An asthma attack prevented me from posting this recap last night. Sorry for the delay.
Richard opens the show by saying that he has a reputation for being a hard ass. But the end of the day, I’d say he’s a MacDaddy.
This week, Richard helps his childhood best friend Larry, who is strung out and broke. His house is close to being in foreclosure. In this case, Richard would rather make a difference than make a profit. “Trademark is renovating the house and the owner at the same time.”
At the 10/10 meeting, Ginger, John, Lori and Dawn listen as Richard tells them about his best friend. Larry has moved in with his girlfriend now, and Richard doesn’t want him to lose the house in foreclosure. The plan? Trademark will help Larry by renovating and selling his house. Larry will cool his heels with Richard’s uncle. Larry’s dog, Curly, will get trained at the Uncle’s dog farm.
Larry looks like Mountain Man Grizzly Adams. Oh no. I’m not really that old! Larry is staying with his girlfriend, and they have a pet raccoon. Holy crap, the raccoon is huge! Larry and his girlfriend alternate between sleeping on the bed and getting attacked by the raccoon. Richard and Larry chat about the situation.
Larry’s house is a ranch-style home. The huge backyard is the big selling point. The ceiling needed to be raised. They need to cut out all the rafters. The bathroom needs a lot of renovation, along with cosmetic changes to the kitchen. Ginger wants to put French doors on a room to make it a study. Larry tried to renovate the house, and it looks like he did more damage than anything else.
The workers begin to pull out some dead animals from the chimney. They look like a science experiment. Skeletons.
Meanwhile, Richard tries to give Larry a pep talk and the raccoon climbs on top of him. Funny. Larry rescues him from the raccoon.
Richard then makes an eloquent statement about how getting off of drugs isn’t about will-power. I’m shocked at this. It appears that Richard really understands Larry’s predicament. Good for Richard. Unfortunately, Larry persuades Richard to give him until tomorrow to pack. As he leaves, Richard says that Larry was the one who got him to use the visors.
No matter how this turns out, I am now holding Larry personally responsible for Richard’s visor fetish.
Next day, Richard and Ginger visit the house. Immediately, they run into the skeleton of a squirrel inside the house. Richard throws it into the dumpster, while Ginger screams out, “Gross!” Funny.
Meanwhile, Richard arrives to pick up Larry. We see pictures of Larry and Richard in the 70s. They look like quite the late 70s dudes. Do I see feathered hair in those pics?
To pack, Larry grabs an onion, potato and peanut sack. The raccoon kisses him goodbye. He’s packed enough stuff to make it seem like he’s going away for a very long time. “Its time to kick the stuff that’s been kicking me,” he says. The raccoon looks out the window, watching him leave. Sad.
Richard brings Larry up to the Richard’s uncle’s house. Larry’s dog, Curly, needs training. Richard wants to press the reset button, and remind Larry of when his life was good.
Ginger picks up the appliances while the workers continue on the house. She is serenaded by the salesmen at the appliance store. But the salesman forgets the words to the opera. Funny. I get the feeling she is serenaded quite a bit.
Carlos and the guys paint the exterior of the house. Landscaping begins as well. While working on the exterior fence, a snake appears. One of the gloved workers picks up the snake and holds it to the camera. It’s a garden snake, and it’s very proud of its fangs. They let the snake slither away.
During the commercial: Clint from What Not To Wear has a new show about manners. How odd.
Richard and Ginger walk through the house. The interior is just about completed, but the backyard is still trashed. The dog cage is gone, except for the cement slab. They have to do something about the backyard.
Larry has had a successful stay at the dog farm. Larry’s dog, Curly is now trained. Larry has had time to reflect on things. We see Larry drive away.
Richard brings Larry to a barber. Larry gets his beard shaves, his hair cut and even his nose hair trimmed. He comes away completely clean cut. A very different human being.
A day before the open house. Larry shows up at the house and is very grateful. The old shed still needs to be taken down, but unfortunately, it’s a rats nest. This gives Larry the opportunity to catch a rat with his shovel and chase Ginger around the yard with it. Funny.
Day of the Open House. Richard is concerned about finding Larry. Where is he? They are still working on landscaping the back yard. Richard takes a sledgehammer and takes the shed down. They decide to make a Tiki tent out of the old dog’s cage foundation.
Lori, Dawn, Ginger and Richard admire the finished house. They’ve added flaming torches to the backyard Tiki tent so it doesn’t look as odd. Dawn holds her child while talking price with Lori and Richard. What a cute kid. Seriously. Richard wants to overprice the house, but the other Trademarkers tell him to bring it down. Larry arrives with blue crabs so they could have food for the open house.
Richard tells us that the party was more for Larry than for the house. Ginger says that Larry is a rougher version of Richard. Richard tells Larry that he could be a personal assistant, but he needs a sense of urgency.
The show closes with John, Richard and Larry laughing and talking.
What I learned: If you break budget in the bathroom or kitchen, it will eventually come back to you in terms of worth.
Trademark Talk: “Cooking with gas” which is Richard’s way of saying that things are moving. But can you cook with gas? Can you cook without gas? Is gas really the most cost effective method of cooking?
Ginger’s voiceovers are getting better, not that they were bad before. Not at all. Her voice has a clear quality to it. I do notice the accent a bit more in the VOs. If she gets sick of real estate, maybe she’d like to do voiceover work.
Considerations: I really thought the opening would change slightly. Instead, the whole montage ends with the announcer saying, This is the Real Estate Pros. Sure wish the show had a better name.
Concerns: I sure hope Larry got into a treatment or 12 step program. It wasn’t mentioned, and that may be for a very good reason.
I was surprised that they told us Larry’s last name. Does anyone realize that this is a national show? Sometimes I get the feeling that people don’t realize that.
Can you keep a raccoon as a pet? Really? He seemed cute, but is it a good idea?
Am I the only one who thinks Larry has the soul of a poet? He’s more of a Gary Snyder. The guy should use his talents to help animals.
Why, oh why didn't TLC hold a contest to name the show? It would've generated publicity and Trademark would've gotten a better name for their show.
Final Thoughts: Richard got my respect on this show. I respected him before, but this went beyond the usual stuff. He really understood drug addiction, it seems, and was genuine about helping his friend. I didn’t sense any b.s. about it.
A very good episode, with a lot of heart. With no deadline distracting us, we could concentrate on the people.
For more on The Real Deal - The Real Estate Pros, click here.
I liked that he told his buddy like three time during the show that he was "proud" of him. He even seemed a little awkward when he said it, so it seemed really heartfelt.
Posted by: dg | June 10, 2007 at 03:22 PM
I was concerned about Larry keeping a raccoon as a pet. While the show was on, I checked South Carolina laws. Most of the states in this country have laws regarding the keeping of raccoons as pets. South Carolina is not one of those states. In South Carolina, a resident does not have to have a permit, be a certified wildlife rehabilitator-nothing.
Posted by: mg | June 11, 2007 at 08:11 PM
Wonder why Larry would allow millions of people to see him living in such filth? Maybe somewhat depicted...like most of the shows are?
Posted by: Gary Smith | October 22, 2007 at 01:26 PM