what is happining to the producer of fixer upper

"Wish me luck," says Joanna Gaines. Iii men, outfitted with skeletal Steadicams, flank her as she places a raw craven breast into a cast-iron skillet and … silence. Information technology'southward not hot enough. Without the sizzle, without a spattering of oil, there's no shot.

The director says to take v, and, for a moment, it's like the set of any other cooking show. A nutrient stylist approaches with a photographic camera-ready platter to swap in should the chicken prove temperamental, while the host gets her hair slightly fussed over. In a corner, two assistants look over shot lists under a wall of blacked-out windows — presumably a lighting play tricks for the better of the show. "No," says Matthew, the P.A. "Yesterday, a few women came right up to the glass request if this was Magnolia Table."

While this is indeed the ready of Magnolia Table, the show, the women in question were referring to Gaines and husband Flake's restaurant of the same name, about 25 miles east of this onetime millhouse in rural Texas. Fans of Logroller Upper have an near uncanny knack for sniffing out its stars' aesthetic. And it's become ubiquitous effectually their small-scale city of Waco.

Hither, the Gaineses depict devotees with the 5-acre Magnolia Market shopping complex, the Magnolia Printing coffee shop, the Silos Baking Co. bakery and, yes, Magnolia Table, all under the Magnolia umbrella. Thanks to the married home-renovation squad who catapulted to fame in 2013, Waco at present rivals The Alamo as the state's top tourist destination. Nigh 2 million almanac pre-COVID visitors are expected to render at present that the pandemic is in retreat. The pair also accept a mag (Magnolia Journal) and all-time-selling lifestyle books likewise every bit dress, furniture and pattern lines. Simply for the amend part of the by three years, save reruns, they've largely been absent from Goggle box. Their decision to terminate Fixer Upper in 2017, at the meridian of its popularity — information technology pulled in an average of 16.vi 1000000 weekly viewers to HGTV — made them gratuitous agents and inspired a parade of deep-pocketed suitors. They went with Discovery Inc. CEO David Zaslav the following year — the simply one to offer not just a show or a slate but an entire network that they're also edifice from scratch in Fundamental Texas.

"TV shows impact the culture, only Chip and Jo impact people'south lives," says Zaslav, who has given the couple free rein to curate a platform starring fellow entrepreneurs from the worlds of design, food, home and garden. "They provide something very rare in America today: a sunshiny hopefulness that you can make things with your own 2 hands and your life will be amend for it."

Flake and Joanna Gaines were photographed June 16 in Waco, Texas. Photographed by Harper Smith

Magnolia Network bows July xv on Discovery+ earlier taking over the cable aqueduct currently occupied by DIY in Jan. The digital-first strategy speaks volumes to the entertainment industry's priorities of the day, but Chip, 46, and Joanna, 43, don't seem concerned with the society of things. What has them a little anxious when I visit them the following afternoon is a harsh inevitability of existence TV executives: They'll take to abolish shows. "Post-success, post-fame, still you want to articulate it, nosotros haven't experienced much failure," says Scrap. "So to hear David say, 'Yous're going to fail 70 pct of the fourth dimension,' that'southward hard. If I only got three out of ten houses correct, I wouldn't be in business."

With the charged rapport of Lucy and Ricky and the wholesomeness of a Norman Rockwell painting, the Gaineses built their shared career on the impression that they are, well, really nice. Firing one of the artisans they've coaxed into populating their family-friendly lifestyles network is not on brand. Says Joanna: "They're stories we're passionate near telling. If some only hit a smaller demographic, I don't care. We're going to exercise a season two."

Scrapping serial is amidst several uncomfortable scenarios the couple may face in their transition to TV executives. They've cultivated a broad audition with a nonpartisan mystique of which there are few other examples right now. As one private in their orbit puts it, "At that place'southward this odd miracle where everyone thinks they're theirs."

More than boho rugs, biscuits, birch-scented candles or TV shows, that's what Chip and Joanna trade in — their own bucolic reboot of the American dream, which can look anachronistic to both the divisive times and an industry rife with cynics.

