For decades, homeowners have turned to HGTV as a source of home design inspiration, garden guidance, and decor dos and don’ts that make domestic upgrades feel more like fun rather than a chore. Even at its most basic, the network is something of a "comfort watch" that can help take your mind off the chaos of the outside world. But as longtime viewers know, the channel doesn’t exactly have a perfect track record with some of its shows. Now, some frustrated HGTV fans are taking to social media to slam the inauthenticity of one of its most popular series.
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In a recent Reddit discussion thread, user popper_topper aired their grievances about the network. Their top complaint was that they were tired of the “fake scenes” that appeared to center on the day-to-day lives of the networks’ stars.
“I have HGTV playing in the background all the time when I’m at home. The scenes about their daily life are so annoying,” they write. “I don’t think it’s necessary to show them fake cooking, bringing in groceries, etc.”
Specifically, they pointed out a recent scene on fixer-upper program Married to Real Estate in which host Egypt Sherrod appeared to be taking out Kirkland brand paper towels out of paper bags as if she had just returned from a trip to Costco. But while this might seem benign, commenters pointed out that the warehouse retailer doesn’t sell individual rolls—and never packages items in paper grocery bags.
Another gripe focused on an episode of Renovation Aloha, in which host Tristyn Kalama fretted at her computer while looking for a tile alternative. Her solution came when her brother-in-law implausibly showed up on the site with the tile they had ordered.
Ultimately, the post rounded out with a plea to producers to tone back the unnecessary and unflattering fluff footage. “Is it that hard not to fake scenes about their life? Is there no alternative?” they wrote. “I miss old HGTV shows that didn’t have these unnecessary scenes. It was ok when the inauthenticities were not as obvious. Just do what you all used to do with Fixer Upper and Hometown.”
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Unfortunately, the editing style has spread to some of the network’s other popular shows. One Redditor complained that they took particular issue with The Flip Off, which features the network’s marquee stars Christina Haack, Tarek El Moussa, and Heather Rae El Moussa.
“Heather’s acting skills are awful,” they write. “Christina’s facial expressions are phony (also bad acting), and the show is clearly staged.”
Another viewer agreed, especially when it came to bringing in the hosts’ children or close friends who don’t actually work with them. In many cases, they claim some of the more interesting elements of the show suffer as a result.
“It’s maddening because they used to show them choosing tiles and fabric, etc. and what their thought process was to choose one thing over another, and now they just show all their selections as a complete design,” they gripe. “I am much more interested in how they pulled a design together than their ‘personal’ lives.”
Others called back to a nostalgic time when the network was more informative. One user cited the “glorious days” when Divine Design with host Candace Olsen was frequently on the air, which devoted more time to the actual task at hand instead of her personal life.
“I still couldn’t tell you if Candace was married or had kids, and that is her personal business,” they write. “I loved her designs and the lack of stupid, contrived drama that is totally scripted.”
The user also bemoaned the fact that HGTV has taken the all-too-familiar slippery slope towards reality TV and deviated from its previous core programming. This puts it alongside other channels like Food Network and the History Channel, which have also deviated from what once made them engaging and informative.
“These shows have turned into soap operas,” they write. “If I wanted to see that, I’d turn on the TV in the morning and watch those. Enough is enough.”
