Her Second ‘Home’ : Suburban Colonial Is Site of Host’s Latest House and Garden Show

Who says you can’t go home again?

Cristina Ferrare, an original host on “The Home Show,” has found a new address: a two-hour program called “Home & Family” that debuts Monday on the Family Channel.

The difference, Ferrare said, is that this time she has a real house. That’s right: four walls and a toilet that flushes--a detail Ferrare said she insisted on.

The 2,400-square-foot New England colonial came from a pre-designed kit and screams Any Suburb, USA. It has all the amenities, from a three-car garage (one actually serves as a test kitchen) to an organic vegetable garden. Look closely at the neighbors, though. One house was ruled by a Saint Bernard in the two “Beethoven” movies, and just down the hill is Norman Bates’ old place. “Home & Family” will be broadcast live at 10 a.m. every weekday from Universal Studios Hollywood.

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From the outside, it may look like the most mundane stop on the Universal Studios tour. But Ferrare said she plans to grab tourists off the tram, which could make it the most terrifying stop: You go to see the “Backdraft” attraction and wind up grouting tile.

The show’s creator, Woody Fraser, said that “Home & Family” adds personal issues to the do-it-yourself format. In the “Ongoing Life Series,” for example, the show will follow three people at different stages of their lives, each facing the same issue--such as pregnancy, job-hunting or buying a house. Though these segments will deal with real-life situations, Ferrare said they are trying to avoid the talk-show label.

“No ‘Women Who Love the Men Who Shot Them,’ ” Ferrare said.

Fraser insists that building the house was not just a gimmick. “If you have a set, you have to think up things to do, because it’s a set. You can’t knock out walls,” he said. “I want to put the molding right up.” The place will be an ongoing laboratory of gardening, cleaning and decorating experiments.

He is also trying to make “Home & Family” useful in an age of information overload. Viewers don’t want information, he said, they want answers. They don’t want to hear that 20 types of household mold can cause health problems. “If we do mold, we’re going to show you how to find the mold and how to eradicate it without costing you an arm and a leg,” said Fraser.

“Home & Family” is the kind of show Fraser has had in mind for a long time. He said he wanted to add a home hour to an earlier creation, “Good Morning America,” in 1976, but was turned down by the network. Ten years later, he sold the concept to ABC as “The Home Show,” which ended in 1993.

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He had Ferrare in mind for “Home & Family” from the get-go, but the two faced a little snag selling the show. The person in charge of programming for the the Family Channel is Tony Thomopoulos, Ferrare’s husband. He didn’t want the deal to smack of favoritism.

Fraser pointed out that Ferrare is the consummate TV host. Besides “The Home Show,” she has co-hosted “A.M., L.A.,” “Incredible Sundays,” “Cristina & Friends,” and she has filled in for Kathie Lee Gifford on “Regis & Kathie Lee” over the last dozen years. How could Thomopoulos argue?

“Home & Family” marks a move for the Family Channel into more original programming. It will lead into a block of original children’s shows, replacing reruns of “The Waltons” and “Highway to Heaven.” Thomopoulos also hopes it will bring a higher profile to the cable channel. “It is the perfect vehicle to tell people what the channel is about,” he said.

* “Home & Family,” the Family Channel, 1-3 p.m. Monday-Friday.