Off-Ramp host John Rabe goes to the source, talking with one of the kings of home and garden/how-to television. Russell Morash invented "This Old House," after inventing "Victory Garden," and producing "The French Chef" with Julia Child. CLICK THROUGH for the long version of my interview.

If you're a fan of This Old House, The French Chef with Julia Child, and Victory Garden, you'll want to listen to my interview with Russell Morash.

(Credit: WGBH)

Morash was just a kid out of Boston U with an MFA when he got a job at WGBH, the public TV station in Boston. In just a few years, a middle-aged lady with an odd accent and a new cookbook came into the station and started a cooking show, and a revolution ... A revolution in cuisine (for Americans) and a revolution in TV. With Morash, Child and The French Chef proved people wanted to watch and learn.

Morash went on to invent, in the mid-1970s, Victory Garden; and in 1980, This Old House. Now, you can't throw a lardon without hitting a cooking show and you can't swing a hacksaw without hitting a home improvement show host.

Pretty good for a guy whose own dad thought This Old House might sustain for, oh, three episodes or so.  

Here's Julia making an omelette.

Bon appetit!