Flipping Off! – Take 7

Flipping Out started life as a design show about a house flipper with a kooky personality. Like most Bravo shows it has slowly morphed over the years into a show about a crazy kook acting badly, only this one just so happens to do a little design work on the side.

I feel like Bravo should market a new tag line “We exploit mental illness for your entertainment!” next season. It would be honest if nothing else.

Again, not much design happened on this episode of the design show: Casa Vega, Jeff’s biggest job to date, was basically ignored. I assume this supports a future storyline of Jeff not giving it enough attention. Again.

The lesbian’s remodeling gave us the crucial information that Jeff, like most designers, has trouble getting out of his comfort zone. He uses basically the same colors over and over again, a safe pallette typical of the “Greige Nation” that is sweeping the country, and then tries to justify his safeness with “The clients really respond to it!” Real designers lead, Jeff. Perhaps when this economic crisis is over, we’ll be treated to some real colors.

On to Cole, the salon renovation with the sentimental murals the client is so eager to save and Jeff is so eager to demolish. Jeff has basically ~~bullied~~ negotiated the client down to just keeping one, and then the HVAC installer graffitis it with a black x. LOL

I actually feel for Jeff on this one. It’s rough when a client clings to past looks even if they are dated, no longer fit, etc… I get it, because we all have that one piece of clothing in out closet that we’ll never wear again (or even can wear again), but we refuse to part with it because of all the emotions associated with it.

The frame idea was a compromise, and that’s exactly how it will look. I wonder if the client knows deep down that he’s wrong, just like I do with that D&G raincoat I have no business keeping.

Beyond being crazy, Jeff is actually often very unprofessional. Nowhere is this more evident that in his wildly inappropriate behavior with the painter regarding his female employees. Sorry Jeff, TV cameras or not, pretend whoring out your staff is not funny, like at all.

Another issue that makes me squirm in my seat, is actually a big part of this season’s plot. Jeff keeps stressing to his employees that they have to give 110% to keep their jobs. *sigh* In this economy with all of our jobs on the line, I look to TV to escape, not to have to watch other people squirm uncomfortably in their chairs as their boss dangles their future in front of them. The “You’re not making me money” talk with the father of a small child put a pit in my stomach. Like most still employed people, Jeff’s staff gets to work more for the same pay, and the honor of keeping their job. Thanks for taking me away from my problems for an hour Bravo – Not!

This episode focused a lot on Zoila. Again. Yes, this has nothing to do with design, but seems to be a huge part of the design show anyway.

Jeff announces that Zoila has to take on more work. Once she does, he’s concerned with how tired she looks and how things aren’t all getting done. Duh. Instead of letting her decide how to fix things, or even asking her input, he just dictates that she will no longer be working for his Grandmother on alternating Sundays. He then gives her a brand new car to shut her up.

To me, this is like the “free” limo rides they give Wall Street workers when they work late into the night. Sorry, keep your poxy limo ride, let me go at 5:00 and I’ll find my own damn way home. She may be the maid, but Zoila is wearing “golden handcuffs” in the form of a Mini Cooper for sure. So, on to the crazy:

Jeff suddenly got nicer toward the end of the episode, saying that he was on new meds. Please Jeff, keep on these new meds. Pretty please with sugar on it.

Jeff’s “Norman Bates” relationship with his maid is just bizarre. I hope she nicknames the Mini “the root cellar” because it’s just as much a trap.

I’m shocked that a gay man would be so insensitive, sexist and backwards when it comes to women being sexually harassed in the workplace. But perhaps I’m the one being gay, because I clearly have a stick up my butt about this issue. It’s not funny. End of.

Sorry, but neat freaks need their own “intervention” type show. They’re just as “crazy” as hoarders IMHO. Any grown man who has time to take out of a busy day to crawl under the stairs and look for dust is either: A. Not really busy, or B. So crazy he can’t prioritize.

Now, if anyone was offended, insulted or felt threatened by this blog, here’s a brand new car for you.