The show starred a Victorian home ?struggling back from the brink??with gentrification playing a key part in its success When This Old House premiered in February 1979, there was little evidence to suggest that the show would be on the air for 40 years. The camerawork was hokey, the dialogue was stilted, and the host, a veteran home renovator named Bob Vila, seemed awkward on camera.
The inaugural episode, which aired on WGBH, features Vila and an appraiser named John Hewitt touring the titular old house?a dilapidated Victorian in Dorchester that a crew of local tradesmen would fix up over 13 half-hour episodes. There were no property owners to impress with a big reveal at the end of the season; the station had purchased the house with the intention of selling it once the renovation was complete.
?Oh boy, this is all gone, all shot, terrible,? Hewitt declares, gesturing to the porch roof of the property. It turns out that the bulkhead doors, too, are ?all shot,? as is the door to the mud room, and just about every other part of the building. As the two men wander through the house, Hewitt rattles off a litany of diagnoses?mostly that various fixtures are ?all shot? or ?gotta go.? (These statements must be read in a gravelly Boston accent for full effect.) This sequence?Hewitt and Vila intently discussing water damage, gutters, and roof rafters?goes on until the credits roll. The 28-minute premiere has the effect of, well, a real estate appraisal, with ...