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Dooce Talks HGTV With ParentDish
Filed under: In The News
Dooce is headed to HGTV. Credit: Heather Armstrong
We spoke with Armstrong about the new deal with HGTV. Although she couldn't tell us a lot about what she would be doing for the channel, she was forthcoming about everything else, including how she feels about folks who don't like her, why she's starting to write less about her kids and the fact that her TV work will not resemble that of a certain family of eight.
ParentDish: This must be pretty exciting.
Dooce: Yes. Yes it is. We sort of had to spend some time recovering.
PD: Tell me what you'll be doing on HGTV. How is it different from what's on your site?
Dooce: There's not a lot that I can talk about right now. Mixing online with offline. One of the main reasons that they've brought me on is the mom demographic that comes along with me. There's going to be a bit more of a vlogging component than I ever do on my own Web site.
PD: How did it feel to be named one of the 30 most influential women in media by Forbes?
Dooce: (laughs) Yeah, yeah. It is ridiculous, just because I don't have the credentials of Barbara Walters or Oprah Winfrey. I touch a small segment that they may not. Things are changing. I think I was in the right place at the right time. That combined with working my ass off. I don't know if people understand the work that goes into writing consistently for several years.
PD: Do you feel like you're always working?
Dooce: I am always, always, always working. I don't ever take a break. It's a bit of a marathon. It's a great lifestyle, I don't ever take a vacation. Like we went to Florida a year and a half ago and I published every day of it.
PD: As popular as you are, you also have your detractors.
Dooce: Oh yeah. There exists more than a couple of sites dedicated to calling me the most horrible person that ever lived.
PD: Was that hard to get used to?
Dooce: Yeah, that was ... I'm not Oprah. Why are you paying attention to me that way? I guess I look at it as static and noise going on. I choose to ignore it.
PD: Is it ever hard to ignore?
Dooce: What usually happens is I'll go 2-3 months without hearing anything about it and one of my readers will cut and paste [a negative comment from another site]. It's hard to avoid it because people are looking out for me. At the end of the day, they don't know who I am. I'm happily laughing my way to HGTV.
PD: Are you comfortable with putting everything out there?
Dooce: I come from a family that will tell you everything. It's always been my personality to be really honest and open. You can talk about the hate mail all day but that's nothing compared to the good that has come from doing this. [Some] people say [to me], thank God, you've helped me get through life.
PD: What about the kids? How do you feel about people knowing about their lives?
Dooce: I've started to write a lot less about my oldest daughter. [When she was younger] the story that I was telling about her was kind of a universal story of kids [and] parents. You know how the first 3 1/2 years you don't even remember? As she gets older and more individual, I really [only] write about 5 percent of what goes on their lives.
PD: Are you at all concerned about putting your family on TV, after what happened with Jon and Kate?
Dooce: This is not a Jon and Kate situation, let me say that.
Ms. Armstrong is scheduled to being appearing on HGTV in Spring of 2010. Her book, 'It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita', is available on Amazon.com. Her Web site Dooce.com is updated daily.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 4)
2-23-2010 @ 6:52AM
Annette said...Not for me, esp. not on HGTV, enough stupidity there already! Thank goodness for Sarah & Candice!! They are what HGTV should be about! Show me how to make the best of my house & gardens and leave my body and mind to other stations!!!!
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 9:38AM
Gary said...Candice is hot!!!
2-23-2010 @ 3:41PM
Jim in AR said...I agree. No more "reality tv." Enough is enough. Bring back real TV, real comedy, real drama, real variety, real news, real actors, real writers, real directors. No more of this trash!
2-23-2010 @ 7:16AM
aimee Foster said...who? and shy should we care?
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 9:45AM
glen said...She writes a very funny and open weblog about daily life. She includes the hilarious and the drepressing things that everyone runs into on a daily basis and how her family deals with them,.. or not.
I'm not sure how being a bestselling author will translate into HGTV but I guess we will find out. I just hope it is not like that "trading spaces" reality babble that hung around a couple of years.
If I hear one more gay designer gush about "a color wheel (popping) the (ecletic) outside in a (whimsey)" I am gonna hurl.
Successful interior design is lived in from the inside, not looked at from the outside.
2-23-2010 @ 8:47AM
Tom said...never heard of her.....
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 9:18AM
Donna said...I don't know who she is or what she stands for (if anything)but she sounds controversial and thats what TV is all about these days
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 9:31AM
jackie said...Who? Never heard of her.... It sounds like just another show that will be canceled in a month.
Just don't inturrupt my House Hunters. I love that show.
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 9:34AM
AntiKa said...Never heard of her, either. I will not follow her show, life is too short to waste mine on this sort of tv shows. And I am not interested to read blogs about other people's lives, I have plenty of shite in my own. However, I do have a problem with the title of this article -- sensationalist. I am certain that this lady, Dooce, is not the most horrible human being that has ever lived. It's a quote from her hate mail, but why, oh why, did you, AOL writer, had to put that at the head of this interview? I think it's disrespectful to this woman.
