Have you noticed your interest in "trading spaces" waning?

[HorsinAroundTX]

I think my interest sort of faded when the seemingly endless spin-offs (Trading Spaces Family and the one with just kids) seem to be all over the place. Bad designs, bratty kids, and a bunch of new cast members that are about as interesting as oatmeal.

Or maybe it's just that I can't seem to figure out when the NEW episodes are on, and am tired of watching reruns.

I'm pretty much over Trading Spaces and now really get into Extreme Makeover- Home Edition and Monster House. Maybe I am just ADD and need MORE....LOL

[sleuth]

mine has. I used to go hot and cold on it to begin with and lately it is just all cold. And yes I think the endless spin offs have something to do with it.

[Dogbat]

Vern is in the process of creating his own show. It will be similar to the Fix It show. He will do major renovations.

Andrew is single. He just mentioned that on Oprah.

I agree with all the negative sentimate above.

Christy and Kia set my teeth on edge. I want to slap them. And their work is atrocious. Tools of Satan those two.

This show needs to shake up the tired format. Changing Rooms did that when Laurence took over. Paige could follow suit and alone cruise through each room to be done and talk about the problems and the desires of the home owner. Then, shock of all shocks, the "designers" (Laurie is the only one) could follow the brief and give the HO's what they would like.

Include outtakes, eating lunch, anything to change the endless stilted conversation. Showing how they look at the space the day before and some of the preliminary preparations. ANYTHING at all........and stop the infernal key swap with the rules. Anyone who doesnt know the format by now deserves to figure it out themselves. About 30 seconds of work there.

I rarely watch anymore and certainly don't if Christy or Kia are on. shudder.

[Cato]

I am so glad to know I am not the only one tiring of TS. I think my main beef ( aside from Vern leaving) is Paige. She annoys me to no end. She is fake perky and that is sooo annoying. The designs all look the same now. No one ever tries anything different or cool anymore. Hildy tries shock value and everyone else just does what they know works for them.

I love WYWO though. Andrew Dan Jumbo is yummy. I am not so big on Jason though , he has nice muscles and is fun to look at , but then he opens his mouth. :phhht

[MsFB]

Unless the designer is someone I like, Frank, Edward, or Genevieve, (and Vern before he left) I just skip to the reveal-gotta love having TiVo. The show is too long. It doesnt need to be an hour. It isnt instructional in anyway, so why spend 60 min on it? My new faves are Design on a Dime, Designed to Sell, and Sell this House. The ideas on Design on a Dime are practical and they show you how to do it instead of showing people bs'ing while slopping paint around.

Lose the Paige cam and yes, the Key Swap, PLEASE!

[ANTMrox]

The ideas on Design on a Dime are practical and they show you how to do it instead of showing people bs'ing while slopping paint around.

Your choice of words is PERFECT. There's not enough how-to, and waaay too much b.s. on T.S.

You lucky Tivo user!

And as to why they spend 60 minutes, here's the one word answer: Sponsors! Bleccchhhh

[unicornrose]

I have indeed found myself watching less. Probably because I am totallly hooked on "In a Fix" What can I say I got a thing for Sparky. I do enjoy TS but Its not as exciting as it once was. I will be watching inside out.

I also think that Andrew is adorable. He would be great to cuddle with.

[Elle]

Shaking Up "Trading Spaces"

by Joal Ryan
Jul 2, 2003, 8:25 AM PT



Meet the next remodel candidate for Trading Spaces: Trading Spaces.

The Learning Channel is looking to "reinvent" its signature reality series as ratings for the nail gun-wielding home makeover show fall through the roof.

"We've got to reinvent the show, and clearly we should've done it a little bit sooner," TLC executive Roger Marmont said in Daily Variety this week.

No details from the cable network on exactly how the show will be tweaked--or "evolve[d]" in TVspeak--in time for its fifth season, kicking off in October. TLC spokesman Dan Halcombe did allow that more cast members likely will be added to the show's ranks of designers, carpenters and all-around handy people.

The changes come as ratings for Trading Spaces were off some 50 percent from April-June as compared to the same time period last year, per Variety. The drop dropped TLC from the ninth-most watched basic cable network to the 16th.

TV historian Tim Brooks called the slide "pretty dramatic."

Trading Spaces, the American-ized version of British TV's Changing Rooms, premiered on TLC in October 2000, offering its first set of neighbors $1,000 and two days to go crazy with each other's respective domiciles.

While Trading Spaces has been oft-imitated, inspiring everything from unofficial knockoffs such as ABC Family's teen-oriented Knock First to official franchisees such as NBC's kid-oriented Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls, Brooks said it's unusual for the original breakout show to fall so hard, so fast.

"It's the clones that start to fall apart," said Brooks, coauthor of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows.

Brooks thinks something else is plaguing Trading Spaces: overexposure.

According to Variety, TLC "went bananas" with its hit show, airing 250 episodes over the course of the last three months. That's up from the 156 it ran for the same time last year, and the 50 that Brooks said is a doable number for a 13-week period.

"You can repeat it, but you can't repeat it like that," said Brooks of the 250-episode stat.

TLC's Halcombe said there is no plan for the network to wean itself off of mega-doses of Trading Spaces.

"We felt we responded to viewer demand," Halcombe said.

For now, all systems are go at Trading central. Shooting on the fourth season wrapped June 17. New episodes should continue to air through July.

Perky host Paige Davis is using her summer hiatus to get out of the house and onto Broadway in Chicago. (She began her run June 22.) Halcombe said she'll be back for season five.

Designer Vern Yip won't. Much as Trading carpenter Ty Pennington traded up for a broadcast network gig with ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Yip has nailed a deal with NBC to host a show called Design Intervention.

Brooks doesn't think Trading's revolving cast door will harm the show, nor does he think its eroded ratings are beyond repair.

"The name Trading Spaces signifies something because it was the first," Brooks said. "My guess is that people don't dislike it, but that it's not the hot thing anymore."

Sort of like shag carpet.

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,14437,00.html

[LemonDrop]

Okay- I watch TS just to get ideas. Re: Hildi, let me state for the record I do NOT like most of the things she throws on the walls, okay? But...I think (and she said that herself) what she is trying to do is teach homeowners to think outside the box. There ARE those who can apply that idea to other things/objects and be creative in their own way. Sure it is at the expense of these homeowners but hey- that is what they signed up for! It's a designing show and you have no creative control. I wouldn't do it unless I was prepared to give up all control! And I'm not.

I can see in "principle" how some things would work- I do know one person who took Hildi's flower idea for one wall in her store and it is stunning! Sure it's a store. But it's an idea she got from TS. She also took silk fern and did the other wall. Hildi has never done fern but one can imagine her doing that- so I think that is what Hildi is trying to do.

Again- I'm not a fan of her designs but I do understand what she is trying to accomplish and I do understand that homeowners sign up for something they have no control over. Sometimes that leads to ...

She has quite a successful Interior Design practice from what I understand!

[ANTMrox]

sorry.. i can't resist: with that hideous cardboard room, the HO's must've said let's get "outside the box" and QUICK!!!