Changing Rooms

A fascinating example of a show that was a massive hit for the BBC, that they used in the schedules to defeat all opposition, before bleeding the format dry and then axing it when people got sick to death of it.

...while the Brits may come up with the initial idea we Americans can improve it. Recently watching the "Changing Rooms' for the first time one word kept coming to mind bland. This show has no personality and is inferior to "Trading Spaces".

I watch a lot of Trading Spaces on TLC (one of the shows that is based on BBC's Changing Rooms). Since I don't get BBC America, I wasn't able to see Changing Rooms until TLC ran a marathon over Thanksgiving. I was very disappointed. I felt that Changing Rooms pales in comparison to Trading Spaces.

The bottom line is that Changing Rooms just doesn't spend enough time on the rooms that are being designed. One of the joys of Trading Spaces is that you get to see the rooms being crafted, and some of the details that go into each room. There just isn't enough time for the same coverage in Changing Rooms. They cover twice as many rooms (4 rooms in an hour) as Trading Spaces does (2 rooms in an hour,) but it's the old quantity vs. quality issue. I found myself burnt out with the frenetic pace of Changing Rooms and ultimately disappointed.

I absolutely love Changing Rooms on the BBC America. Hilarious, fast paced, yet you learn something. Much better than the American knock off version, Trading Spaces, which is twice as long (1 hour) and slowly paced. Plus I'd rather watch Handy Andy Kane over Ty Pennington anytime! Andy can build me furniture!

For all the craze the American remake of this series, 'Trading Spaces,' has started for DIY/makeover shows, it's not hard to see the original series is still the best. 'Changing Rooms' is as much about entertaining audiences as it is educating them on how to improve the style of their homes. All the devices for building suspense and encouraging disagreements and tensions amongst the DIY teams may make this show the bane of professional interior decorators, but... well, who cares? As an entertainment show, 'Changing Rooms' is surprisingly competent. While TLC's Paige Davis is annoyingly perky and largely hands-off when it comes to actually helping with any work, Carole Smilie is a playful, charming workaholic who, refreshingly, doesn't love everything the designers come up with. As for the designers themselves, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen stands out as a sort of larger than life, flamboyant-Hugh Grant character whose British eccentricity and humor is infectious. Like 'Trading Spaces,' this show has its reliably conservative, outrageous and annoying designers, but the program is far less reticent about editing out conflicts and (call it sensationalism, but it's still fun) between the team members and the designers. The British carpenter, Andy Kane is also far more entertaining than any of the Americans: he's funny, critical and brazen. Some will complain how 'Changing Rooms' is shorter and less detailed than its American counterpart. These people do not realize that in the UK, this show is not interrupted by BBC America's long commercial breaks, and thus the imported version has been heavily edited for time. I find the pacing and running time for the BBC America version to be an actual bonus - at an hour, 'Trading Spaces' can sometimes overstay its welcome. The American show plays around with more money and is more slickly produced, but has less charm and less (IMO) entertainment value than the British original. Give it a try.