What’s On
By George Vernadakis -- Multichannel News, 4/22/2007 8:00:00 PM
BOUGHT AND SOLD
HGTV • Sunday, April 29 (10 p.m.)
For viewers who think the sweetest words in the English language aren’t “I love you” but rather “open house,” HGTV takes a behind-the-scenes look at the real estate business in its new series Bought and Sold.
The home and lifestyle network is obviously counting on past, present and future homeowners interested in the ins and outs of selling high and buying low to tune in. While week-in, week-out appeal may be somewhat limited, the show should develop at least a modest following among reality-TV fans curious to learn what actually goes into earning that broker’s commission.
Bought and Sold centers on a midsize brokerage agency, following the day-to-day trials and tribulations of its resident realtors. How engaging viewers will find each week’s installment will probably depend as much on how interesting they find the individual brokers as it will rely on the particulars of the episode’s plot line.
The premiere installment follows two relatively slender threads: one concerning dueling bids on a home, the other focused on a broker’s pursuit of a high-priced listing.
With just a couple of years experience, former model and actress Vanessa heads into the “real-estate danger zone” when two clients bid on the same house on the same day. The broker’s voiceover comments about conflicting interests and changing people’s lives sound a tad overstated, and the outcome seems to weigh more heavily on her than on the bidders.
Meanwhile, window-dresser-turned-realtor Sam pulls out the stops to convince a home-selling couple that he’s the man to market their $3.7 million estate. This courtship — literally a champagne-and-caviar dream for the broker — is a far cry from high drama, but mildly amusing to watch. The same can be said for Bought and Sold overall.
— George Vernadakis
CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD
The History Channel • Monday, April 23 (9 p.m.)
History heads straight into the sewer — as well as catacombs, bunkers and dungeons — with a new 13-episode series that explores Cities of the Underworld.
Co-hosted by former travel writer Eric Geller and Don Wildman (The Travel Channel’s Weird Travels), the show puts a subterranean spin on globe-trotting TV travelogues, taking armchair tourists not just off but under the beaten path in some of the world’s busiest metropolises.
First up — make that down: Edinburgh, where rather than pastoral vistas of the Scottish countryside, viewers are treated to much talk about sewage and plagues. Accounts of how the city was built upwards, literally on top of its poor and sick population, creating walled-under streets and underground neighborhoods of ill repute undoubtedly will hold a macabre appeal for some. But heavy reliance on computer graphics can be tedious, and the at-times-sensational commentary undermines informational value.
— George Vernadakis
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