“When the season-three finale aired in March, its nearly 4 million-strong live audience topped everything that night - including the penultimate episode of FX's The People v. And Fixer Upper’s ratings are a crown jewel for HGTV. Their book, The Magnolia Story, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for the past six weeks. In October, they were the subject of a People cover story and profile. But it’s only in the past year or so that the Gaineses really rose to mainstream prominence. Their talent combined with their easy chemistry - he goofs off she rolls her eyes - has made them bona fide stars.įixer Upper is in now in its fourth season, which premiered November 29. There are no HGTV home improvement angels more popular or desired than the salty-sweet combination of Chip and Joanna Gaines. The Gaineses are based in Waco, Texas, and have a superhuman knack for turning dingy houses into something you’d see in a catalog or a lifestyle magazine: chefs’ kitchens that resemble high-end Southern restaurants with double-cut bacon and braised pork cheeks on the menu modern country living rooms where the couch is topped off with a too-precious pillow with a saying scrawled on it bedrooms that look like they’ve been transported from a $500-a-night Big Sur bed-and-breakfast. A variety of other personalities and programs cover everything from flipping houses to buying real estate overseas.Īt the top of the HGTV pantheon are Chip and Joanna Gaines, the stars of a show called Fixer Upper.
On Love I t or List It, Hilary Farr and David Visentin rehabilitate homeowners’ current digs while also helping them decide if they want to move. Jonathan and Drew Scott, better known as the Property Brothers, help people purchase rundown shanties and transform them into plush oases. The stars of HGTV - the Home and Garden Television network - are patron saints of aspirational living.