"We understand people's doubts," says Fleck. "It takes time to evidence you're trustworthy, but that feels like a challenge to me. I can't wait to be lxxx years one-time and for people to say, 'Gosh, we really pegged you as phony.' "

***

"Nosotros couldn't have chosen a worse time to have done this," Chip acknowledges, about amused, comparison their decision to launch a cable network in 2021 with a housing development that most bankrupted them when the bubble outburst more than a decade agone. The percentage of Americans who spotter cablevision or satellite Goggle box, according to a Pew Research Eye survey, sunk from 76 percent in 2015 to 56 percentage in 2021. Dissimilar the housing market place, it is non expected to rebound. Streaming is the priority. And while Discovery+ has gained 15 million global subscribers since its January launch, the visitor needs Magnolia to bulldoze signups and deliver buzz that it has withal to capture.

When it launched in 2013, Fixer Upper appeared to exist just some other abode-makeover testify. During each episode — the Gaineses made 79 in all — buyers contend over a few shabby houses before selecting ane for the stars to make the envy of its block. But the irrepressible chemistry of the couple — Joanna, a designer with model looks who sparked a nationwide obsession with farmhouse chic, and Chip, the lowest contractor who liked to barrel through drywall on "demo day" — was the real claw. The photogenic parents of four (now five) were determined well-nigh not taking on homes outside the greater Waco expanse, so Logroller Upper evolved into a reality show almost the well-meaning family's quest to beautify their hometown.

Each season, however, demanded as many as 17 homes for the Gaineses to remodel. By season 5, that was more than they cared to handle. And the Magnolia make, by so a retail hydra galvanized past Logroller Upper'south success, had supplanted the testify every bit the keystone of their operation. "We realized we didn't necessarily love that side of the camera, and that function became a full-time task," says Joanna. "Nosotros've got a big family. We've got a business. The show ended upward where nosotros had to constantly be feeding it."

"How it's all landed, I feel like is the best style to exercise this," Joanna says of the network's pandemic-delayed launch and streaming-first pin. "July 15th is going to exist exciting, but in my mind, that's when the existent work starts." Photographed past Harper Smith

When I first came to Waco to see Bit and Joanna in 2016, their fatigue with Fixer Upper was starting to bear witness. Having merely signed what would be their last deal at HGTV, they were producing roughly i-third of the 50 episodes the network had requested. The influx of Waco tourism, a byproduct of their own success, rendered daily life in their hometown uncomfortable.

In the years since, they've absconded from their office atop Magnolia Marketplace for a more discreet business concern park on the edge of town. The nondescript exterior conceals both its celebrity tenants and a maze of well-attired rooms that resemble a bazaar hotel. The Gaineses seem different, as well. Joanna, often quiet by her ain admission, appears more confident and forthcoming. Chip tries to self-censor his proclivity for dad jokes and approaches questions with measured responses. But they alive in the same farmhouse they bought in 2012, and Joanna withal runs errands with her kids at Target. Only now, similar all of the big box chain's American locations, Waco's Target has a double-wide aisle devoted to products licensed with her name. "I always walk by to just see," she says. "Is it make clean? Take they displayed it well?"

The September 2017 news that Fixer Upper would end was greeted with confusion from fans and horror at the network. And Zaslav was but as freaked out. Hollywood'southward power banker of the moment, who recently orchestrated Discovery's impending merger with WarnerMedia, thought the evidence would be his. Three months before, he'd announced the planned $xiv.6 billion acquisition of HGTV parent Scripps Networks Interactive, as well home to Food Network. While waiting for the Department of Justice to approve his purchase, he'd lost Scripps' highest-rated prove on its highest-rated network without so much as a chat. "It wasn't a question of how to agree on to them," says so-HGTV president Allison Page. "They were just gone."

That's less surprising if you expect at their small-screen distinction as they do — more an accident than a goal. "Jo and I weren't looking to be on Tv," Bit says. "Idiot box found us."

