S09.E00: Reunion Part 2

[FormerMod-a1]

The Reunion continues

[ElleryAnne]

An overview, in case anyone missed it.

Joyner:  Trading Spaces was a big hit with a cult following.  

Laurie:  I was pregnant during the show.

Paige: I'm not perky, I'm effervescent.  And sunny.

Joyner: Let's watch some clips. Sometimes, the rooms made people cry.

Gen: Beautiful design isn't a luxury. It's a necessity.

Laurie: Twice.  I was pregnant during the show two times.

Paige: I wasn't always being perky.  Sometimes I had to tell people they weren't getting everything done on time.

Joyner: Was it hard doing the show?

Vern: Well, it...

Laurie:  Especially when you're PREGNANT!

Paige: And my haircut went from cute to horrible.

Joyner: Let's meet the new designers and carpenters.

Newbies:  We're all in awe of you. 

Frank: It's not too late to change your minds.

Gen: I was only 25, and no one in their right mind would have let me decorate if it wasn't for a tv show.

Laurie:  PREGNANT!  Also, baby spit-up! On Paige's sweater!  It's still there, and my son is 15 now!

Edited April 15, 2018 by ElleryAnne

[ams1001]

lol...wait, so Laurie had kids while doing the show?!

There was just way too much screaming and applause when the new designers came in.

[Nordly Beaumont]

Wait, what? Laurie was pregnant on the show? Gosh, she must have mentioned it so casually and only once that I missed it!

I wish they would have shown all of Brown Jesse's ridiculous flip out. And then have her on to explain herself. And tell us that Laurie was pregnant on the show.

[Wings]

You get to work with a pregnant woman.  She said that.  

Edited April 15, 2018 by Wings

[Bastet]

Sweet Jesus, is Laurie under the impression it's rare to procreate?  Yes, she was pregnant during the course of filming.  As many/most women work at some point during their pregnancy.  It had zip-point-shit to do with whatever she was talking about, but she kept shoe-horning it in there.  I like her, but shut up!  It's only been a few hours, and I've already forgotten a lot of details from what happened in part two of the reunion other than that nonsense.

What I do remember is how the audience giving a standing ovation to the new cast members dragged on (and was dumb to begin with).  The blooper reel, Paige talking about all the scenarios they put her in for her introductory and "time's up" segments, the designers getting to pick their favorite rooms, and the recap of particularly emotional reveals.  And the lunacy that was Brown Jesse.

Also the woman who hated everything Genevieve did to her bedroom, a reaction I found wildly over-the-top sour under the circumstances, and Gen responding to the question of whether there is something she'd do differently to the room by saying, "Now?  Of course!  I was 25; I can't believe anyone would have asked me then to design their room other than for this show."  Heh.  (I liked the room a lot other than the patterns on the wall in the dressing area.)

Edited April 15, 2018 by Bastet

[Wings]

.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Wings

[fountain]

I think it is a bit unfair to ask if they would change anything now as styles have changed.  I cringe now at some of the folk art crap I liked when I got married 20 years ago.  I did like the Gen room, it was a nice room but I guess not the homeowner’s taste.

Edited April 15, 2018 by fountain

[TVFan17]

I had forgotten about the woman who hated brown until seeing this show.  Wow.... she was ridiculous.  I get the feeling that there was a lot more going on with her than just hating the brown room.    Maybe she was stressed about other things,  or perhaps she was just the type to overreact to everything in real life anyway??    But her reaction was so ridiculous and disproportionate to what was happening.  The other people who didn't like their rooms handled it  better.  She made a fool of herself -- to the point where I, as a viewer who was reminded of her reaction, actually wished the room had been even more brown.... just to annoy her!   lol

Edited April 15, 2018 by TVFan17

[SHD]

1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

There was just way too much screaming and applause when the new designers came in.

Seriously. The whole audience seemed like an infomercial audience. I would've liked it better with no audience.

I get why Laurie mentioned being pregnant. They were talking about how tiring it was for the designers and she was making the point that she had the same amount of work as they did AND was pregnant or taking care of a baby. I don't think she was implying she had things harder than any other working woman who was expecting, just that she had more on her plate than the other designers at the time.  Still, mentioning it once would've been plenty.

