"This Old House" in New Orleans
01/26/2008 13:26
This Old House' a good fit with New Orleans Article
Rating
Saturday, January 26th 2008, 4:00 AM
Host Kevin O'Connor (r.) & his team helped homeowner Rashida Ferdinand rebuild from Katrina.
Host Kevin O'Connor (r.) & his team helped homeowner Rashida Ferdinand rebuild from Katrina.
THIS OLD HOUSE: REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS. Saturday at 7. Ch. 13.
When and how we put New Orleans back together after Hurricane Katrina may one day rightfully be seen as a gauge of America's heart in the early 21st century.
So any project that contributes to that rebuilding is on the side of angels, and the arrival of PBS' "This Old House" crew calls to mind Victor Laszlo's comment to Rick Blaine in "Casablanca": "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."
"This Old House" will be in New Orleans for 10 episodes, apparently focusing on two single-family homes and one multihome project, the Musicians' Village conceived and constructed by a group that includes Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr. and Habitat for Humanity.
The Village project, as heartening a story as we've heard out of New Orleans lately, provides affordable housing for musicians left homeless by the storm.
A housing community isn't the traditional focus of "This Old House," however, and its inclusion correctly signals a somewhat unusual tack for the show.
The opening installment plays like a broad-based pep rally for New Orleans, with musical interludes and a general tribute to the can-do spirit of the thousands of volunteers who are putting the city back together board by board.
Nothing not to like there. But in a sense, it makes "This Old House" feel a little bit elitist. That's probably an unfair word, but it's going to pop up when a group comes to town two years after the crisis, acknowledges that up to half the city's housing remains ruined or gone, then directs its resources to helping restore and expand two historic middle-class homes.
As host Kevin O'Connor notes, this is what "This Old House" does: It tends to old houses. It's not in the business of affordable new construction.
And yes, every willing hand is welcome and necessary in New Orleans today. Katrina didn't discriminate by income level, so houses of all strata need attention.
Still, it's impossible not to feel that the city's priority crisis is finding a place for people who lost everything and have nothing with which to start again. That's not the case with the two homeowners featured tonight.
That said, it will be interesting to watch the restoration of Rashida Ferdinand's 19thcentury "shotgun" house, close enough to the river that she's cooled by its breeze. The water is her friend, the water is her enemy.
The show also acknowledges the larger New Orleans picture as it goes along. The renovation contractor for Ferdinand's house explains there is so much renovation work in progress now that finding subcontractors has become a major problem. You call four or five, he says, and hope one shows up.
dhinckley@nydailynews.com
Saturday, January 26th 2008, 4:00 AM
Host Kevin O'Connor (r.) & his team helped homeowner Rashida Ferdinand rebuild from Katrina.
Host Kevin O'Connor (r.) & his team helped homeowner Rashida Ferdinand rebuild from Katrina.
THIS OLD HOUSE: REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS. Saturday at 7. Ch. 13.
When and how we put New Orleans back together after Hurricane Katrina may one day rightfully be seen as a gauge of America's heart in the early 21st century.
So any project that contributes to that rebuilding is on the side of angels, and the arrival of PBS' "This Old House" crew calls to mind Victor Laszlo's comment to Rick Blaine in "Casablanca": "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."
"This Old House" will be in New Orleans for 10 episodes, apparently focusing on two single-family homes and one multihome project, the Musicians' Village conceived and constructed by a group that includes Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr. and Habitat for Humanity.
The Village project, as heartening a story as we've heard out of New Orleans lately, provides affordable housing for musicians left homeless by the storm.
A housing community isn't the traditional focus of "This Old House," however, and its inclusion correctly signals a somewhat unusual tack for the show.
The opening installment plays like a broad-based pep rally for New Orleans, with musical interludes and a general tribute to the can-do spirit of the thousands of volunteers who are putting the city back together board by board.
Nothing not to like there. But in a sense, it makes "This Old House" feel a little bit elitist. That's probably an unfair word, but it's going to pop up when a group comes to town two years after the crisis, acknowledges that up to half the city's housing remains ruined or gone, then directs its resources to helping restore and expand two historic middle-class homes.
As host Kevin O'Connor notes, this is what "This Old House" does: It tends to old houses. It's not in the business of affordable new construction.
And yes, every willing hand is welcome and necessary in New Orleans today. Katrina didn't discriminate by income level, so houses of all strata need attention.
Still, it's impossible not to feel that the city's priority crisis is finding a place for people who lost everything and have nothing with which to start again. That's not the case with the two homeowners featured tonight.
That said, it will be interesting to watch the restoration of Rashida Ferdinand's 19thcentury "shotgun" house, close enough to the river that she's cooled by its breeze. The water is her friend, the water is her enemy.
The show also acknowledges the larger New Orleans picture as it goes along. The renovation contractor for Ferdinand's house explains there is so much renovation work in progress now that finding subcontractors has become a major problem. You call four or five, he says, and hope one shows up.
dhinckley@nydailynews.com