TLC, The Learning Channel, has confirmed that Paige Davis, after a three year absence, is back as hostess of Trading Spaces, a home design reality show.
Some folks may call it train wreck TV, but many more thrive on watching The Learning Channel's show 'Trading Spaces'. The concept is simple: two homeowners, usually friends, family members, or neighbors, agree to trade homes for two days and redesign one room in each of the homes with the aid of Trading Spaces' crew of quirky designers and carpenters, and with just two thousand dollars to spend on supplies.
Hosting Duties
The show once started with a host who does bits with each set of people, trading quips and insults, carrying information, and hosting the 'reveals', which are the pay-off bits at the end of the show when the homeowners see their altered surroundings. For several years Paige Davis was that host, and her chirpy style was reveled in or reviled, depending on the fan. But in a controversial and much-speculated upon move, in 2005 TLC fired Davis, moving to a 'hostless' format.
After stints on Broadway, Davis is, however, returning for the revamped Trading Spaces, a move the show is making reportedly to try to shore up ratings that are sagging worse than a flooded basement's walls. Ratings are down significantly, in part, it is said, because of the huge increase in the number of competing design shows on TLC, HGTV, and other channels.
Designers Are The Stars
But much of the entertainment value of the show was in the hideous - or brilliant, depending upon your view - designs that interior decorators such as Doug Wilson and Hildi Santo-Thomas inflicted upon suffering subjects. So the other news coming from the show may be even more welcome than Davis's return; those two designers, responsible for such gems as cardboard, feathers and fake flowers glued to or stapled on walls, are apparently going to be back for another kick at the paint can as well, a coup that will likely bring back fans who are more interested in the drama than watching paint dry.
The fun is said to begin in January 2008, with shows being taped in the autumn of 2007. According to another Reality Blurred report, the show is looking for more 'interesting' participants, including dominatrixes, vegetarians, 40-year-old virgins, geeks and rappers. The more unusual cast of willing victims - or participants - may be able to keep the designers in check, or perhaps they will have the taste to appreciate the occasionally bizarre designs offered.
- Read more about Paige Davis's return.
- Read more about the show, and for designer and carpenter photos & biographies
- Read the 'Reality Blurred' story on Paige Davis's return.
