Moving Up

Friends of ours were on TV this weekend! One of Brian's groomsmen from our wedding, along with his wife & son, appeared in an episode of TLC's "Moving Up."

The basic premise is that two couples buy new homes and spend 3 months with a film crew, renovating the houses. Then the former owners come back to see what you've done with the place. The viewings are all filmed so the new owners see what the old owners said.

Our friends run a business called Nashville Ghost Tours, and the show took the opportunity to let them run with a spooky theme in one of the rooms. This FREAKED OUT the former homeowners. They asked if our friends were Satan worshippers! Ha. (The answer is: only on weekends.)

In the meantime, the former owners of our friends' home are a pair of newlyweds, each with a child they brought into the marriage. They're finally getting their first place together, only to discover serious structural issues in the kitchen. Budget problems force some tough choices, and there doesn't appear to be a lot of good interaction between them during the show.

The scuttlebutt is that they were on the verge of divorce during the renovations. For anyone who's made some improvements to their own home, I'm sure you're familiar with the stress that kind of work can cause a marriage. The premiere of the show has been delayed for months, and then our friends recently heard they're now divorced. It's a shame, and I can't help but wonder if they would have made it without the stress of the renovations or the pressure to perform for the cameras. There are bits and pieces of the episode that definitely serve as foreshadowing. I wonder how hard it was for them to watch it this weekend as it aired for the first time.

In the meantime, watching our friends try to handle homeownership for the first time was hilarious. Before they got started, they bought books to try to learn as much as possible. Everything from how to paint - or more importantly, how to tape up trim BEFORE painting. How to remove a toilet. How to break up tile. How to lay hardwood floor. All of their talent, or lack thereof, was on national television for everyone to see. I think it served as the much-needed comic relief in the episode.

See here for details on the next viewing of the episode. See here for details about Nashville Ghost Tours. TLC used some footage of our friend in his tour guide costume in the episode. If you're ever in town, be sure to put the tour on your list of things to do.