HGTV airs series by Coastal Bend producer

Corpus Christi native Laura Frost works on what she calls "The Real World" for adults.
   Instead of following extroverted twenty-somethings through their tumultuous MTV-centric microcosms, Frost shadowed a married couple for about a year, documenting their lives as they build a custom home near Lake Travis.
   The experience is documented in "Dream House," a series on Home and Garden Television airing at 9:30 p.m. Mondays, that follows 30-somethings John and Clarice Cefai.
   Granite House, the Austin-based production company Frost co-owns with two others, is producing the episodes.
   "This show is less about how to do it than what happens when you do it," said Frost, a Ray High School graduate of 1973 and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi alum. "There's an emotional roller coaster for people who build custom homes, and the show captures more of that than anything else."
   Custom made
   The first episode, which aired a few weeks ago, starts with the decision making of picking a plot and choosing designs. The Cefais have moved on to breaking ground.
   In Monday's episode, the couple and their builder, Terry Whisenhunt, are eager to pour the foundation until Terry comes down with pneumonia and all construction is stopped. Then the Cefais have to decide what to do to keep things on schedule.
   "This is very much a documentary," Frost said. She produced and wrote the series - Granite House's cable TV debut - and helped turn 150 hours of footage to 13 half-hour episodes. Since the company mostly does video production for corporations, Frost had to learn a whole new set of skills.
   "You have to learn how to write for this medium," said Frost, who also cut her teeth on the 1999 Discovery Channel documentary on Comanche helicopters, "Cybercopter."
   'Popstars' take two
   For younger viewers who haven't yet thought about custom home building, The WB is bringing back its popular series "Popstars" for its second season. Last year the series created the girl group Eden's Crush, who have since debuted to a modicum of success, and this year "Popstars 2" will create a group of both men and women.
   Open call auditions were held in six cities. New York City was the first stop, and the talent pool that showed up was three times the size as last year's. The first episode of these making-the-band series are often too full of sobbing failures who didn't get called back. While this one has its share of crybaby sequences, one segment makes up for it.
   The season premiere (7 p.m. tonight on The WB) focuses for a bit on those who are unprepared. One gent had never heard the song he was supposed to use in his audition. Another sings like an '80s metal god - and gives the judges an unexpected eyeful during the climactic chorus.
  
  

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