Joanna, the center of three daughters born to an American father and a Korean female parent, grew up in Kansas and arrived in Waco during loftier schoolhouse. Briefly courting a career in broadcast journalism, interning at CBS News during higher, her attention after shifted to blueprint. Bit, a native of New Mexico, stuck effectually Waco after attending Baylor University, doing construction piece of work. A encounter-cute at Joanna's father's Firestone tire shop in 2001 was followed past what they both depict as a mediocre outset date. All the same, they were married and business organisation partners inside ii years. Iv children — Drake, Ella, Duke and Emmie — followed in quick succession. (No. 5, Crew, arrived roughly 9 months after they quit Fixer Upper.) It was more than than a decade into their growing business partnership, past that point focused on house-flipping, when a producer from Loftier Apex Entertainment saw one of their homes on a blog. After a cold call and some disarming, a clunky sizzle reel turned into a pilot and a pilot turned into a series.

When Fixer Upper wrapped, Bit and Joanna largely ignored Hollywood'southward calls as they took a year off to grow their family and the Magnolia brand. They began serious discussions in summer 2018. Emissaries from both coasts flew to Waco's small airport and pled their case. The Gaineses won't name names, but Apple TV+, A+East Networks and High Noon parent company ITV America all made serious overtures, co-ordinate to multiple sources, with the ultimate decision coming down to a pick between Netflix and Discovery. A sticking point with Netflix was that Chip and Joanna weren't ready to be back on camera.

"The other suitors would call back — like it was a negotiation tactic," says Fleck. "They were like, 'Oh, it has to exist more money.' David pivoted."

Chip and Joanna Gaines were photographed June 16 in Waco, Texas. Photographed by Harper Smith

Zaslav, his Scripps deal not fifty-fifty done, had boarded a iii:30 a.yard. private flying to Waco a few days afterward the Gaineses finally agreed to meet him that January. He ultimately appealed to their dear of renovation, only this time of a tired TV network. With 17 channels at his disposal, he offered one for them to reimagine in their image — and, per industry sources, a xxx per centum to 40 percent ownership pale. Zaslav's portfolio is known for stingy programming budgets, just he ponies up for talent — and then the Gaineses besides secured a proviso that they not be required to forepart some other series. "There was a lot of caput-scratching, considering they were not going to commit to being on camera," says Page, a longtime confidant of the couple who since has left her post overseeing HGTV and Food to run Magnolia'south Television set outfit. "Autonomy is important to them, and David gets that."

Autonomy also means staying in Waco. With smaller satellites in Knoxville, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle, their chosen hometown is where most all Magnolia Network's piece of work is done. In Apr, the Gaineses formalized plans for a $13.half dozen meg overhaul of a building in the center of downtown Waco as their company's new base of operations. And while there have been complaints of gentrification that tin accompany development, their efforts to cultivate the local economy has bestowed upon them icon status in Texas. Over email, Oscar-winning Fixer Upper fan Matthew McConaughey waxes poetic most their work. "What I admire about Chip and Joanna is their commitment to their family and community," writes the resident of neighboring Austin, who'due south said he's mulling a gubernatorial bid in the state. "As wide as the roots of their make take expanded, those same roots accept humbly grown deeper at the same time."

Unsurprisingly, the Gaineses will be heavily featured on their network. They've already banked three seasons of Magnolia Table (it shares a name with their 3-year-old Waco eatery and Joanna'southward first cookbook, which trailed but former starting time lady Michelle Obama'south Condign on the 2018 volume charts), a documentary nigh Fleck training to run a marathon and a nine-episode reboot of Fixer Upper, which they now produce, titled Welcome Home.

"People tell me, 'You don't accept The Mandalorian or The Morn Show,' " Zaslav says, alluding to his almost exclusively unscripted portfolio. "Merely The Morning Show hasn't been on the cover of People twenty times in the last four years. The Morn Evidence doesn't sell a million cookbooks. There's a large underestimation of this kind of connection to the audience."

The Gaineses revealed their plans for a network on a 2019 episode of 'The This night Show.' Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Depository financial institution via Getty Images

***

There is something to the Gaineses that seems to entreatment to more Americans than it offends. Southern, Christian and almost stubbornly un-Hollywood, there should be a natural limit to their base. But scrolling through the topline of Joanna's 13.2 million Instagram followers, I recognize a Muslim congresswoman, a friend'south Republican parents, Black Lives Matter activists and several gay socialists.

