Don't Change the Channel

5 things to expect from HGTV's new Flip or Flop Fort Worth

Andy and Ashley Williams, Flip or Flop Fort Worth

Andy and Ashley Williams will appear at a watch party in the Fort Worth Stockyards on Thursday, November 2.

Photo courtesy of HGTV

Scoot over, Waco. Fort Worth will step into HGTV's Lone Star State spotlight with the premiere of Flip or Flop Fort Worth on Thursday, November 2, at 8 pm.

A spin-off of the hit Flip or Flop series, the Fort Worth version will star husband-wife team Andy and Ashley Williams — he, a real estate agent and home renovation expert, and she, a designer — as they purchase, renovate, and transform rundown properties into gorgeous family homes throughout the area.

Fans will be tempted to compare Andy and Ashley to Flip or Flop's original hosts, Tarek and Christina El Moussa, and also to the most famous TV fixer upper couple of all time. But the network is promising viewers plenty to love about the new show — including Fort Worth itself.

Here, five things local viewers can expect from Flip or Flop Fort Worth:

1. You'll see neighborhoods you know

TV shows notoriously mix up Fort Worth and Dallas. But from what we know, this show is not going to pass off Highland Park or Frisco as Fort Worth — although it might step slightly beyond the city limits.

Thursday night's episode restores a cottage in Fort Worth's Arlington Heights. Another takes place in the Burton Hill neighborhood; another, in River Oaks. At least one episode, the pilot — which aired in February as Flipping Texas — renovated a home in Hurst.

The hosts and their kids go "driving for dollars” in their car, they say, spotting houses that are 1) ugly, 2) have high grass, and 3) have mail spilling out of mailboxes. So that leaves it open to any Fort Worth-area neighborhood without a strict HOA.

2. You'll hear a lot about military veterans

Andy and Ashley say the show is part of their larger commitment to highlight and help military veterans. They often hire veterans to assist on their projects, including landscape designer Andrew Turner, who helps add curb appeal to several homes during the season.

It's not just a mission they're on; it's who they are. The couple met in Baghdad. She served in the Army, and he was a U.S. Marine who later went back to the Middle East as a civilian contractor. Andy has said in interviews that a near-miss with an explosion prompted him to think about life after the military and turned his focus toward real estate.

His Fort Worth-based real estate agency is even called Recon Realty, and Ashley calls her husband "a true recon Marine."

“My check was not cashed. I get to chase my dreams and build a life here at home,” Andy says on HGTV.com. “So I have a fiduciary duty to every Marine before and after me to make sure that service is not a sacrifice. So I continue to serve.”

3. You'll fall in love with the family

Andy and Ashley have two kids under age 5, Amina and Ashton. They call their family the “A-Team” — and A could stand for adorable. Expect to see the little ones driving around in cars with them, helping to scout flip homes. But don't expect a "Leave it to Beaver" household.

Andy and Ashley describe themselves as strong-minded individuals, and they both can be direct. He admits he takes his frustrations out on highly physical “demo days." She recalls that once, in her transition back to civilian life, a boss criticized her for being too “intense."

Every episode of Flip or Flop requires grace under fire to deal with leaky pipes or botched wiring. We expect them to show it in spades — and then take their kids out for ice cream.

4. Expect to learn about real estate

When it comes to flipping, Andy and Ashley know what they're doing. They were involved in more than 100 real estate deals and flipped more than 50 homes before HGTV came calling. In fact, they weren't looking for TV fame, they say. While on vacation two years ago, they happened to talk to a man about flipping homes, and he happened to be a TV guy who connected them with the network.

Andy's veterans-focused real estate business was the subject of a recent Forbes magazine article titled, "I Want to Show the World that Entrepreneurs Like Me Can Exist." He bought his first real estate investment at age 22 and developed a strategy but didn't make money right away. It took time, flexibility, patience, and business allies to pull it together. His success prompted the magazine to dub him "the self-made real estate mogul for the Post-9/11 generation."