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 9:36AM
Carol said...This articles covers her joining HGTV, etc......but FAILS to
advise those of us who have never heard of her or her "blogging"....
WHAT EXACTLY she "blogs" about.......her kids, husband.....
life changes.....??? WHAT ???
Like Annette......I watch HGTV for "HOME and GARDEN"
knowledge and ideas......"home" being my physical structure.....
NOT psychological advice or some "Jane Doe's" personal
perception of "how" life events should be interpreted.......
They have another show in the works called "Home Rules".......
and the "teaser" for that indicates that they are there to help
"fix your life"...... WON'T be watching THAT one either.......
I used to have a Love/Love relationship with HGTV.......it has grown
to be a Love/Hate relationship as they fail to understand that the
PUBLIC is NOT as "dumb" as they think we are (and at times
actually say)....
I am SOOOO tired of hearing these designers talk about "how
you have to set up a "dining room" AS a dining room or the
buyer won't know what it is for".........OH PLEASE.......... OR....
better put a bed in that 3rd bedroom so they'll know what to
use it for......
And tho it is one of my favorite shows......I DO have a "bone to
pick" with "Designed to Sell"..... ANYBODY can make the
improvements that they make with a $2000 budget .....IF......IF......
they have FREE LABOR....i.e. electrician....carpenter....plumber...
tile setter..... I'd like to see them do what they do ....if
they had to PAY for the LABOR they supply as well as the
materials out of that $2K.....
If this woman's name was ERMA BOMBECK......I would
tune in to see what she had to say........but it's not......so I
WON'T.............
And may ERMA and her pearls of wisdom RIP......
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 12:38PM
Maria said...You said it!
I love curb appeal! Wish I had a curb of my own that needed "appealling"!
2-23-2010 @ 1:44PM
cwkpam said...Oh lord Carol - you're showing your age. I thought I was the only one who remembered Erma.
2-23-2010 @ 1:51PM
newbie said...Holy friggen novel Carol do you ever know when to stfu? Didn't read past line 3 ya sounded like you were shaking ur finger and snapping ur head side to side. This is the internet keep ur comments short ffs.
2-23-2010 @ 10:11AM
Liz said...I research "mom blogs," which is the type of site that she runs and everyone should really stop being so negative before they even see the show. She is an excellent writer and runs her blog to talk about her life, but mainly to help other moms relate to things they all have going on in their lives. I find that pretty respectable.
You should all stop bashing her and give her a chance. She runs one of the most popular mom blogs in the blogging world and if you don't know how significant that is then you should try researching mom blogs for a few days. There are hundreds of thousands and she happens to be the most influential.
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 10:29AM
B said...Don't know anything about her blog (and don't care to) and I won't watch er show.. All I know is she is one butt ugly female and i'll be glad when AOL quits flashing her photo on this non story line
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 10:43AM
NICK said...Most horrible person who ever lived? Not even close! I nominate Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam, Castro, and Bin Laden for starters.
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 2:13PM
gothceltgirl said...Yes, Nick, thank you for putting this into perspective. I never heard of Pol Pot. Hmm.. must.. google...info... And does anyone know why people hate her? She just sounds like a woman with kids who blogs about her life. What's the big deal?
2-23-2010 @ 10:44AM
NICK said...Yes, she really is fugly! She looks like if Ellen DeGeneres were wasting away from AIDS or anorexia.
Reply
2-23-2010 @ 2:54PM
Kevin said...Nick .... Aids is not something to make fun or even joke about. Think about something for a second, you could get aids yourself then how would you feel about being made fun of ??
2-23-2010 @ 10:49AM
Mle1828855 said...This is not at all what HGTV should be airing. All I want to see are shows about how I can improve my home and garden. I don't need to see shows about other people's lifes or blogs. I'm happy just living my life. I don't need to see shows that include fake deadlines wherein designers scramble to finish projects that must be completed at a certain time for no apparent reason. Life is stressful enough without this unnecessary drama. Will they make it on time and, if not, what will happen? Why HGTV has begun to include these kind of programs is as big of a mystery to me as why everyone has to have double sinks in their bathrooms. Am I the only one who doesn't wish to clean two sinks? My husband and I work full time, yet have managed to get ready in one bathroom with one sink for 20 years. I guess we're not into synchronized teeth brushing. Just show me how, on a middle class budget, I can plant a beautiful garden and decorate a guest room that will silence my critical mother-in-law, and you'll have me as a viewer for life. Oh yeah, and enough Holmes on Homes, too. The one hour shows are only making me turn the channel for longer periods of time. Geesh.
Reply