What is wrong with Roger Cook on This Old House?

devoted fans of freedo air television's home improvement show this old house wanted what could have made roger cook the series resident garden and landscape contractor give up his lucrative spot on the show in 2020 it was reported that he'd hung up his garden shears and said goodbye to fans via a letter he claimed that he had several health issues that made it hard for him to continue filming and asked viewers to respect his family's privacy assuring everyone that he's in very good hands four decades ago when the do-it-yourself show this old house premiered on national tv it started a genre that captured america's love for home renovations that would normally at that time only be seen on or in lifestyle magazines with 19 emmy awards one of nearly 90 nominations and several parodies under its belt it's unsurprising that it continued to attract a huge viewership in the us it was basically the reason why many tv shows on hdtv were launched successfully the show was built on the premise that it would primarily be an informative show by experts in home improvement such as norm abram as the master carpenter richard treadway as plumbing and heating ventilation and air conditioning or hvac guru tom silva as the general contractor and roger cook as the garden and landscaping contractor the tv show creator made sure that each episode would produce content based on deceptive glamour improvements around the house or allow personal drama within the cast to make it more entertaining to attract a wider audience most of the viewers resonated with this type of old-school programming so it remained one of the most watched shows on tv viewers can also easily access video archives of the show if they need references for something they want to fix in their homes the first episode of this old house was aired in february 1979 on public broadcasting service pbs produced by its boston station wgbhtv until it was acquired by time incorporated in 2001. a new production company was launched called this old house ventures which handled the tv series production and chose water brothers domestic television to distribute it for the commercial tv syndication in 2016 this old house ventures acquired new owners eric thor kyson with tzp growth partners and in march 2021 it was sold along with its thousands of videos to us digital media powerhouse raku incorporated roger cook is a certified american landscape contractor and with his wife kathy he's the owner of knr tree landscaping he was born in 1955 in winchester massachusetts and his interest in gardening started as a kid while following his mother around outside their house and it became a passion as he grew older he also developed a great love for animals and nature in general he graduated with a bachelor's degree in wildlife management and conservation law from university of maine in 1997 then landed his first job in a landscaping firm assigned to pruning iv bushes in some windows at harvard university however he realized that it wasn't the right job for him and he only lasted for three days doing that work the owner offered him another job using backhoes so he then learned how to pave and that's how he found his niche he stayed with the company for five years before launching his own company the massachusetts arborist association gained an active member as roger shared his passion and expertise in the local tree care industry he became the president of the board of directors of new england grows and the association of landscape contractors in massachusetts roger cook's credibility in improving the lawn or making the garden look impeccably healthy was never tarnished during his participation for more than 30 years in this old house as promised by the show's producers they were careful not to focus on personal stories or highlight personal brands that could easily affect its editorial independence roger's contribution over the decades has been highly appreciated by the fans and here are just some of the most significant things he did on the show many people thought that roger began his journey with this old house in 1988 when he was already a landscape contractor with his own company however he actually made his television debut in the show back in 1982 when he was still a landscape foreman for the frost and higgins company the producers already saw that they could rely on him based on the several projects that they did in some of the episodes on the show as he readily shared his ideas and how to go about it particularly in the woburn house and bigelow project in season 10 changes were made to the show and cast as it featured more episodes focused on the outdoors specifically about improving the garden and sharing landscaping ideas it was around this time that they hired roger as part of the main cast through tom worth the resident landscape architect back then six years after his first tv appearance he was introduced by the original host bob villa as the new garden and landscape contractor when they were doing the lexington bed and breakfast project from the get-go viewers noticed how reuter made sure that his team the k r tree landscaping firm went carefully about their jobs he proudly shared that they found a way to extend the warmer season so that they could replant a tree even up to a time when the ground became solid with the start of the winter season he said that the secret was to add lots of mulch into the soil and add an anti-desiccant to coat the leaves in order to lessen water loss his expertise was immediately on display in his first full episode as the on-board landscape contractor with numerous video clips along with more than half a billion channel views roder's video entitled how to fix a patchy weed alone was the second most watched video on the official youtube channel of this old house his video with close to 6 million views showed how he taught owners to understand the things that needed to be changed on the lawn starting from the soil up to the kind of grass seeds to use instead of just showing how to use the tools to achieve the perfect lawn grass he explained each step of the process so that viewers could easily follow the instructions it's very understandable how he became one of the most favorite cast members of the tv show like having a talking lawn maintenance for dummies as he made landscaping simple and less intimidating when the landscape contractor was asked what his favorite project was out of all the things he had done he said that it was the manchester by the sea rogers shared during the 35th anniversary of the show that he'd met such great clients who loved the outdoors so much with such open-minded clients he did many things without any problems including hardscaping patios along with putting in a hot tub he was most excited when he said that he created a little patio near the water with just pieces of granite he scavenged from neighbor's yard he placed a couple of benches where the owners could just drink coffee comfortably each morning while watching the boats sail by roger was already part of the main cast when the show became controversial following the termination of bob villa in 1989 as the host of the show bob had become the face of this old house and along with the show became synonymously successful however bob accepted endorsements that ran in conflict with the tv show's ideals and became a threat to the national and local funding they could potentially receive each season bob retained all his lucrative deals with various home improvement tools and appliance brands but lost his position in the show after 10 years the show creator producer russell morash said it was an amicable separation but bob's agent said that the move surprised them and claimed that the producer knew of bob's personal endorsements all the other cast members including roger never gave their views on how they felt regarding the issue on the 13th of january 2020 dan surat the ceo of this old house released a statement announcing that roger would be leaving the show after giving his audience his expert advice on guarding and landscaping for 35 years prior to the press release fans had already noticed that roger was featuring less and less in the show at first they thought that he was being censured for something he'd done and to avoid another controversy they just gave him less screen time however roger himself released a statement in june 2018 saying he was dealing with several health issues which made it difficult for him to fully perform his job on tv although he wasn't forthcoming with the details he initially had his health problems but later on his limp became more pronounced especially during his last few episodes the landscape guru was rumored to have suffered a heart attack but no official medical bulletin was released to the public some fans threw several theories on the social media saying that he was probably dealing with either cancer or parkinson's disease however other fans quickly said it would be best to just include him in their prayers instead of jumping to conclusions all were minded to respect his privacy as that was what he requested from his fans to clarify the matter roger wrote another letter to his fans to say his goodbyes it's with a heavy heart that i announced i'm stepping away from this old house to focus on family and the things i love from the way he wrote this letter it was quite obvious that there was no bad vibes between him and the cast and crew he reiterated that he was blessed to work with the best in the business he also formally announced that he was passing on the baton to his friend jen nowada as the new landscape contractor in the show who had already assisted him in recent seasons roger has been living with his two children jason and molly in their family home in burlington massachusetts his wife kathleen ellen kathy gold died in december 2010 after a long battle with cancer kathy was a co-owner of his landscaping business and a stout supporter of her husband's skills tv insiders believed that roger himself decided to leave the show since his doctor said that his condition wasn't improving but with him no longer filming for hours and traveling to various locations they were hoping that his health would improve with the danger brought about by the covert 19 virus along with the highly contagious delta variant roger's decision to finally leave the show at that time may have been the best one to make his net worth estimated that over 11 million dollars would be enough for him to live a comfortable life thank you for spending some time with us make sure to like and subscribe so you never miss another video we also hand pick these videos which we recommend you watch next you can talk to us on all social medias or ask a question in the comments below thank you for being with us and we'll see you back tomorrow