History Channel premiered its creative competition show Assembly Required, starring Tim Allen and Richard Karn. At first glance, it has a similar concept to NBC’s competition show Making It, which premiered in 2018. Both shows represent the maker movement and celebrate the talents of people who design and build things for themselves. However, the two shows vary enough in terms of focus and feel that they may not attract the same audience.
On Making It, Amy Poehler is joined by her former Parks and Recreation co-star Nick Offerman. Poehler's had her hand in many projects since Parks and Rec ended in 2015, but Making It is clearly her passion project. The show was Poehler’s idea and both she and Offerman are executive producers. In contrast to other reality competition shows, Poehler didn't want the show to be about judging and drama, as she wanted the focus to be on celebrating people’s skills. The show has a vibe like The Great British Bakeoff, with lots of charming outdoor scenes and competitors who encourage and help each other.
Assembly Required has contestants competing virtually from their home workshops, and Tim Allen and Richard Karn watching from a garage set. It isn’t clear if the virtual component is due to the pandemic, or to allow craftspeople to use their own workshops with their own tools. With Allen’s latest sitcom Last Man Standing coming to an end in 2021, everyone wondered what his next project would be. Assembly Required is more like a step back in time, celebrating his Home Improvement character, and the catchphrase, “More power!”
On Assembly Required, competitors also soup up equipment in a Tim-Tayloresque way. However, they do so more successfully than the accident-prone Tim Taylor ever did. Karn and Allen are also joined by DIY blogger April Wilkerson. She provides an educational commentary on how things like fire extinguishers work.
Assembly Required has a clear focus on the mechanical side of making. The first episode had competitors souping up a leaf blower to also be a flame-thrower. As a surprise twist, the leaf blowers provided to competitors had a default that competitors were expected to track down and repair. Making It is more concerned with the crafting and creativity side of making. While competitors in Making It season 2 included a Boeing software engineer and a scientist with a doctorate degree, the challenges of the show were focused on decorative projects, like making a themed mailbox and personalizing an office cubicle.
Another big difference is the role of the celebrity duos. Poehler and Offerman provide comic relief and act as hosts, explaining the challenges to the competitors. While Poehler and Offerman share their admiration for the creations, they do not ultimately judge the works. Neither one of them wanted to be responsible for sending contestants home, so they brought in other people to make the tough calls. One judge is Dayna Johnson, a trend expert at Etsy, the online marketplace for makers and small crafting businesses. The other judge of Making It is the creative ambassador for Barneys New York, Simon Doonan.
The Making It judges do the dirty work of rating the crafts and selecting which contestant will lose each week. On the other hand, Allen and Karn provide comic relief and judge the inventions themselves. They even test the devices the makers build. Unlike Making It, which is an ongoing, multi-week competition, each episode of Assembly Required is a self-contained competition with three new contestants.
While these two shows celebrate people who are good at creating, they are not very similar beyond that. With Assembly Required focusing on function and Making It focusing on form, there may not be very much overlap in their two audiences. However, both shows have appeal. So, both should do very well.