Most people dread doing fix-ups on their own home -- but not Bob Vila -- who had been improving other people's houses regularly for almost three decades.
ADVERTISEMENT
That's apparently coming to an end, as CBS Television Distribution has canceled the weekly home-improvement series starring Vila that has been in syndication since 1989, TV Week reported Monday. The cancellation ends a 28-year run for the 60-year-old flannelly-clad fixer-upper on broadcast television, which began with This Old House on PBS in 1979. Then in 1989, Bob Vila's Home Again began airing in syndication and was simply renamed Bob Vila in 2005 before reportedly being pulled.
After leaving This Old House, Vila became a commercial spokesman for Sears, authored 11 books, and can also be seen hawking his own brand of tools on Home Shopping Network. While he once owned a niche in television programming, other home improvement shows and even entire cable networks devoted to the format began springing up faster than McMansions in recent years.
DIY -- one of the networks that, ironically, contributed to Bob Vila's ratings decline -- currently airs repeats of both This Old House and Bob Vila's Home Again.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio