Review: 'Mexico Life'

HGTV typically uses its New Year's Day coverage of the Rose Bowl Parade as a drawing card for some of the channel's new programs. In much the same way that the broadcast networks uses the Super Bowl as a promotional vehicle for whatever show follows it, HGTV tries to take full advantage of the audience brought in by a couple of hours of commercial-free parade coverage.

One of the new shows being promoted this year is MEXICO LIFE, the latest variation of the genre currently inhabited by shows such as CARRIBEAN LIFE and HAWAII LIFE. Like its sister shows, each episode of MEXICO LIFE follows an American family who is trying to find their dream house. They work with a local realtor and after looking at a few houses, they finally find the one that speaks to them.

If you think this sounds a lot like another variation of HOUSE HUNTERS, you're not wrong. The big difference between the "Hunter" shows and the "Life" ones is that the latter focus on beaches and resorts. And they tend to be a bit more family-centric than the HOUSE HUNTERS franchise.

95% of all the current programming on HGTV looks remarkably similar and the best review I can give HAWAII LIFE is that if you watch all those other programs, you'll probably watch this one as well.

Whether that's a productive use of your TV viewing time is up to you.