Most of the shows that feature an expert going in to help a failing business have themselves failed, or at least gone out of business: Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant Impossible ended, and Travel Channel is currently burning off episodes of Hotel Impossible on Monday mornings.
But one that remains takes the format outside: the Discovery Channel’s Homestead Rescue, on which Marty Raney and his kids, Misty and Matt, help failing homesteads by helping to solve their problems and giving them access to resources that would allow them to live off the grid.
Like people who buy restaurants but have no restaurant experience, it seems that many people think they can live off the grid but don’t have the knowledge, expertise, or resources necessary to do that.
Last year, I interviewed Marty Raney and he told me that “Homestead Rescue is light years more authentic than Ultimate Survival Alaska,” the show he was previously best known for.
Its third season starts tonight (Discovery, Wednesdays at 9) with an episode is about a beekeeper who has managed to attract bears but doesn’t have functioning bathroom facilities.
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