Sometimes I like to indulge in my guilty pleasure of watching several hours of the Bravo channel all at once. I can't say I'm hooked on the network -- it's mostly reality shows -- but sometimes it's fun to just watch something totally mindless. In Bravo's case, I usually end up feeling much better about my own life.

This afternoon, I watched a few episodes of Million Dollar Listing, the show about three real estate agents in Los Angeles. Season three premiered last Monday, and I feel for these guys -- Josh Flagg, Madison Hildebrand and Chad Rogers -- because it can't be easy trying to sell homes in this market. It seems like a tough business to be in anyway, and they have to deal with bleached blonde Hollywood types, many of whom think they have all the answers.

Bravo's resident house flipper, real estate guru and OCD interior designer, Jeff Lewis, is a very complicated guy. When I spoke to him recently, I was actually a little concerned. If you've seen Jeff on Bravo's Flipping Out, you've seen him lose it on occasion. Would he yell at me on the phone if I asked the wrong question?

In fact, Jeff Lewis was extremely friendly and funny. We had a great talk and he couldn't have been nicer. He was also really forthcoming about the past seasons of Flipping Out, including this one that's concluding tonight.

What has it been like to be turned into a reality TV star?
Because of the reaction of the show, some people see me as a villain and that could be the way I do business. I handle my employees in a rather non-traditional way. I was concerned about how people would react in public, but it's actually been pretty positive. Overall, it's been a very positive experience. Many people are very nice and complimentary and supportive.

Last night, everybody's favorite obsessive compulsive decorator and house flipper, Jeff Lewis, was back on Bravo, and the ratings for Flipping Out were through the roof. The Season Three premiere was the highest ever for the reality show, up 53 percent from last season's opener.

More important than the numbers, though, was the show itself. If you want to see how the recession has hit the real estate business, check out this show. Instead of flipping million dollar homes in Southern California, Jeff is now reduced to taking renovation jobs and working for other people. He's not used to having to work for others, but it's great to see it happen.

TLC is adding to their real estate reality slate once again with Hope for Your Home. The show, hosted by Kristen Kemp Becker (Property Ladder) will feature families who are trying unsuccessfully to sell their homes. Each half-hour episode will showcase one family facing tough financial circumstances. Kemp Becker will advise the family as to what improvements they can make, a contractor will help them make said improvements, and a real estate agent will come in after and assess the home's value and how quickly it could sell.

While Hope for Your Home sounds informative (especially for families looking to make cost-efficient changes to their properties), it sounds really boring. I find Extreme Home Makeover annoying but at least we get a bunch of quirky personalities ("quirky" is probably the most generous adjective I could think of) and we get "extreme" changes to the homes. It's interesting to see how the team does a complete overhaul on the house. This show? I'm not so sure. What do you think?

Hope for Your Home premieres on Saturday August 9th, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.

In this struggling real estate market, HGTV has a new series that will focus on the newest trend in selling homes: home staging. Viewers will get a first-hand look at the work of Canada's premier home-staging company Dekora. In each episode, audiences will see innovative ideas and techniques that Deroka uses to prep a home for a quick and profitable sale.

In the first episode, we'll meet a recently-divorced homeowner whose home is terribly dowdy and outdated (think wood paneling ... everywhere). Matthew, one of the show's professional home stagers, transforms the living room into an inviting, modern space.

(S02E01) I watched the first season of Flipping Out on Bravo last summer based on a teaser I saw during Top Chef 3. The show is about a real estate "flipper" who buys properties, fixes them up and then resells them for a profit. You might say, "Yawn, that's just like a bunch of other shows on TLC, Discovery, et al." Well, yes, that's true.

But Flipping Out isn't really about the flipping, it's about the flipper -- Jeff Lewis. This guy Lewis is not normal. I mean it, he's not. He says he's not. He's obsessive compulsive and it comes out in everything he does. It makes him a better flipper, because of his attention to detail, but it also makes him really hard to take if you're his employee, partner or contractor. But, boy, is it fun to watch Jeff Lewis's life! That's what Flipping Out is really all about and it's back.
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