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All American Handyman, the new show on HGTV which searches for the best handyman in the country, began with a bang for its challenges. For the first challenge, contestants were given 2 pieces of plywood, allowed essentially any piece of hardware desired, and that was it. No real rules or directions, aside from the 90 minute timelimit. 10 out of the 20 contestants were eliminated from the challenge. I thought it was a great challenge, although it was sad to see so many contestants fall flat. I wouldn't even consider myself that handy of a person, perhaps on par with the average weekend warior, but even to my untrained-eye the cuts were sloppy, construction was bad, and very little creativity was shown. Picking 10 to eliminate seemed far too easy; if anything, judges Mike Holmes and Scott McGillivray had issues picking who should stay.
The next challenge was actually a series of three challenges. The first was a jigsaw-puzzle cutout, where contestants had to cut out a geometric shapes onto a single sheet of plywood, and have it fit perfectly over another. Not a terribly difficult challenge, but with only 15minutes to complete the task, it was undoubtably some work and a challenge. Only one contestant completed successfuly (with 4 minutes to spare). The next task Mike Holmes asked some questions, from simple ("What does GFCI stand for?") to difficult. The following "task" was to mess around with some tools and talk to some Sears guy; obviously a gimme-plug for sponsor Sears/Craftsman, but still was surprising to see some contestants didn't even know what an old hand-drill was (you thought it was a clamp? are you kidding me?). Two more contestants were eliminated.
So, the show was actually fairly fun to watch, while also being slightly painful. If they are considered the "best" handymen around the country, then we are in serious trouble; I'll certainly second-guess the next time I hire a handyman/contractor!
