While millions of other TV viewers obsess about who will be America's next top model, idol or dancing star, and who's doing whom on "Grey's Anatomy," Grace Jenkins can't wait to find out what happens on the next episode of "House Hunters."

She's so enthralled with the show that she plans her day around it. "I'm always home by 7:30 p.m. I have to watch," says the 72-year-old semi-retiree from Duluth.

Photos by JOEY IVANSCO/Staff (ENLARGE)

Mimi Kroeber is using tips from HGTV to convert her Roswell ranch-style home into a Craftsman-like bungalow. But the stay-at-home wife of David and mother of (clockwise from bottom) Cole, Hollin, Ross, Reed and Chad says, "After I put everybody to bed, I'll sit down and watch HGTV to relax."

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"Designed to Sell" is must-see TV for Amy Kaiser (with children Ava and Wade), who's remodeling her half-bath downstairs.

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Kaiser of Peachtree City plans to install a new faucet and Kohler sink in her unfinished half-bath, no doubt following tips from her favorite show.

Joan McErlean, who lives near Dacula, can relate.

She TiVos "Curb Appeal," "Landscaper's Challenge," and "Divine Design" when she doesn't have time to watch the programs.

And Mimi Kroeber, a stay-at-home mother of five in Roswell, can't go to sleep until she curls up with her nightcap of 30 minutes of HGTV.

What's interesting is not that they enjoy the home improvement network so much. Lots of people do. (HGTV ranks 13th among the 20 cable networks during prime-time hours, drawing more than a million viewers every evening, according to 2006 Nielsen Media Research ratings.)

It's that they watch it as much for the entertainment as they do for home improvement tips — and that they watch it so religiously.

"HGTV is to [PBS'] 'This Old House' what Nickelodeon was to 'Sesame Street,' " explains Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in New York. " 'This Old House' ... was instruction that you hoped was entertaining. [HGTV is] entertainment that you hope is instructional."

Indeed, in the 12 years since HGTV founder Ken Lowe launched the network in Knoxville, it has morphed from basic how-to shows into host-driven infotainment with drama, suspense and intriguing story lines.

Often the host drives more interest in a show than the design project. For example, "Divine Design's" Candice Olson, who has used her celebrity to create a furniture line, is huge. So is "Designed to Sell's" Lisa LaPorta.

" 'Designed to Sell' is like appointment TV for me," says Amy Kaiser of Peachtree City. "She does amazing things for $2,000."

Viewers can expect more celebrity-host driven shows in the future, says Melissa Sykes, the network's senior vice president of original programming.

For instance, David Bromstad, the recent winner of "Design Star," a viewer elimination program similar to "American Idol," is shooting a pilot for a show where he'll be the host.

That show will be part of the 1,100 hours of new programming the network creates every year. "We're definitely destination television," Sykes says.

And it's as captivating to those who hire out work as it is to do-it-yourselfers.

McErlean is one of the viewers who couldn't care less about building things or fixing them. "The most I've ever done is reupholster seat cushions on dining room chairs," she admits. "It's not like I'm watching for ideas," McErlean adds. "It's stimulating and interesting to see a room that looks horrible, and a designer comes in and at the end of the half-hour, Poof! It's a beautiful thing."

McErlean even e-mails friends to exchange thoughts on designers and the makeovers they've done and readily gives advice about programs worth watching.

"I'm just as opinionated about politics," she jokes.

For Kroeber, watching HGTV is how she takes the edge off a hectic day of keeping up with children ranging in age from 5 to 15. She is in the middle of a transformation of her ranch-style home into a Craftsman-like bungalow using ideas she gleaned from television shows. But that's not why she watches.

"My brain has deteriorated with more and more pregnancies," Kroeber says with a laugh. "After I put everybody to bed, I'll sit down and watch HGTV to relax, even as my husband tries to go to sleep. It's about the only TV I watch."

Even Syracuse University's Thompson, who watches television for a living, confesses he's gotten hooked.

"I can be flipping through the dial and stumble onto an episode of 'My House Is Worth What?' I don't plan to do any remodeling, and I'm not interested in real estate," he says. "But those are really entertaining shows. There's real drama."

Still, not everyone watches just for the compelling plots.

Jenkins, a self-proclaimed HGTV addict — who's still swinging a hammer at 72 — watches for home improvement tips, then puts them to use.

She bought a fixer-upper five years ago. With the help of her adult son and advice she's gleaned from her favorite shows, Jenkins refinished the kitchen cabinets, put new linoleum on the floor, painted interior rooms, took the tub out of her bathroom and replaced it with a walk-in shower and installed a new vanity and toilet. Her latest project was building a screened porch.

"I make myself a platform out of two ladders and a board," she says proudly, "and get up there and do my thing."

THE TOP 10 HGTV SHOWS AMONG VIEWERS AGE 25-54

"House Hunters"
"Design on a Dime"
"My House Is Worth What?"
"Designed to Sell"
"House Hunters International"
"National Open House"
"Hidden Potential "
"Designers Challenge"
"Buy Me"
"Divine Design"
Source: HGTV

THE TOP THREE HGTV SHOWS AMONG ALL VIEWERS IN 2006

"Over Your Head"
"Don't Sweat It"
"House Hunters"
Source: Nielsen Media Research; ranking excludes special programs