Possible Trump Bump for HGTV by Susan Harris

A Twitter-following friend alerted me to the hashtag “WatchHGTVinstead” started by a David Hoffman. The purpose is to deny Trump high ratings for his State of the Union performance in the most effective way possible – by tuning in to another channel, especially one in particular. As Hoffman writes:

On January 30, we want trump to KNOW we are boycotting the State of the Union speech. It’ll be more effective if all boycotters choose the same program. I’m suggesting everyone turn on HGTV during the speech. Can we get this trending? #BoycottStateOfTheUnion #WatchHGTVinstead

The Twitterverse has responded with some misunderstanding about how ratings work, easily corrected by Hoffman, but I’m more interested in how people like his choice of channels. Turns out, HGTV has more fans than I realize – house hunters, rehabbers, and shoppers and not a single gardener that I know of since gardening has been virtually abandoned by the channel.

These responders seem to happy to go along:

• Great! I had designated it “clean the bathroom” time but will gladly watch HGTV instead! #BoycottStateOfTheUnion
• My wife will love that!!! #WatchHGTVinstead
• I believe at 9 o’clock on January 30 will be a new episode of fixer-upper. Probably the best show on HGTV. So let’s all tune in and watch Chip and Joanna instead of Frick and Frack.

But not everyone:

• Okay but I’d rather watch The Food Channel.
• I understand but Tuesday night is either the property bros or fixer upper and I refuse to watch either.hannel then. Or, to help ratings, turn it on, turn it down, and read a book.
• Dude pick something else. Why should we suffer through ppl fixing lawns while dipfuck talks. At least let’s do a lifetime movie, or something on TLC. Shit, I’d even watch Say Yes to the Dress.
• When is it. Jan 30th? Damn. that’s the day I have set aside to rearrange my sock drawer.
• I will take up knitting that evening
• hgtv… ok, but muted
• Please, anything but HGTV

One tweeter thinks the channel has actual gardening content:

• Ok but watching how flowers grow I might need a lot of wine. (followed by “I did a dry run tonight. It worked well. I’m ready.” (with photo of full wine glass)

But this one knows better:

• Ok, I’ll try to watch HGTV. I used to love that channel before, but it’s just not the same anymore.

Hoffman’s response to the complainers? “And if you don’t like hgtv, take one for the team!”

The latest from Hoffman is that “Thousands on Twitter have now committed to boycotting the State of the Union address. Instead we are tuning in to HGTV to show our numbers. Several Nielson families have committed to participate so far. I’ll be retweeting until the STOU.”

I just wish he’d picked Comedy Central instead.

Possible Trump Bump for HGTV originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 19, 2018.

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