Archinect - News

New 'Zillow Gone Wild' HGTV show to launch inspired by popular Instagram account

2024-05-02T12:00:00-04:00

Friday, May 3rd, will see the launch of a new show on HGTV inspired by the popular Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild. The show, which bears the same name as the social media account, will offer insights into “exceptionally weird, wacky, and wild properties that sellers put on the market every day.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zillow Gone Wild (@zillowgonewild)

Hosted by actor and comedian Jack McBrayer, the series will feature characters from non-traditional homes with distinctive decor and imaginative architecture. The history of each will be explored, alongside backstories from buyers and sellers. Among the homes set to be featured are a house in Berkeley, California, designed by a jazz musician, and a home in New Orleans with an eclectic parlor lounge.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zillow Gone Wild (@zillowgonewild)

The run of nine weekly episodes will conclude with HGTV awarding one home the accolade of “wild...

HGTV lists renovated Brady Bunch house for $5.5 million

2023-05-26T17:29:00-04:00

The Brady Bunch house is back on the market — and, this time, it comes with the interiors of your 1970s TV dreams. HGTV is selling the Studio City home pictured in hundreds of establishing shots on the famous sitcom not five years after purchasing it for $3.5 million.

The iconic home, located at 11222 Dilling Street in LA's Studio City neighborhood, was purchased by the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned HGTV in 2018. The network renovated the façade and gutted the interiors. They added a story to recreate the show’s living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and yard, which had all only existed on Stage 5 of Paramount Studios. The midcentury home’s makeover was documented in a 2019 series titled A Very Brady Renovation.

HGTV invested approximately $1.9 million into the renovations, which included the addition of 2,000 square feet to the home.

Previously on Archinect: The Brady Bunch home gets its own HGTV makeover show

When the property hit the market in 2018, it was for the first time in 45 years, with an original asking price of $1.85 million. There had been speculation that it might be knocked down and redeveloped. Now, HGTV is asking for $5.5 million for the home, with the network reportedly planning to donate a portion of the proceeds toward an initiative ...

HGTV dons open floor plans to attract sledgehammer-happy male viewers

2020-01-07T13:09:00-05:00

According to a recent CountryLiving article, the highly popular open floor plans featured in many HGTV remodeling shows are implemented for reasons most might not guess. Rhonda Kaysen, a New York Times contributor, recently said in an NPR interview, "the reason that they [HGTV] are so big on open concept is because it gets the male viewers. Like, guys like to watch sledgehammers and, like, taking out walls."

So, the open floor plans aren't necessarily the most ideal solution for every home, but rather, a strategic maneuver designed to attract the coveted male viewer.

The Brady Bunch home gets its own HGTV makeover show

2018-11-07T15:10:00-05:00

After purchasing the Brady Bunch home in August, HGTV is moving forward with plans to remodel the iconic Studio City ranch house seen in nearly every episode of the 1970s sitcom. The network announced Thursday that the home’s overhaul has officially begun, with six original cast members and some of HGTV’s most recognizable hosts gathering at the house to kick off renovation work.

The Brady Bunch home will return to television once again: while the midcentury house in Studio City, CA actually only served for exterior shots when the show originally aired in the 60s and 70s, it will now be the raison d'être of HGTV's upcoming home-makeover series, A Very Brady Renovation, the network announced last week.

View this post on Instagram The grooviest HGTV project of the year kicked off in a big way with a very Brady renovation day.
A post shared by HGTV (@hgtv) on Nov 2, 2018 at 4:06pm PDT

"In the coming months, HGTV will execute a show-stopping transformation by adding 2,000 square feet to its original footprint—all without compromising its instantly recognizable street view," a company statement announces. "HGTV home renovation stars also will reimagine the popular show’s interior set design, working to ensure that the final renovation results stay true to the spirit of the Brady Bunch family home that everyone loves and remembers. From the unfor...

Brady Bunch house sold to HGTV for undisclosed amount

2018-08-07T16:15:00-04:00

Discovery Inc.'s HGTV network has won the bidding for the California house that served as the exterior for the home of the family in The Brady Bunch, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Tuesday. "I am excited to share that HGTV is the winning bidder and will restore the Brady Bunch home to its 1970s glory as only HGTV can," he said on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call [...].

The midcentury house in Studio City, CA served as the make-believe exterior of the Brady TV family's home from 1969 to 1974. It was listed for $1.885M last month, and for a brief moment it appeared that 'N Sync star Lance Bass had placed the winning bid—only to wake up to the news that HGTV had in fact become the new owner with the declared intent to get the house "at any cost" and "outperform any bid" (according to Bass).

HGTV as economic indicator

2017-09-26T12:15:00-04:00

A recent, worrisome working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research reported on the tinder of the last conflagration...It was buyers from the top and middle top who account for the skyrocketing rate of default — and it wasn’t that they were buying bigger family homes that they couldn’t afford. It was that they were buying additional houses to flip for a profit

Caitlin Flanagan looks at the gangbusters growth of "flipping" shows on HGTV and wonders if they are perhaps a signal of the next boom/bust cycle in US housing market.

What is it that makes HGTV so addictive?

2016-10-19T13:51:00-04:00

They want granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. They want a finished basement and an en suite bathroom. They want (original) hardwood flooring and His-and-Hers vanities. They want it for less than fair market value and in their current neighborhood. [...] According to HGTV, viewers in their target demographic watch the network for an average of two hours and 14 minutes per sitting. But why? What is it about HGTV that makes it so compulsively watchable?

HGTV isn’t a network that accumulates narrative, but it is a network that accumulates detail.