Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes’ On BritBox, Where The Actor Tours Dream Homes In Dream Locations — And Plops Down On The Bed

In Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes, the actor tours dream homes in dream locations in the UK, Canada and elsewhere, doing his usual cheeky Alan Cumming thing while he tours them. He makes obliquely risque jokes, plops down on beds and couches, and engages in an activity with the homeowners that is supposed to give an indication of how idyllic life is at these well-appointed homes.

ALAN CUMMING’S PARADISE HOMES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Alan Cumming is on a small boat in the water in the Norfolk Broads national park. He’s reading the instructions on operating the boat.

The Gist: The first of the two homes Cumming tours is in the aforementioned Norfolk Broads, about 2-and-a-half hours northeast of London. The house is built on a platform sunk deep into the marshy ground in the Broads, and a family of four (and soon to be five) have called it home for the past few years. Cumming wanders around, looks at the views of the lily-pad strewn waters, and marvels at the shower that has a window with no blinds, which has a great view but is only for the hardiest of exhibitionists. He then goes out on the river with the family to pick blackberries; they make a pie with it and Cumming devours a piece with his bare hands.

Then we see Cumming in the Grey Highlands in Ontario, 90 minutes north of Toronto. In the middle of the woods is a 19th-century log cabin that has been updated with a new roof and renovated on the inside; attached via an open (but heated!) breezeway is a long, modern structure that greatly expands the capacity of the house and also contains homey touches like an outdoor terrace with a suspended fireplace.

Cumming talks to the couple who own the place, as well as the architects who created the new space that complements the old. He holds some of the axes and other weapons/tools the couple has in their collection, recalling his days playing a young killer in one of his early TV roles. The couple take him deep into the woods to cut up some fallen trees for firewood, even using their chain saw to cut some tiny branches that hit Cumming in the head as they were driving in their ATV.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? A combination of The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes and The Reluctant Traveler and Zillow Gone Wild.

Our Take: We cited The Reluctant Traveler above because, while Cumming isn’t as reluctant a travleler as Eugene Levy is on his travel show, the element of a funny celebrity presence in what’s a pretty standard travel or home show makes Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes fun to watch.

We all like looking at beautiful homes in unique locations, but the shows that feature those homes can be unbearably dry, with a smooth voice over actor providing pretty boring context over the beautiful pictures. So when you add a celebrity with is or her perspective to the proceedings, it’s all the better. Jack McBrayer, for instance made Zillow Gone Wild worth watching, just to see him fit in his funny ad-libs in between moments of slack-jawed amazement.

What Cumming brings to his show is his usual cheekiness, both in his voice over and when he deals with the camera crew, homeowners and producers. He and the producers have no problem showing the crew, because moments like a backwards-walking camera operator almost taking a header into the swamp are funny. Cumming plopping on beds and couches and sitting areas is funny. Having him be a little scared while looking at a bell that’s supposed to scare bears away is funny.

But because Cumming is also an admitted fan of home design and uses these homes as inspiration for his own country-home space, it’s also fascinating to watch him take in all of the ideas that he sees so well executed in these homes.

The homes are “paradise homes” because they may not be in a tropical climate, but they have great views, tend to be isolated, and just foster a warmth and peacefulness that you can’t get in a suburb or city. Does it take a fair amount of money to make these paradise homes possible? Sure. But aspirational shows like this aren’t trying to show how much something costs; they’re there to give people something relaxing to watch and maybe get some ideas they can apply to their more humble spaces. The less you think about how much money went into these structures, the better.

Sex and Skin: Nothing other than real-estate porn, unless you count Cumming getting into a hot tub with the Canadian couple.

Parting Shot: After he says the Ontario property “ticks all my boxes,” we see Cumming use a thermometer as a microphone as he sits with the owners in the hot tub.

Sleeper Star: As usual in shows like this, the cinematographer does a fantastic job at showing just how bucolic the settings of these houses are.

Most Pilot-y Line: None that we could find.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Alan Cumming’s Paradise Homes benefits from the cheeky presence of the Scottish actor, transforming a dry topic into a show that’s warm and funny.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.