Customer Reviews

Holmes on Homes: Season 5

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am proud to own Mike Holmes season 5, and 4 3 2 1 too. He can give out information as well help the people who needed his help. If you own a home and consider doing some fix-up, watch Holmes on Homes. He can give some pointers for do-it-your self man ( or woman) and you can judge if you will need other help, and what to watch for to hire one. But his show is also very entertaining too. For the people like me who do not own a home, but like to see that kind of show, Holmes on homes is tops.
Highlight episodes.
O-Fence-Ive
instead of inside, he works out helping over 50 homes in a block whos money was taken for a fence, and then he split. Mike and crew took care of it.

For Annie
A home was being built to be usable for a young girl who was disabled.
the girl passed on and they quit building. Mike came and gave what they wanted.

Ceiling the deal
A basement is re-done to have an office space and entertainment center, plus a "secret" room where kids can go with a TV and clackboard.

Out of the Ashes
a home the was partly burned from fire was completely redone. The more he did the more problems he came into. But within a few months time the home we complete.

Showing the cracks
A small kitchen floor needed help. But Mike went beyond the floor and re-did the entire kitchen, He never been kissed so much after the reveal.

and

Wall of Sound.
For those in the kind of homes that share a wall, the people was surprise how easy it was to hear others next door and just talk normal.
Mike re-did the walls ans made where it would be very hard to hear unless loud screaming or pumped up music. Mike was aware how much went into the job, but being a area you can't see, it looked at it end there was nothing done. But they can hear the difference.

Thia was the first season Mike added a female to his staff, and welcomed any others who had to desire to work and learn. The DVD also had complete 5.1 sound and shot in HD.

Well worth it.

As I write this, the first 5 seasons of "Holmes on Homes" are available on DVD, while seasons 6 & 7 are yet to be released. I've watched all 5 seasons available, and it's been great to see the shows grow from the original 30-minute time slots to 60, and the introduction in season 5 of the high-def cameras.

Many familiar faces still make appearances (Frank, the electrician; Dan, the plumber; Craig, the painter), but Mike also hires on "Pinky", a young female apprentice. Throughout the season Mike shares tips and techniques with her and the younger crew members (including his own son) and gives them new challenges (Mike has Daman design a basement). All 14 episodes follow the usual layout of the series, but it's particularly enjoyable to see the passage of knowledge and skill from the "old guard" to the young'uns, who will one day be carrying the torch. There's hope for the future yet!

I find the "behind the scenes" bonus feature to be the highlight of the set. It's a thrill to see how the cameras, mics, and crew try to keep up with Mike and his team. After all, nearly everything you see on this show can only be captured in one take--construction and destruction doesn't lend itself to being repeated so easily--and sometimes the cameras get in too close in their attempt to capture everything and wind up splashed, dusted, or even busted by a flying elbow! Only the voiceovers are something that can really be rehearsed or re-done. We see all the work captured by the camera, but there is a frenzy going on behind it that we don't otherwise get to witness.

Fantastic series - was even better than the fourth season!! Waiting for Seasons 6, 7 and the New Orleans one to come to DVD!!!!

Mike Holmes does it again with in depth stories about not only the work done on the houses, but the people who live in these homes. Season 5 includes two two-hour episodes, a neighborhood fencing project that demonstrates how accurate (and why) Mike Holmes is (O-Fence-Ive) and a wonderful story of Annie, who's parents built a special addition on the house just for her (For Annie), but never lived to see it completed. This group includes different types of construction not done in previous seasons. Well worth your time (and money) to watch the fifth season of "Holmes on Homes".

This was Mike's last really good season before turning the show into some kind of teenage training show. After this season the cast changed overnight from real, experienced contractors to a parade of kids who know less about restoration work than the average Joe on the street. Imagine the confidence that gave the homeowners when the crew showed up with Mike dressed in hip clothes flinging around popular youth lingo. Mike's use of attractive young ladies on this crew leaves you thinking they may have been brought in to perk up the ratings and to provide us with a new kind of wood. (That seems to be the MO for this network; nearly every show has some element of T & A in it, from poorly skilled but good looking hosts of both genders to even having a preference for attractive homeowners) Personally, I enjoyed the colorless earlier crew, who at least knew what they were doing. That let us trust them and focus on their work, not their rear ends or hairdoos. You knew they were skilled tradesmen and didn't need Holmes around. They were not someone named Pink wearing skin tight outfits. If Mike controlled production and did this to us, shame on you. I say that because I really like the show and what Holmes was trying to do with it (by focusing in on what bad contractors do to average homeowners). The earlier shows made complete sense because the crews were real contractors, not young kids learning the trade. We hate to see where one good concept, a solid working model, gets replaced by another to appeal to ratings Gods.

My favorite of this season was 'Out of the Ashes'. Here, Mike rehabs a home that had been hit by just about every kind of bad thing a house can get hit by: shady contractors, old polluted tanks, fire, habitation from all sort of wild funky animals and intense stink. Mike guts the entire house and procedes to rebuild the place to include lifting the floor, putting on a new roof, landscapping the yard, adding new furniture and appliiances and even clearing the basement of asbestos. The owners have had their share of hard times and have been taken advantage of by shady contractors. You really feel for them and are rooting for Holmes to resuce them from this mess. And, he does. Mike makes everything ok, and the rather spaced out mom can't believe her good fortune to have had Mike help her out. Her daughter, a real cute young gal who seems to have a good attitude, really likes what Mike has done for them, to include leaving her some beer in their new fridge. For my money, if I was ever in Canada I'd like to swing by and down a few beers with her. Cute gal. But, the best part is she's not part of the crew, so she's not putting up drywall. The bad part is she's probably be fun to watch putting up drywall. With the old crew, she stands out for being the home owner, and is nice looking (at least in my opinion). But, the new Holmes Crews are hired based on their age and I think looks (and loyality to Holmes-I sure he didn't fire the old crew in order to replace them with the new ones)and compete with the usually plain looking Canuck homeowners.

Seriously, a great show and the best season of the show. Worth the buy, if it ever is put back in production. Better write to the gal in the Out of The Ashes house and see if she has an extra copy. In the meantime, she'll have to be remembered as the, I think, the homeowner for what is probably the best HOH project. I hope her and Mom are enjoying their 'new' house.

This video was great. We love to watch what Holmes comes up with to fix the problem. My husband can't wait for me to buy the other 4 for him.