We were in one of those desperate searches through too many cable channels looking for something to help kill a few minutes, and settled on part of an episode of the HGTV series, Beachfront Bargain Hunt.

I think this family was looking along the South Carolina coast.

Okay, no problem.

But the realtor takes them to a beachfront home, located on a long section of sandy beach, surrounded on either side by other beachfront homes.

What made this home stand out for them was a great price for such a primo location.

What made it stand out to us was that, unlike any of its neighbors, it was surrounded by piles of large sand bags several feet high that were obviously placed in a desperate attempt to block additional coastal erosion that must have been undermining the home.

What made it more amazing was that the couple joined the realtor to see the interior of the house, and they exclaimed about paint colors, the size of the bedrooms, and lots of other things, without any mention being made or questions asked about the sandbags.

Nothing. Can that be legal?

In the end, the prospective buyers didn’t choose this house. But the producers of that program lost a great opportunity to tell viewers a bit about sea level rise and the threat it poses to coastal communities.

Just HGTV’s little contribution to the “head in the sand” approach to climate change and sea level rise, I guess.