about Gut It! ’s success except her role in it.
Claire was strident. “Roy does not make the decisions here. He may know about marketing for your family business, but television is not his world. No, Roy didn’t initiate this, but he’s been on board from the start.”
From the start? Like months and months? And Jamie knowing, too? That thought had her reeling.
“Jamie is good, Caroline. She won’t let you down.”
“Her ability isn’t the issue.”
“It was Jamie’s idea to make a contest out of choosing the fall house.”
“She’s definitely savvy about marketing gimmicks, but how does that correlate to hosting Gut It! ?”
“She’s of the generation we want. It was her idea to bring Taylor Huff on as interior designer this spring. Taylor is thirty. Focus groups liked her, too.”
“Who all were in these focus groups?” Caroline cried. “ College kids?”
“Accept it, Caroline. It’s a fact of life, and it isn’t just television. Every entertainment platform puts a premium on youth.”
“What about Oprah? She’s not thirty. Neither is Katie Couric or Cokie Roberts or … or Diane Sawyer.”
“You’re no Diane Sawyer.”
“And Gut It! is no This Old House, ” Caroline shot back, because one put-down deserved another. But there was little satisfaction in it. Something inside her was withering. “I’m just gone from the show, then?”
“Oh no,” Claire said quickly. “ Lord no. We want you to stay on as master carpenter. You’ll still anchor certain segments, especially if the wedding takes place during the taping, and Jamie and Brad are in Paris.”
“Paris.”
“Am I speaking out of turn? I thought they were honeymooning there.”
The woman certainly knew how to stab and twist. Caroline felt the pain but refused to show it. “They haven’t decided,” she replied, though suddenly wasn’t certain.
“Well, whatever. When it comes to Gut It! we want you to do everything that you’ve been doing.”
“Like smoothing things over when you offend people on set?”
Claire stared. “Do you have a point with that?”
“Absolutely,” Caroline said, perhaps brashly, but what did she have to lose? “I do a lot more on set than hosting, and it’s because I am who I am at the age I am that I’m able to do it.”
“And we appreciate your efforts. But the person facing the camera is going to be Jamie.”
With that bluntness, Caroline was blindsided all over again. How to process this, when it didn’t make sense? She and Jamie shared everything. Besides, hadn’t Jamie just said she didn’t have time to plan a wedding? Add hosting responsibilities to that—unless she was already factoring in hosting responsibilities?
“There’ll be a learning curve,” Claire went on. “She understands that. But you have to agree that this will lead to big things for her career. Her name will be front and center. She’ll be a celebrity in architectural circles.”
“I’m not arguing with any of that. But why now ?” Jamie was twenty-nine. Caroline had been midforties when she took the helm.
“Because our new sponsor feels strongly about it. Jamie was instrumental in securing this sponsor, by the way. She was in on all the meetings last winter. It’s about demographics. We want to aim for the twenty-five- to forty-year-olds.”
“Well, that’s very PC,” Caroline said in a burst of pique, “but they’re not the ones spending the money.”
“Increasingly, they are. Advertisers know this.”
“They should tell that to those twenty-five- to forty-year-olds, who either have low-paying jobs or—if they were lucky enough to go to college—huge debt to repay. In the ten years our show’s been running, what was the youngest age of a homeowner?” In response to silence, she said, “Correct. Forty. Which is at the very top of that demographic. The average age of homeowners has been fifty. Our fall homeowners are nearing sixty . Do advertisers want that to change, too?
Claire was strident. “Roy does not make the decisions here. He may know about marketing for your family business, but television is not his world. No, Roy didn’t initiate this, but he’s been on board from the start.”
From the start? Like months and months? And Jamie knowing, too? That thought had her reeling.
“Jamie is good, Caroline. She won’t let you down.”
“Her ability isn’t the issue.”
“It was Jamie’s idea to make a contest out of choosing the fall house.”
“She’s definitely savvy about marketing gimmicks, but how does that correlate to hosting Gut It! ?”
“She’s of the generation we want. It was her idea to bring Taylor Huff on as interior designer this spring. Taylor is thirty. Focus groups liked her, too.”
“Who all were in these focus groups?” Caroline cried. “ College kids?”
“Accept it, Caroline. It’s a fact of life, and it isn’t just television. Every entertainment platform puts a premium on youth.”
“What about Oprah? She’s not thirty. Neither is Katie Couric or Cokie Roberts or … or Diane Sawyer.”
“You’re no Diane Sawyer.”
“And Gut It! is no This Old House, ” Caroline shot back, because one put-down deserved another. But there was little satisfaction in it. Something inside her was withering. “I’m just gone from the show, then?”
“Oh no,” Claire said quickly. “ Lord no. We want you to stay on as master carpenter. You’ll still anchor certain segments, especially if the wedding takes place during the taping, and Jamie and Brad are in Paris.”
“Paris.”
“Am I speaking out of turn? I thought they were honeymooning there.”
The woman certainly knew how to stab and twist. Caroline felt the pain but refused to show it. “They haven’t decided,” she replied, though suddenly wasn’t certain.
“Well, whatever. When it comes to Gut It! we want you to do everything that you’ve been doing.”
“Like smoothing things over when you offend people on set?”
Claire stared. “Do you have a point with that?”
“Absolutely,” Caroline said, perhaps brashly, but what did she have to lose? “I do a lot more on set than hosting, and it’s because I am who I am at the age I am that I’m able to do it.”
“And we appreciate your efforts. But the person facing the camera is going to be Jamie.”
With that bluntness, Caroline was blindsided all over again. How to process this, when it didn’t make sense? She and Jamie shared everything. Besides, hadn’t Jamie just said she didn’t have time to plan a wedding? Add hosting responsibilities to that—unless she was already factoring in hosting responsibilities?
“There’ll be a learning curve,” Claire went on. “She understands that. But you have to agree that this will lead to big things for her career. Her name will be front and center. She’ll be a celebrity in architectural circles.”
“I’m not arguing with any of that. But why now ?” Jamie was twenty-nine. Caroline had been midforties when she took the helm.
“Because our new sponsor feels strongly about it. Jamie was instrumental in securing this sponsor, by the way. She was in on all the meetings last winter. It’s about demographics. We want to aim for the twenty-five- to forty-year-olds.”
“Well, that’s very PC,” Caroline said in a burst of pique, “but they’re not the ones spending the money.”
“Increasingly, they are. Advertisers know this.”
“They should tell that to those twenty-five- to forty-year-olds, who either have low-paying jobs or—if they were lucky enough to go to college—huge debt to repay. In the ten years our show’s been running, what was the youngest age of a homeowner?” In response to silence, she said, “Correct. Forty. Which is at the very top of that demographic. The average age of homeowners has been fifty. Our fall homeowners are nearing sixty . Do advertisers want that to change, too?
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