"They entreatment to America because they're virtually like a piece of Americana," says Jenna Bush Hager. The Today host, Texan and former beginning daughter initially became enlightened of Fixer Upper when her mother, Laura Bush, insisted she practice a story on Joanna. She's since interviewed the couple multiple times and hosted several book events at Magnolia Market. "I can walk around the market with Reese Witherspoon and nobody pays attention. Simply you lot become with Joanna Gaines, information technology's as if you are in Graceland with Elvis."

Chip and Joanna have helped maintain that broad appeal — skeptics might say strategically — by staying removed from the friction during a tumultuous run in American history. Still, their ascent has not been without controversy. Same-sex couples never being featured on the original Fixer Upper came into sharper focus in 2016 when the Gaineses filmed a conversation with a local pastor who has openly denounced LGBTQ rights. In May, The Dallas Morning News drew attention to Chip's sister, whose campaign for the school board in suburban Fort Worth received a $1,000 donation from the couple months before she came out confronting teaching critical race theory, a lighting rod issue in the state. The Gaineses didn't comment on either matter.

"Sometimes I'm like, 'Tin I just make a statement?' " Joanna says, trigger-happy upward a little. "The accusations that get thrown at y'all, like you're a racist or you don't similar people in the LGBTQ customs, that'southward the stuff that really eats my lunch — because it's so far from who we really are. That's the stuff that keeps me up."

Both stress that they'd rather be judged by their actions, past the choices they're now making on their network. Its core audience, like HGTV's, is almost certain to exist predominantly female and white. That will be reflected on Magnolia's talent roster. Merely many series star people of colour and, on launch day, in that location'll be at least ane bear witness with openly queer talent at its heart. "As an American white male, it'south hard to exist perfectly diverse," says Scrap. "In our ain company, we've got nearly 700 employees, and ane of our biggest passions is making this group represent all people."

Oft lost in conversations about the Gaines is the fact that they're a mixed-race family. After a twelvemonth of forced introspection for many, it's a part of their identity they now give more than attention. In June 2020, with the country still on edge from the constabulary killing of George Floyd, Chip sought out an appearance on activist and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho's digital series Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man. Joined by Joanna and their children, they discussed the disadvantages to raising their family to be color-blind in a society notwithstanding dogged by racism.

Joanna Gaines (correct) with mom, Nan Stevens, photographed for the Magnolia Table cookbook Courtesy of Magnolia Network

More recently, Joanna has been song well-nigh her own lineage every bit violence against Asian Americans lingers in the news cycle but admits she's almost never asked about it. Her female parent, Nan, emigrated from Seoul, Due south Korea, in 1972. Growing upward in Kansas and Texas, Joanna recalls the harassment they endured.

"My mom is and then tough, but with one look or comment, I would just see her close downwardly," she says. "That's why she didn't know how to assistance me when I would come domicile and say, 'So-and-so called me this.' It was also happening to her. Growing upwards as half-Asian, half-Caucasian, I get what that feels like to non be accepted and to not exist loved. That's the last thing I desire anyone to ever feel."

Outside of regular appearances on Today, they are press-shy. Even their own platforms give them pause as the most banal social media post from Joanna is reason for clickbait at multiple outlets. (A seven-second Instagram of son Crew moving a small crate on the Magnolia Table set up in June prompted a full Access Hollywood story.) She talks about pulling dorsum on social media, though she's acutely aware of how much of their business concern it drives: "It's like you're always going to make a lot of people mad, and you lot're always going to brand a lot of people happy. I don't think equally humans we're meant to carry that kind of weight."

For Magnolia Network, the pressure isn't equally loftier as it would take been 10 or fifty-fifty v years agone. The digital-first launch gives the Gaineses a six-month learning bend to see what registers and what doesn't — mayhap even quietly cancel a few shows — earlier the more than hands measured expectations of cable.

"Nosotros tin can't stop cablevision from dying, that's not our mission," says Joanna. "But while it's still available, we promise you spend an hr or five with us and exit feeling similar it was fourth dimension well spent."

Courtesy of Lede Visitor

Photographed by Harper Smith

This story first appeared in the June 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter mag. Click here to subscribe.

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Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/chip-joanna-gaines-fixer-upper-magnolia-network-1234975027/

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