Alaska reality TV star Marty Raney gets into the home reno game with 'Homestead Rescue'

There is a new Discovery Channel program called "Homestead Rescue" that I'm going to classify as an Alaska reality TV show that aired on Friday. I'm classifying it as such because it stars the "Ultimate Survival Alaska" veteran Marty Raney and his two children. And Raney is to Alaska as LeBron James is to Cleveland, its biggest hype-man.

The premise for "Homestead Rescue" is simple: Raney and his children Misty and Matt travel to meet a family that has bitten off more than they can chew when it comes to their homesteads. The Raneys teach them to garden, hunt and build what they need to survive off the land.

I've never really watched the subset of reality TV that I would classify as "home improvement," but a Google search revealed there are dozens of shows like this — "Property Brothers," "Love It or List It," etc. There is even an entire network dedicated to home improvement, HGTV.

When it comes to this genre, I don't question the motives of the participants, because they actually get something from appearing on a TV show. In the case of Friday's episode, it was a water source, goat pen and greenhouse. Not bad if the price you pay is looking incompetent at homesteading and spending a week with Marty Raney. It kind of seems like an even trade.

[Read more: Dallas Seavey, Marty Raney and others back for 'Ultimate Survival Alaska' season 3]

When you set aside the fact that they probably had more help to actually finish these projects, it's actually a pretty sweet show. Mike Ettinger (the man of the homestead) cried as he toured his greenhouse and it actually seemed genuine. Raney did his typical talk-exclusively-in-platitudes shtick. He said things like "champagne taste, beer budget," gave a speech about helping people and showed his hands as his "resume."

As with every program on Discovery Channel, the most annoying part was the hype around the wildlife danger in the Wolf Creek mountains of Montana. Like bears in reality TV shows about Alaska, a deep-voiced narrator took every opportunity to tell the audience just how dangerous mountain lions are and how they are everywhere just waiting to kill the homesteaders.

"Homestead Alaska" airs on Fridays on Discovery Channel and will feature five more families.

There were also two episodes of "Alaskan Bush People" on Friday night. The first episode was chronologically out of place, but who cares because it was awesome. It followed the Browns as they went on an RV trip from Seattle to San Diego.

Why was it so good? Here's a multiple choice test to determine the cause of awesomeness:

A) They went to a pig-hunting ranch in California and covered themselves in mud so the pigs wouldn't smell them.

B) While driving by a Target (the chain superstore), Bear said, "Look! A giant bull's-eye."

C) Upon arriving in San Diego the entire family went swimming in the ocean in jeans.

D) We got another shot of Matt Brown (a man in his mid-30s) sleeping in the bathtub of a motel room.

E) All of the above.

If you guessed E) All of the above, you are correct.

The second episode revolved around the Browns trying up their security after someone shot the buoy on their boat anchor. It was boring and I fell asleep.

Emily Fehrenbacher lives in Anchorage, where she reviews Alaska reality TV. You can reach her at realitycheck@alaskadispatch.com or on Twitter @ETFBacher.