to let the audience know.

I wondered why they just didn't let Norm Abrams take over. Probably because he has teh carpenter role on the show and they still need a person to represent us home owners to moderate Norm and the specialists on the show.

I thought it was rather jarring to see Steve when he first took over from Bob Villa, but I got used to him. Here we go again!

Nelson

 

[Lee L]

Yeah, Steve is "persuing other options", yeah, thats the ticket!

 

[LewB]

I liked Steve Thomas, he'd even put on a tool belt every so often. I read in the TOH magazine that the producer (Morash) told Kevin O'Connor that he had the best tradesmen in the business (Norm, Tom Silva, Roger Cooke, etc.). What he wanted was a regular guy to ask all the questions that the pros take for granted. Just basically be a regular home owner type picking their brains.
I would LOVE it if they produced a video of TOH out takes. Norm cuts a piece of wood too short, Tom bashes his thumb etc. I think that would give us weekend warriors hope !

 

[Lance Nichols]

Steve new what he was doing, but know what questions to ask to draw things along. Kevin, who might be OK in the long run, is really green.

I mean, I know some of the basics better then him! Mind you, that could be from watching YEARS of this show....

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This show's sort of slipped the last few years anyway. Once upon a time they used to use tools the average man might actually have a chance at affording. Now, when the how-to's include laser-guided this and that and Norm seems to have a different piece of heavy machinery for every little job, it's hard to decipher how to do the same with your table saw and powered screwdriver.

Just one man's opinion.

 

[Juan Castillo]

Not sure if this was an episode of TOH, but (late) last night, I caught an ep, where a woman wanted to turn a backyard barn into a humble apartment for her parents.. Never seen the host before so maybe its the same guy.. anyway, she takes him to this mansion that seemed to have more square footage, than all the houses on my block put together, just to show him a small room in the house that used efficiently, every ounce of space it had...


Anyway, point is.. this house had a nice home theater, ticket counter in a nice lobby and all. Didn't give it much time tho, since the house had so many other Bad A$$ rooms.. Cool nonetheless.

 

[Steven Wesley]

As the son of a carpenter who watched TOH more than Mister Rogers as a kid, I never liked when Steve came on the show. Nothing beat TOH in the Bob Villa era.

 

[Lance Nichols]

Juan, yes that is TOH, and the guy she toured the place with was indeed the new host.

 

[Nelson Au]

Saw the premier yesterday of the new host. To me he seems more over eager then green. Not sure I'll like him yet, he is young. Perhaps that will appeal to newer viewers. Give him some time and I'm sure he'll get better. Bob Villa was a cardboard cutout when he started.