So long, Bob Vila

A fond PopWatch shout-out to Bob Vila, who, it seems, may be riding off into this old house in the sky (or at least into rerun heaven). The 60-year-old home improvement guru’s eponymous CBS show was just canceled due, apparently, to a piddling 0.8 rating, leaving Vila without a broadcast home for the first time in 28 years. Boo!

I mean, what a guy. I remember when we were growing up how my brother was just addicted to Vila’s programs, starting with This Old House, which ran from 1979 to 1988. I swear, bro couldn’t get enough of watching the master work his magic with crown molding and toilets. I guess I never really appreciated Vila until more recently — now that I live on my own and have a power drill, I realize I owe so much of what I know to him. And, of course, he gets credit for popularizing the whole TV fix-it genre which now sports countless shows, including the greatest program in the 500-channel universe, TLC’s Flip That House (which totally rocks A&E’s Flip This House‘s world). Ah, I’ll miss him. You, too, huh?

addCredit(“Bob Vila: Everett Collection”)