Love It or List It – Best TV Duo

It’s pretty obvious why Mike and I are obsessed with HGTV these days… We started watching it religiously as a way to get tips for making our own debut a little more entertaining. Now, we’re actually taking notes on renovation projects and seeing how much we’ve learned from our own home-buying process. It’s kind of funny that now knowing how little the network does to actually help you on your way to new homes and new designs, we still watch with our mouths open.

Guilty and guiltless. Moving on.

One of my new favorite shows is Love It or List It. The idea? A couple is ready to get out of their once-loved home because it’s just not working for them anymore. A contest ensues between Designer Hillary (who renovates their home to meet their needs) and Realtor David (who finds them their new, move-in ready dream home).

This duo is adorable, and is so because they are so dorky. Hillary is a British (ok, I don’t know if she is British, but she’s got an accent) designer that looks like a mix between Sandra Bullock and Countess LuAnn, always working in full makeup and tailored clothing, eyebrows always raised and every situation a crisis. She has a toe-headed assistant who looks like she’s straight out of SCAD (in Savannah) and endless ideas that she never has the budget to implement. Sigh.

David is the ultimate dork who spent his adolescence nerdy, but is convinced he is cool now. He banters with Hillary (I laugh–Carole, you would too) with the lamest lines straight out of seventh grade. He actually looks like the alumni of some creative (but freaky) children’s show. You know what I am talking about… like watching The Wiggles as an adult and wondering how something so borderline inappropriate for your kids is allowed on TV… not to mention memorizes with their dance moves and results in children three inches from the screen signing and dancing every word (before they even learn to say Mom).

He looks like someone who thrived on kids television (actually, i just had to google Blues Clues to make sure he wasn’t actually that guy) and now keeps his receding hairline dyed to perfection, but just can’t kick his kooky personality. Enter HGTV.

I love him.

Now, two dorks who toss friendly banter in a make-believe contest that shows off HGTV’s superb skills at real estate and home design… pointless but perfect. You can’t help but choose a favorite to root for.

…and hate the people they’re doing it for. Seriously. I’ve only just gotten into this show and I have YET to see an episode where I was happy for the homeowners. Also worth noting is the fact that I’ve yet to see an episode where they choose to LOVE the house that has been so gorgeously decorated for them by Hillary and her pixie partner. David rarely shows these people something comparable, they rarely have the budget to let Hillary do what she would need to do to convince them, ergo, they choose to move. They constantly whine, fight, kick and scream (and whine more) their way to the end. Picky people with rude personalities and ugly houses. (And they always pronounce it “hoose.”). Slap us if we think we’ll try out for this one.

I hope you guys get a chance to watch this one. We (and I really do mean we) chose to watch the end result of last night’s episode in lieu of Monday Night Football kickoff. It’s that good. And if it’s not really that good, then something’s wrong with us. We need to own a house, stat.