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Original Message
"The Revamped Trading Spaces - Ex-spouse episode"
Posted by mtopaz on 01-30-08 at 06:00 PM
LAST EDITED ON 01-31-08 AT 01:32 PM (EST)

I searched to see if anyone had posted about this episode, which aired last Saturday night I believe (01/26). I didn't spot any such thread.

So my quick thoughts. First of all, Trading Spaces used to be one of my favorite shows. When Paige Davis left, I watched a while longer and then stopped completely. It just didn't work as well without a host, and Paige had carved a pretty big niche for herself on that show. Too big a hole was left without her.

This first episode was okay. It was definitely better than the hostless episode format. But it's still lacking something, although I'm not sure exactly what.

One thing that made it awkward was the fact that it was an ex-husband and wife doing the show. I think the idea was fine, but the couple they chose were obviously still having some issues, and I felt very uncomfortable in a few of the scenes. It was expressed several times that the ex-wife and her new husband were mostly doing this for the ex-husband, to sort of boost his life along. The one character who seemed pretty lively was the e-husband's brother, but he didn't get much play.

Hildi's idea that the ex-hubby make some sort of sculpture from boring gray clay to put in the ex-wife/new husband's room was dumb. I'm sure that ugly "circle of trust" went in the waste basket about 2.5 seconds after the cameras left the house. And Hildi seriously needs to seek therapy to find out why she has this compulsion to walls with cheap-##### ugly stuff (used vinyl records, millions of the same wine bottle labels, and now black plastic rings?). If the owner hates the concept or outcome, they are left with a huge mess!! They can't just paint over it. In this case, they'd have to remove hundreds of nails, then totally replaster the wall to fill in all those little holes. Ugh!

Doug - I liked his room. It wouldn't be what I'd like, but I felt that he really designed it with the owner in mind. It was clear that the homeowner (ex-husband) was very happy. But did Doug have a stroke? Is he ill? He looked rather gaunt, and like one side of his face is drooping slightly. He also seemed a little toned down.

All in all, I enjoyed the retooled format. I'll definitely watch again.

Edited to change designer name from Frank to Doug - oops!

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Messages in this discussion
"Doug"
Posted by udg on 01-30-08 at 10:49 PM
The other designer was Doug, not Frank.

The ex-switch didn't work for me. I'll try again, but as of now, it's definitely not going back on my "must watch" list.


Slice n' Dice's Sigpic Chop Shop 2004

"RE: Doug"
Posted by Loree on 01-31-08 at 08:40 AM
OK I was getting confused because I watched what I thought was the first ep and I didn't see any Frank. I saw Doug and Hildi. Now I get it.

I had not watched this show in years. So I enjoyed it for that reason. Having two carpenters is different, isn't it? But Hildi is still attaching insane stuff to the walls. I would never do that show for fear that Hildi would show up in my house.

"RE: Doug"
Posted by Agman2 on 03-09-16 at 04:17 PM
Good point.
"RE: Doug"
Posted by kidflash212 on 07-10-16 at 02:27 PM
me too
"What it's missing is "
Posted by iatovttotx78 on 02-02-08 at 03:31 PM

Vern Yip. TS will never be the same without him. He was the only designer I truly loved. He had an occasional miss, but the majority of his work was outstanding. I hear he has a new show on HGTV, I'll have to check it out.


Created by sharnina
"RE: What it's missing is "
Posted by mtopaz on 02-04-08 at 01:52 PM
Vern was definitely one of my favorite designers, although I did hear rumors that he underwrote some of his budget or otherwise finagled some goodies into his design. I didn't care, because the end result was almost always really beautiful. I like his personality as well. I need to check out his new show too.

On this week-end's episode: Again, it was okay but not great. I think the premise of finding families and/or friends who have issues to resolve, and then trying to resolve them through re-doing a room in each other's homes, is already old to me. They should take a page from Ty Pennington's show and perhaps focus instead on finding people who "deserve" the makeover.

Too bad they can't get Andrew Dan-Jumbo from WYWO to be a carpenter on this show.


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