Entertainment

Don't Put Away Your Glue Guns Just Yet — Here's When To Expect 'Making It' Season 2

by Genevieve Van Voorhis
Paul Drinkwater/NBC

If you're a veteran crafter, then you know that there's nothing quite like the joy of turning a pile of old wine corks into a bulletin board for your kitchen or making a puppet out of an old pair of socks. NBC's new reality series Making It, which premiered on Jul. 31, put crafters to the test, forcing them to make crafts in competition with one another and under time constraints. Hosted by the hilarious Parks and Recreation duo Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, the Season 1 finale will air on Sep. 4 and fans are rightfully wondering when Making It will return for Season 2?

On Aug. 21, NBC announced that the Making It had been officially greenlit for another season. Paul Telegdy, president of the alternative and reality group at NBC Entertainment, praised the originality of the series as well as Poehler and Offerman's chemistry in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "Seeing firsthand the imagination of a true craftsman and, literally, watching them create something out of nothing is pure gold," he said. "Amy and Nick’s longtime friendship and affection for one another brings the show to a whole other level of fun and we look forward to seeing what season two will bring."

Poehler and Offerman also gave a joint statement to THR, sequined with puns to embellish their enthusiasm. "We’re sew excited to be Making It again. We promise season two will have you glued to your seat."

The news of Making It's renewal shouldn't really come as a surprise, as the series provided the network with a substantial boost to its summer ratings. In fact, Deadline reports that Making It pulled in 5.33 million viewers, making it the most-watched series premiere episode of the summer across NBC, Fox, ABC, and CBS. It tied with Fox's Gordon Ramsay's 24-Hours to Hell & Back for the spot of most-watched premiere. TVSeriesFinale.com notes that throughout the rest of the season, the Making It ratings dropped from 1.10 to 0.80 in the 18 – 49 demographic, but clearly the drop wasn't enough to do any permanent damage to the show's future.

While Offerman and Poehler are the show's hosts, the actually contests are judged by Simon Doonan, the creative ambassador of Barney's New York, and Dayna Isom Johnson, Etsy's trend expert and communications director. Doonan told Variety that Making It isn't like traditional reality shows — it has more of an emphasis on being positive and nurturing for its contestants.

Paul Drinkwater/NBC
"This isn’t that old idea of reality shows where people are just being humiliated — this is absolutely the antithesis of that. It’s really not like any other reality show. It’s sort of profoundly nurturing. When you see people making stuff with their guard down you want to help them — we had to restrain ourselves from jumping over the table and grabbing the glue gun and helping them."

While the ratings were strong, the critics' reviews, on the other hand, weren't all macaroni and glitter. Robyn Bahr of Variety writes that "[t]he kitschy artifice begins to cloy after a few episodes," and smartly suggests that the hilarious and craft book author Amy Sedaris would make a welcome, razor-witted addition to the panel of feel-good judges. I second that for Season 2!

Even if Season 1 had turned out to be the end of the road for Making It, maybe that wouldn't have been such a bad thing after all. Poehler told Variety that that was one of her primary hopes for the series from the beginning was just to inspire people to go out and make things. "I kind of hope that this show is the kind of show that you’ll watch it and then you’ll turn off the TV and go make something," she said. "My goal is to make TV that makes you turn off the TV, in a good way." That's definitely what Season 1 accomplished for this fan, at least.