Thread: New Yankee Workshop Doesn't Rate

As you say, it's no surprise that New Yankee Workshop doesn't rate. First of all, the title of the show isn't going to attract many viewers in this country. Second, it's pretty much a niche programme, given that it only appeals to people who want to make furniture.

Shows like Ground Force (was it the original UK version?) and Changing Rooms have much more entertainment appeal for the average punter than old Norm ever will, I'm afraid. It's a bit like doing a top twenty survey on magazines. You can bet Fine Woodworking and it's ilk are nowhere on that list.

So don't be too hard on the masses. Many of them are discerning but not many of them know the pleasures of making sawdust.

I am also not surprised that the New Yankee Workshop does not rate and This Old House fares little better after all they are on cable and can only be seen by a maximum of 20% of TV viewing audience and then on impossible times.

If they wanted to be on top of the list they should change the names to more catchy titles and have somebody like Suzie Wilkes hosting it.

Peter.

I agree. A cathy new title like :
"NEW YANKEE WORKSHOP DRILLS THE TALIBAN!"

now that would rate.

TNYW is only going to appeal to those us who like to watch middle aged men in flannels (who speak a little oddly) playing with an endless array of power tools. Not everyones cup of tea.

I'm not sure I should share this with you but the dedicated Normites will understand. A few weeks ago after having a few too many beers on a Friday night, I woke up a little late at 9:31 and raced out to the TV completely naked and turned on Norm. I watched the whole show like that. On second thoughts, if Norm knew, I don't think he'd be that turn on.

Sorry, if I've turned people off their dinners.

Peter, this list is the Lifestyle Channel's programme line-up. That's how their programmes rank. It does not compare their shows to those found on other channels, free-to-air or cable.

How can you take the survey results seriously when The Naked Chef is rated higher than Nigella Bites? If I didn't know that these were both cooking shows then the mind could get carried away.
Perhaps that's the answer
Norm does Dallas
Deep Throat Mortising Chisel
Spin the Whirlybird

I better go and finish my drink.

I voted for Norm!!

Stupid me, I should have posted a thread here, and gotten all of us to vote for him!

There are 3 reasons he was never going to get onto this list:

1 - He is on once a week at 9.30 on a Saturday morning. Ground Force, Changing Rooms, etc are on in prime time, and most are on EVERY DAY. I'm sure most lifestyle viewers aren't even aware NYW exists. When was the last time you saw promo for his show?

2 - The voting worked by selecting the program from a list of programs. Surprise surprise, NYW was not one of those shows. To vote for Norm you had to select the "Other" option and type in the show name.

3- I didn't post a thread here, telling you to vote for him!

I can understand why the average punter prefers "Changing Rooms" to Norm. In Changing Rooms, the average punter is required to do nothing, whilst a team of "professionals" comes in and tranforms his room for a paltry sum. What he doesn't realise is that furniture and fittings made out of painted MDF will last about two months before they fall apart or look irredeemably tacky.

In the US, woodwork is a much more popular pursuit than it is in Australia, where the total number of woodworkers who might aspire to make a piece of furniture is probably less than 10,000 - a mere 0.001 % of the adult population. Hopefully this website may do something to spread the gospel of what a satisfying pursuit it is.

Originally posted by Grunt
...I woke up a little late at 9:31 and raced out to the TV completely naked and turned on Norm. I watched the whole show like that. ...

and they say television is the opiate of the masses?

Part of the problem is the perception that people have of woodworkers. I'll bet if you asked the average person to 'profile' a woodworker, they would all be male, retirement age, have beards, and wear leather aprons. This image is not helped by the stereotypical images you see in the media. Television is driven by ratings and we just don't have the numbers to make a show like this visible on their radar.

Whilst I'm certainly not having a shot at the older members of the fraternity, as a younger woodworker (OK, not that young, I'm 38), I am aware of the image that a lot of younger people have of woodworking and it would require a change in this for more people to take it up on a broader scale. It's one of those things you did at school but unless you became a carpenter, other things take over and now it's just something your dad or your grandfather does. I was bitten by the bug at a fairly young age and have flirted with it ever since.

I was pleased to see an issue of Australian Woodworker last year feature not only a young woodworker, but a female one, on their front cover. This kind of thing will help to dispell the impression that woodworking is a hobby only for the recently retired but there is a long way to go.

I can feel another poll coming on...

SilentC,

You should try being a woodworker AND a scientist! That would make me an old beardy git with huge glasses, crazy hair and wild, staring eyes. Sometimes I'm amazed I can face the world ...

John

John,

Go on, how much of it is true?

I'm a web developer, so of course that makes me a pimply faced teenager who chews gum, lives on Pizza, and spends my whole life in front of a computer screen.

It's funny the assumptions people make. Whenever I tell someone what I do, they ask me if I'd mind looking at their computer for them because they're having some problem. I have to explain that's a bit like asking a cab driver to fix your car! I do know slightly more than I let on but I hate the things and prefer not to have anything to do with them outside of work.

Now get back to your microscope!

Cheers,
Darren

Darren,
I suppose that, apart from the beard, I conform to the stereotype of a woodworker that you describe. But it is inevitable that woodworkers are mostly middle-aged or older. Woodworking is a relatively expensive hobby, as well as being noisy and dirty, so most people cannot afford the requisite equipment and facilities in their early years of adulthood. By the time they can afford to indulge in it, most have already settled into other pursuits. Since a very high proportion of Australians live in urban areas where noisy hobbies are liable to annoy the neighbours, and perhaps incur a fine, most people feel that it is just too hard, and take up less anti-social pursuits, like golf or sailing instead. It is Catch-22; in the rural areas where it is easier to pursue woodwork, it is hard to lay hands on tools, equipment, and timber, and most people can't afford them anyway, and there is no market for their product; in the cities, where the timber and equipment is easily available, space for a workshop is often prohibitively expensive, and, when basements are a rarety, noise is often an insuperable problem.

Between, say 1983 and until about a year ago, my main 'hobby' was playing drums in a band. This is another expensive and noisy pastime. From the noise point of view, if you couldn't practice at home - often the case in the city where I lived for 16 years - there were always rehearsal studios, mostly located in industrial complexes, where a band could get together.

Noise is certainly an issue, although it's not necessary for woodworking to be noisy, or expensive for that matter. I take your point on that though but I think that even if it were not so, it is still not going to be a popular pastime amongst a larger slab of the population unless the image changes. I'm afraid Norm is not going to help that much!

Living where I do, I've got the worst of both worlds - close neighbours AND difficulty acquiring timber and tools