[Jadzia]

I was reading Wikipedia while I was watching this show and I had forgotten that Trading Spaces had removed Paige Davis and went to a host-less format in 2005. I think I had already stopped watching the show by then. I noticed that when they were showing clips from a post-Katrina show there did not appear to be a host - and all the inset reaction shots of the designers looked emotional while Paige's face just looked kind of pissed. Guess she wasn't perky about that period of the show's history.

[mlp]

Quote

Sweet Jesus, is Laurie under the impression it's rare to procreate? 

I was coming here to say the same thing but I see that you all have it covered.  

I don't think Carter said a word during the entire show.  If he did, I missed it.

Paige would drive me nuts with her "perkiness" and well-rehearsed reasons why the homeowners should respect the designers' creative ideas even if they don't like them.  As someone said last week, I'd have to tell her to keep her hands off me.  All that touchy-feely hand and arm holding she does gives me the creeps.

[LexieLily]

7 minutes ago, mlp said:

Paige would drive me nuts with her "perkiness" and well-rehearsed reasons why the homeowners should respect the designers' creative ideas even if they don't like them.  As someone said last week, I'd have to tell her to keep her hands off me.  All that touchy-feely hand and arm holding she does gives me the creeps.

I've been watching the classic episodes that air on the weekends and I've noticed that Paige often defaults to giggle-giggle, isn't that funny mode when she was showing a homeowner a room and they didn't like it, even the out-there ones like hay-on-the-wall. Now that I'm older and watching the show for the first time in a decade plus, that bothers me somewhat. Yes, the homeowners signed up for the show and knew what they were getting into but they are not obligated to respect the designers' creative ideas when the ideas explicitly A) go against the homeowners wishes in a way that would be time-consuming and/or expensive to revert back to the standard (hay-on-the-wall, flowers-in-the-bathroom, white-room boys' wood) and B) are ill-conceived or ill-planned. (Kia's military room for the military base homeowners that wanted a non-military room). Some of the designers' needed that pushback from the neighbors.

[Bastet]

21 minutes ago, mlp said:

As someone said last week, I'd have to tell her to keep her hands off me.  All that touchy-feely hand and arm holding she does gives me the creeps.

Despite not wanting to be touched other than under specific circumstances (none of which include a TV host), that's probably the one habit of Perky Paige's that wouldn't annoy me had I lost my mind and signed up for a TV show; she needs to keep them in the primary cameras' frames upon reveal, when it's human nature to not just turn around but walk around, and no matter how much you prep someone beforehand they'll just do what they're going to do in the grips of the emotion of seeing their room, so holding onto them gives Paige the best shot of corralling the homeowners to preserve the shots of genuine reaction.  For that to come off remotely naturally under the guise of "let me guide you in and tell you when to look" is just Paige doing her job.

[SHD]

I can't believe that in the one clip shown that Doug was told not to throw furniture out the window, did it anyway, caused $8000 worth of damage, and TLC picked up the bill and didn't make Doug pay out of his pocket. That cost indicates more than just a clipped gutter. He obviously caused structural damage to the roof or eaves. What a jerk move.

[Maverick]

As Paige said, Doug knows what makes good TV.  I'm sure they weren't thrilled with the $8,000 bill, but I imagine they viewed it as part of the cost of doing business.  They didn't curb Hildi after paying for they hay walls, so TLC knew what as up.  I was more concerned for the cameraman he was apparently targeting.

 And the awkwardness continues.  Hildi clearly did NOT want to be there.  Laurie decided to make a drinking game out of the work 'pregnant' (seriously, if this show were on in the 50s she would have had the network fined out of existence).  The insets showing the designers were cringe-inducing.  

 If you're going to show Brown Jessie, how to you not show the full meltdown?  I mean they left the nuttiest part out.  For you old timers who remember The Real World, I was reminded of the second season in the incident that got David kicked out where no one could really tell if he and Tami were horsing around or really in n argument.  I forgot how hot Jessie's husband was.  Run Hot Jessie's Husband, run!

[lolitahoundita]

Did anyone notice that Doug had some kind of red and black box on his ankle during some of the early scenes of the reunion? His pant leg was kind of pulled up and you could see it - it kind of looked like an electric home monitoring bracelet?  Did he get in some sort of legal trouble?

[Jaded]

24 minutes ago, lolitahoundita said:

Did anyone notice that Doug had some kind of red and black box on his ankle during some of the early scenes of the reunion? His pant leg was kind of pulled up and you could see it - it kind of looked like an electric home monitoring bracelet?  Did he get in some sort of legal trouble?

