Home sick: the addictive allure of Home and Garden Television.

• Author: Green, Joshua

OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS, AS THE rest of the economy has gradually tanked, one sector has stubbornly resisted: the housing market. Despite layoffs, the weak dollar, the moribund stock market, and all other manner of economic calamity, house prices are climbing faster than George W. Bush's negative rating in Iraq. In fact, economists credit the housing market's continuing strength with keeping the country out of recession. Much like the "wealth effect" created by the late '90s stock boom, rising real-estate prices have made Americans feel rich enough to keep on spending amply, regardless of the overall economic climate. So the booming housing market is surely welcome news to most Americans--except those, like me, who would like to actually buy a house and are extraordinarily piqued about this. If there were a Murphy's Law of Economic Collapse, it would hold that as jobs disappear and wages plummet, the price of your dream house will skyrocket.

Most economists attribute this phenomenon to historically low interest rates, which translate into extremely affordable mortgages. I have a different theory. I blame HGTV--the Home and Garden Television channel--one of the fastest-growing stations on cable and a certifiable cult phenomenon among many of my peers.

For the uninitiated, HGTV is one of those niche cable stations we all heard so much about back in the early '90s that sounded preposterous at the time--who'd watch round-the-clock gardening, remodeling, and house-hunting tips?--but seems perfectly reasonable today alongside the dozens of specialty channels devoted to cooking, pets, sci-fi, soaps, books, and--on my cable system--one click below the NASA channel, which on weekends broadcasts continuous footage of the earth rotating. (Really.) Since its 1994 launch, HGTV has grown from a tiny startup to a cable colossus that reaches nearly 80 million households in the United States alone, broadcasts its programs to viewers as far away as Latvia and Brunei, and is even available to U.S. service personnel in 175 countries and on board Navy ships. The idea of rugged naval aviators, fresh from sorties over Iraq or Afghanistan, choosing to unwind before Home and Garden Television's design and decorating tips is testament to the strange power this channel holds over its viewers.

The Home-Shopping Network

At first blush, HGTV is a benign--even an edifying--form of entertainment that's centered on a can-do ethos for the current or expectant homeowner. Instead of patrician decorating tips, HGTV shows like "Weekend Warriors" champion a Calvinist work ethic in which determined homeowners charge headlong into...