When I first came across Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent’s home renovation show on HGTV, I was irate. I had tuned into the channel for the usual late-night reruns of House Hunters and instead was greeted by Nate and Jeremiah going over blueprints to redo a random family’s main floor. Without watching any of the show, I decided I hated them for robbing me of an episode of House Hunters I had probably already seen but wanted to watch again. But like Thanos, HGTV reruns are inevitable, and I eventually sat through an old episode of Nate and Jeremiah: Save my House. It only took a single episode to illustrate that there are no other HGTV power couples. There is only Nate and Jeremiah.
Nate and Jeremiah are perfect TV people because they’re able to strike a balance between acting as if they aren’t being filmed and knowing exactly how to look because they’re aware they’re constantly being filmed. This allows them to be more real-seeming than the Property Brothers while not as overly accessible as Chip and Joanna Gaines. The primary way they’re able to achieve this demi-god balance isn’t through their design aesthetic—I’m not always sold on their interior designs—but through their personal aesthetics, which of course complement each other because how else are they going to exist?
It begins with the skin and hair. Nate and Jeremiah have flawless skin, perfect bone structure, and hair that is made to look messy but is neatly organized and closely cropped to maximize their angles. A fireplace isn’t the focal point of the room—they are. And if anyone thinks that is untrue, they need only look at the outfits Nate and Jeremiah wear to work: a hodgepodge of tailored high-waist pants, fitted blazers, and sweaters that would make Chris Evans weep with envy. One episode, Jeremiah wore a beanie hat and I discussed this hat with my partner for almost an hour. That is how crucial to the show their clothing choices feel.
What adds to their manufactured realness are the tiny marital spats they have when the pressure is on and they need to add all of the home’s finishing touches before the family arrives. They somehow seem to never be ready by the time the family arrives and that, too, is fucking adorable. One argument, in particular, came when Jeremiah asked for Nate’s help in moving a couch about an inch over from its current position. Nate didn’t like Jeremiah’s tone, immediately checked him on it, and they went back and forth like crotchety old men for about 30 seconds. It was riveting. They also can’t seem to agree on whether cats or dogs are better pets, a benign argument worth watching.
There simply isn’t another duo on HGTV that is simultaneously average and riveting in the way that Nate and Jeremiah are. The husband and wife from Home Town are too boring, Tarek and Christina don’t even go here, and the PropBros are oversaturating the network with their multiple spinoffs. Nate and Jeremiah and their two perfect children should be in charge of everything from now on forever.