Cameras or no cameras, Andy and Ashley remain focused on turning a profit. “Our flips can get a bit chaotic,” Ashley says in an HGTV release. “But that’s good when flipping a house because it means things are rolling and you’re getting closer to selling the home for top dollar.”

5. Expect to see another season

The first season is just nine episodes, but HGTV is throwing some serious marketing heft behind it, with stories running in national publications and trailers running all over the network's website.

This is not a regional venture, it seems.

We don't yet have news of a second season. But with that other Texas-based HGTV show fixin' to start its last hurrah, Flip or Flop Fort Worth could earn the lone star on the HGTV map.

hgtv tv

Movie Review

Masters of the Universe reboot mistakes nostalgia for good filmmaking

Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Nicholas Galitzine in Masters of the Universe.

Most children who grew up in the '80s were either a fan of or knew about Masters of the Universe. The property, based on a line of toys from Mattel, spawned a popular-if-short-lived animated TV series, comic books, a comic strip, magazines, and a 1987 live action film starring Dolph Lundgren. It is now the latest IP to get a nostalgic reboot in the form of a new blockbuster film.

Nicholas Galitzine stars as Prince Adam of the planet Eternia, who as a child is exiled to Earth to protect the Sword of Power from invaders led by the evil Skeletor (voiced by Jared Leto). Years later, Adam is now working in the human resources department of a generic company, well-versed in corporate speak but disconnected from his heritage other than a never-ending desire to find the sword he lost when he crash-landed on Earth.

Spoiler alert, he recovers the sword and is soon thereafter rescued from Earth by childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes). Adam’s return to Eternia is less-than-stellar, as the citizens have difficulty believing he’s the long-lost prince, especially because he initially can’t harness the power of the sword. Naturally, he figures it out eventually, leading to a number of face-offs between him and Skeletor’s minions.

Directed by Travis Knight (Bumblebee) and written by a four-person writing team, the film is yet another cynical attempt at exploiting a certain group’s nostalgia without putting any effort into actually making a good movie. The very first scene of the film is a CGI-filled battle between characters that have barely been introduced, much less explained to the audience. For longtime fans, this will be no issue. For everyone else, though, it immediately signals that the filmmakers don’t care about making them care about anyone or anything in the story.

Instead, they substitute actual character development with a campy and self-deprecating vibe that’s in line with the original series. That’s all well and good if the intended audience was solely 50-year-olds, but for a movie that presumably wants to bring in younger audiences, it’s a choice that never fully comes through. Some characters try to be funnier than others, and most of the “jokes” land with a thud since the tone hasn’t been properly established.

Worst of all, there are never any meaningful stakes in the film. Adam is impervious to damage, something that would have been truly funny if commented upon, but instead is just treated as fact for no good reason. Skeletor is not intended to be a fearsome villain, as he often bumbles through scenes or line deliveries, but the lack of a truly terrible enemy keeps the story stuck in neutral. Combined with bloodless PG-13 fight scenes with no sense of realness to them, there is rarely anything about which to get excited.

Galitzine has turned heads as both a gay (Red, White & Royal Blue) and straight (The Idea of You) romantic interest, but he can never find his footing as the leading man here. The film never allows him to develop into a true action hero, so instead he comes across as a pretender most of the time. Mendes is okay, but she, too, isn’t given the opportunity to become much more than a sidekick. Idris Elba is entirely wasted as Teela’s father Duncan. Leto lets loose, which works because he’s the only character without a recognizable face.

There may be a world in which rebooting Masters of the Universe makes sense, but it does not exist when the film that is offered doesn’t even try to appeal to anyone who doesn’t have a deeply ingrained knowledge of the decades-old property. By relying on nostalgia instead of good filmmaking, the film may get good box office returns on opening weekend, but it’s difficult to imagine that it will endure.

---

Masters of the Universe opens in theaters on June 5.

movies film