Everybody's guilty pleasure is HGTV. It's the kind of channel you can watch all day long by yourself or put on all night when you're hanging with friends. At some point, you'll mock a pretentious white person on a show and question a designer's color choice. It's a wild ride of needy wives, frustrated realtors and unexpected budget concerns. While everybody loves a good HGTV marathon, there are some gems and some duds. As an HGTV lover, this is the worst to the best of their most popular shows.
12. "Good Bones"
This show is yet another addition to the long list of families going into flipping together. While it's great to see relatives getting together and doing something they enjoy, some just aren't as enjoyable to watch. Sorry, but the mom/daughter duo just doesn't cut it.
11. "International House Hunters"
Most of this show is people complaining that they're not getting the same amenities and space they get for the same price in America. It's couples expecting every single apartment in France or Italy to come with a rooftop terrace and sit on quiet streets all while in the heart of the city. It's basically just people with a lot of money being snobby about how they don't get everything they want.
10. "Property Brothers"
I know I was just saying I didn't enjoy a mother/daughter property team, but these are attractive brothers so they can be bumped a few spots ahead. They can be pretty humorous sometimes so it's makes it a better watch. It's not a first choice flip show but if it's all that's on, then, yeah, I guess I'll turn it on.
9. "Property Virgins"
Basically I love seeing people go through buying a house for the first time and sometimes people have no idea that there's this thing called "cosmetic renovation." The wonderful thing about wall color is that it can be changed! The only thing that puts this show lower on the list is the crippling anxiety that one day I'll have to buy a house and will be going into it completely clueless and I'll be the one on the show.
8. "Flip or Flop"
This is like the step below the Gaines family. While they are a cute young couple, the El Moussa's (did you even know that was their last name?) are kind of just another renovation show sometimes. The good thing about this show though is that they're not worried about a certain client's needs. They buy houses at auction then transform them into dream homes. They go in, do their own thing, then sell it later and don't have to call a couple and tell them of some unexpected internal problem found during the renovation, which is a common theme in renovation shows. Overall, not a terrible show.
7. "Love It or List It"
OK, I am absolutely amazed with the renovations in this show. They go in, there's stuff all over the floor, parents have never heard of "toy boxes," there's about nine instruments just randomly hanging out in a high-traffic hallway (because the husband is always a musician who "doesn't have his own space"), then Hillary goes in and works some magic. Basically, she paints walls, finishes the basement bathroom for them, knocks down a wall, adds shelves, and presto. The humor is super stupid and it all sounds scripted, but if you need background noise, this show is pretty good.
6. "Beachfront Bargain Hunt"
It's like International House Hunters, but better! It's often families looking for a vacation property, and they do get a little cranky if they have to take more than 10 steps to get to the water, but the spots are beautiful and there's little fun facts and quizzes at commercial breaks. Watching this show isn't frustrating like International House Hunters is because there's more families and not so many picky couples. It makes you want to move to a nice sandy beach, like, now.
5. "Yard Crashers"
Sometimes it's on DIY, sometimes HGTV. Either way, it's a fun watch. These guys go wander around home improvement stores looking for people who are trying to do projects on their own. Once they find someone willing to let strange men and a TV crew into their backyard, everyone goes to work making a gorgeous space for entertaining, relaxing, and just enjoying the outdoors. When you watch this show, you instantly want to go walk around a Lowe's looking for these guys. Even if you don't have a yard.
4. "Tiny House, Big Living"
The tiny house movement is taking over the nation. What makes this show enjoyable is that you get to see people put together these things. Someone sits down and designs their tiny house and then it becomes a reality. Everyone's house is completely different and it's not just something that comes off a lot. This is one of few shows where it's all about someone's home being built.
3. "House Hunters"
This is in everyone's top three for HGTV shows. Yes, Karen complains they're not close enough to dog parks even if it is closer to David's work, but it's the original House Hunters so you kind of love it anyway. Yet again, though, someone will complain about wall colors as if they can't be changed. But even with all the pickiness, you continue to watch and live tweet because, honestly, you love it.
2. "Tiny House Hunters"
Honestly, the best part about this show is the buyer (or their friend) groaning about how tight the spaces are as if it's not a tiny house. Someone always makes the wrong choice and picks the one with some of the biggest flaws, but, hey, you're not living in 263 square feet of space so their loss, not yours, right? Tiny homes are strange because they're so ridiculously small and everything fits so perfectly, it all works out in the end. It's all a build up to the end.
1. "Fixer Upper"
Does this really surprise anybody? I'm a 20-year-old woman and I want these people to adopt me. They're so insanely perfect and cute. They work so well with their clients and always have an amazing outcome. They turn total duds of houses into beautiful, country chic homes. Every episode you will always see the whole family together, and if that's not adorable, I don't know what is. And if you don't watch this show and suddenly love shiplap, you're lying to yourself.