''Urban Suburban'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

reality television series, which debuted in 2011 on

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, app ...

."Siblings build realty show on reality". ''Surrey Now'', October 13, 2011.

Hosts

The show is hosted by Philip DuMoulin and Sarah Daniels, a brother and sister who are partners in their own

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

firm in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

; Daniels was also a traffic and weather reporter on

Global BC CHAN-DT (channel 8), branded on-air as Global BC (formerly British Columbia Television or BCTV), is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Global Television Network. Owned and ope ...

before leaving that position to get her real estate license."City or suburbs? HGTV show helps folks decide"
''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', August 26, 2011.

Format

In each episode, Daniels and DuMoulin work with a family who are seeking to purchase their first home in a Canadian city. In each "round" of an episode, DuMoulin shows the couple an urban home, while Daniels shows a

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...

one, and the couple are asked to select which of the two houses better meets their family's needs. In the first season, the couple was also asked to compare one or more desired lifestyle amenities in the chosen neighbourhoods, such as schools, parks or recreational facilities, similarly deciding whether the urban or the suburban environment is a better fit for their family. After three rounds of house selection, the couple is asked to reveal which of their three "winning" houses they have ultimately decided to purchase. During each round, DuMoulin and Daniels are also shown playfully bantering and trash talking each other over the strengths and weaknesses of each other's selections. This aspect of the show was inspired in part by the similar banter between Phil Spencer and Kirsty Allsop on ''

Location, Location, Location ''Location, Location, Location'' is a British reality property programme that has aired on Channel 4 since 17 May 2000 and is presented by Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer. The show follows Allsopp and Spencer as they try to find the perfect ...

'', as well as by the duo's own family history of playful but loving

sibling rivalry Sibling rivalry is a type of competition or animosity among siblings, whether blood-related or not. Siblings generally spend more time together during childhood than they do with parents. The sibling bond is often complicated and is influenced ...

. Daniels and DuMoulin have clarified in interviews that neither is really a strict partisan for one lifestyle over the other, recognizing that both lifestyles offer distinct advantages and disadvantages and that both lifestyles will be the better choice for different buyers, but that it simply worked better for the show's concept to have the two hosts each act as a consistent advocate. In fact, both Dumoulin and Daniels currently live in suburban Surrey after having grown up in urban central

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

References

External links

''Urban Suburban''
*{{IMDb title, 2063535 2011 Canadian television series debuts HGTV (Canada) original programming Television series by Force Four Entertainment 2010s Canadian reality television series 2012 Canadian television series endings