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The New Yankee Workshop
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The New Yankee Workshop was a woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...

 program produced by WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...

 Boston, which aired on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

. Created in 1989 by Russell Morash
Russell Morash
Russell Morash is a television producer and director of many television programs produced through WGBH and airing on PBS.His shows include This Old House, The Victory Garden, and The New Yankee Workshop...

, the program was hosted by Norm Abram
Norm Abram
Norman L. Abram, or Norm Abram, is an American carpenter known for his work on the PBS television programs This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop. He is referred to on these shows as a "master carpenter".-Early life and education:Abram was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and raised in...

, a regular fixture on Morash's This Old House
This Old House
This Old House is an American home improvement magazine and television series aired on the American television station Public Broadcasting Service which follows remodeling projects of houses over a number of weeks.-Overview:...

. The series aired for 21 seasons before broadcasting its final episode on June 27, 2009.

Overview

The New Yankee Workshop featured the construction of woodworking projects, including workshop accessories, architectural details and furniture projects ranging from simple pieces to complex, high-quality reproductions of antique classic furniture. In the course of 21 seasons, approximately 235 projects were produced. In addition to furniture and cabinets, the show also focused on outdoor projects such as the building of a gazebo, shed, greenhouse, sailing boat, flag pole, mail box, cupola, and fences.

The shop

The shop where the show was produced is owned by Morash and is located on his property even though the viewer was given the impression that it was in Abram's back yard. Its location was portrayed as a closely guarded secret, even though astute viewers of the series would have, no doubt, gathered enough clues over the years to discern its whereabouts. The property at one time was also the site of The Victory Garden
The Victory Garden (TV series)
The Victory Garden is an American public television program about gardening and other outdoor activities, produced by station WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, and distributed by PBS...

, another Morash production. Many of the outdoor projects that Norm built over the years are currently in use in Morash's yard.

The shop is 936 square feet (87 m²) in size. The famous sliding barn door faces west. Along the west wall is the "back bench" and drill press. Along the south wall is the miter bench and storage unit, radial arm saw, and (not seen in episodes) a computer, a TV, and a small office area. The east wall of the shop has a staircase leading to a loft area, jig storage, horizontal edge sander, and dust collector. The north wall houses sheet goods, router table, bar clamps, Timesaver wide belt sander, planer, joiner, band saw, and various mobile tools. The center area of the shop consists of the table saw and associated outfeed tables as well as a large assembly table. In the northeast section of the building is a separate finishing room.

The show has received many requests for plans for the shop layout, and those interested in such plans can purchase the Doll House (episode #602) plans. The Doll House is a scale replica of the shop, and its plans can be scaled up to build a full size shop.

The location of the shop is detailed here : http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/the-new-yankee-workshop/

Sponsors

As with all shows broadcast on PBS, The New Yankee Workshop depended upon corporate sponsors to partially fund production. Over the years, major sponsors of the show included: Porter-Cable
Porter-Cable
Porter-Cable is an American company that manufactures power tools. The company is known for introducing a number of noteworthy power tools, such as the first portable belt sander, helical-drive circular saw, and portable band saw. It is a subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker.- History :Porter-Cable...

 power tools, Vermont American saw blades and drill bits, Delta Machinery
Delta Machinery
Delta Power Equipment Corp. designs, manufactures and distributes power woodworking tools under the Delta Machinery brand.-History:Delta traces its roots to the Delta Specialty Company founded by Herbert Tautz in 1919 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...

, Columbia Flooring
Columbia Forest Products
Columbia Forest Products is the largest manufacturer of hardwood veneer and hardwood plywood in the United States. Founded in 1957, it is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina. It specializes in decorative, interior veneers and plywood panels that are used in high-end cabinetry, fine...

, and the Thompson-Minwax Company.

Cancellation

On October 16, 2009, WGBH Boston announced that no further episodes of New Yankee Workshop would be produced. In remarking on the end of the show, Abram stated, "We've had a great run, built challenging projects, met wonderful woodworkers and received loyal support from millions of viewers." The show is likely to continue in reruns.

Award nominations

  • Daytime Emmy Award
    Daytime Emmy Award
    The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...

     for Outstanding Service Show    , Russell Morash (1997, 1998, 2000)
  • Daytime Emmy Award for Single Camera Editing, Gary Stephenson (1999)

Criticism

Some woodworkers criticized Abram and The New Yankee Workshop for the use of power tools, but the reason the show was called the New Yankee Workshop was because it focused on introducing the viewer to methods and techniques for using modern equipment to produce furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 that resembled antique furniture.

Pop culture reference

The show was referenced in the second season episode "Clueless
Clueless (House)
"Clueless" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of House, which premiered on the Fox network on March 28, 2006.-Plot:The episode's cold opening begins with Maria, a woman looking in the mirror after showering when she is violently grabbed and carried to the bedroom by a man...

" of House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

. The title character, Dr. Gregory House
Gregory House
Gregory House, M.D., or simply referred to as House, is a fictional antihero and title character of the American television series House, played by Hugh Laurie. He is the Chief of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where he leads a team of diagnosticians...

 is asked why he has a season pass for The New Yankee Workshop on his TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...

, and responds that "[i]t's a complete moron working with power tools. How much more suspenseful can you get?"

Episodes

Over the course of its 21 seasons, at least 235 projects were built on New Yankee Workshop.

Season 1 (1989)

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Season 2 (1990)

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Season 3 (1991)

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Season 4 (1992)

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Season 5 (1993)

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Season 6 (1994)

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Season 7 (1995)

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Season 8 (1996)

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Season 9 (1997)

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Season 10 (1998)

Season 10 introduced a new episode numbering system. Previous seasons had been numbered in three digit format using the season number (1-9) as the first digit, and the episode number making up the last two digits. So, for example, the third episode of the 4th season would be episide number 403. Starting with this season, episodes numbers consisted of four digits with the first two digits representing the last two digits of the year in which the season first aired and the last two digits representing the episode number within that season. So, the fourth episode of the 10th season, having first aired in 1998, would be episode number 9804.
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Season 11 (1999)

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Season 12 (2000)

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Season 13 (2001)

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Season 14 (2002)

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Season 15 (2003)

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Season 16 (2004)

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Season 17 (2005)

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Season 18 (2006)

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Season 19 (2007)

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Season 20 (2008)

Season 20 varied slightly in format from previous seasons in that the first nine episodes were devoted to a single, larger project. This project involved a kitchen remodeling and focused on cabinet construction. The kitchen being remodeled belongs to Morash. Season 20 also represented the last season in which original projects were constructed for the show.
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Season 21 (2009)

Season 21 stood out from other seasons in that it had approximately twice the number of episodes of any previous season. The season also varied from previous seasons in that no new projects were built. Instead each episode rebroadcast a project built in a previous season. All of the rebroadcast episodes were from either the ninth or tenth season. Each "new" episode consisted of the original episode prefaced by a newly recorded introduction by Abram.
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External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
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