Kickback on HGTV how to show...

[Joe Shinall]

How many times have you heard this:

A: I dunno. Do you think it's safe to do it like that?
B: Oh, come on. Do you know how many people use these things?? Do you think they'd let them sell it if they were dangerous?

Or this one:

A: Is that gonna work?
B: We're about to find out!

[Curt Harms]

I imagine if she got hurt, the right lawyer could get her some free money. Filming amateurs in dangerous situations is not my idea of a good premise for a show. How about I grab a guy off the street who doesn't ride a motorcycle, put him on a rice-rocket and film how well he does in heavy traffic. ;-) Glad she was OK.

Sounds like a pilot for a top rated show. Make sure the "stars" are attractive and scantily clad females. You'll be the next Aaron Spelling .

[Ben Franz]

Much of the discussion above focuses on inexperienced amateurs and the unsafe ways they use tools. The "pros" are just as bad sometimes. In 20+ years as a contractor and foreman, I've seen tradespeople do some pretty stupid things. I had one carpenter that either removed or pinned back the guards on all his saws, including hand held Skilsaws, etc. I banned the tools from my site and told him the next time I saw anything like that, he was done. A few days later he clipped a finger using a miter saw (with the guard taped up!) and my last sight of him was after I took him to a clinic for treatment. Luckily, he worked for a labor service that was responsible for his Worker's Comp claim. My first mentor taught me that if you can't make the cut with the guard in place, you need to secure the workpiece better - this advise has never failed me. I won't even start to talk about the stuff I've seen wood floor installers try with their tablesaws.

[Joe Chritz]

Or this one:

A: Is that gonna work?
B: We're about to find out!

C: Hold my beer and watch this!

I have helped on building sites a few times and without fail see something stupid every time. My favorite is still cutting 2x material braced on your leg free hand.

Joe

[Greg Portland]

I don't mean to sound sexist (and I'm not) but the ones with just women working on projects are always entertaining. I'm sure when looking for show subjects they filter out experienced people and just look for the most clueless people when it comes to tools to make things more entertaining. One show there were two teachers (both ladies) renovating their kitchen and I swear one of them spend a good 2 hours trying to cut one 45 on a piece of trim. They, like the guy you mentioned, had an issue with a gas line as well.

In fairness, the ladies at least know when to call in help. The gas powered concrete saw + pulley is my favorite too (they actually got it to work for awhile).

[Brian Peters]

This isn't the first time I've seen these inexperienced people on these DIY tv shows do exactly what she did. I always get a kick out of the "carpenters" that are on these shows that look like they haven't gotten dirty a day in their lives. Their techniques all around are a huge joke. I think one show in particular is Hammer Heads? I think I saw a clip from design star that someone posted awhile back where the man/woman was doing the same thing she did in this video cross cutting a piece of MDF and she held onto the cut off piece and watched the other piece between the fence and blade bind up and rocket back.

There should be at least a basic prerequisite to buying tools.

[Brian Peters]

And good point from above. If she had done that on a 3-5hp cabinet saw and not a cheap ryobi contractor saw the results would have been drastically different. (she's lucky)