I can only find mentions of his DUI from 2008 online. So if it's a monitoring bracelet he's done a good job at keeping things mum. 

At the time Paige got removed as host I was glad to be rid of her. Her personality had started to get really grating near the end of her original tenure. When they brought her back near the end of the original run she had toned things down and was tolerable again.

Laurie seems to be one of those women who think pregnancy is just amazing amazing amazing that drive me crazy. 

That part at the end where Doug's nephew and brother were mentioned was kind of a down note to end the 2nd part of the reunion on. 

I must have missed the part where they introduced the new designers. I did ff'd though some of it.

[SHD]

57 minutes ago, lolitahoundita said:

Did anyone notice that Doug had some kind of red and black box on his ankle during some of the early scenes of the reunion? His pant leg was kind of pulled up and you could see it - it kind of looked like an electric home monitoring bracelet?  Did he get in some sort of legal trouble?

Maybe his mic battery pack? Odd place for it, but a possibility?

[suebee12]

I keep meaning to post about when I rented a special that Trading Spaces did for DVD...not sure when it was but it was in Hi Def! Boy, what a surprise! Why? Because you could see all the bad painting that had been done...drips, spatters and runny paint. What had looked amazing...well, maybe not amazing, but at least nice, was really a big mess. Regular television didn't let you see how bad it really was but a Hi Def recording sure did.  It is kinda' like we didn't use to see how bad people's complexions were and probably why lots of entertainers don't like now...I was noticing that on Idol as I watched tonight. Anyway, way back when, the rooms looked much better because we couldn't really see them!

[RedbirdNelly]

On ‎4‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 10:32 PM, Bastet said:

 

Also the woman who hated everything Genevieve did to her bedroom, a reaction I found wildly over-the-top sour under the circumstances, and Gen responding to the question of whether there is something she'd do differently to the room by saying, "Now?  Of course!  I was 25; I can't believe anyone would have asked me then to design their room other than for this show."  Heh.  (I liked the room a lot other than the patterns on the wall in the dressing area.)

that episode always bugged me  because I thought it was one of Gen's best rooms. The owner was such a jerk about it. And I actually liked the patterns on the wall since it was a small area.

[Wings]

Paige's ever changing, flippy hairstyle now makes sense.  Of course!  She gets it cut by randome stylists all over the country.  What I don't understand is she hated that style.  Why not change it to something more knew how to cut. She eventually did but she had that one for years! 

[roughing it]

Toward the end, Frank said (paraphrasing) that people decorated their rooms in such a way because they didn't have the funds to make it really nice, and that they had to make do with what they had.  And that this was their (Trading Spaces) opportunity to give them a nice room.  Frank, your words to Hildi's ears.  Even in the reboot, Hildi has no intention of giving the homeowners a beautiful, functional room.

[AnnieHeights]

13 minutes ago, roughing it said:

Toward the end, Frank said (paraphrasing) that people decorated their rooms in such a way because they didn't have the funds to make it really nice, and that they had to make do with what they had. 

Frank was my least favorite designer but he seems like a genuinely nice man.  

I was surprised to see John Gidding from Curb Appeal as one of the new designers....I've always liked him and he is very handsome! The new female carpenter looks familiar as well.

Oh and 'Brown Girl' was horrible, did I see correctly where she pushed both of the homeowners?!  What a 'you know what'!  

I felt bad for Doug when he was discussing his family.

Laurie was obnoxious about being pregnant. 

I would have loved to have seen more updates on the homeowners.          

[RedbirdNelly]

30 minutes ago, AnnieHeights said:

Frank was my least favorite designer but he seems like a genuinely nice man.  

 

I agree so much with this. I'd like to work with him but not necessarily do my house.

[Enigma X]

Frank's country kitsch is not for me either.

[roughing it]

I'm not a designer but my room needs help.  So here's my challenge for the designers (and Trading Spaces) - make my room into something you might see in a magazine on a $2000 budget, not something you'd see in an exhibit at the clown museum.

[Enigma X]

I liken what some of the designers do to runway fashion. Most people would never wear those outfits in everyday life just as most people would never design a room with feathers or fabric to live in. 

[penbrat]

36 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

I agree so much with this. I'd like to work with him but not necessarily do my house.

Me too.  If I were on the show I would love to work with Frank or Doug, as long as I knew Vern (or Ty if he was being designer again) were in my house doing my room

[HurricaneVal]

I'd kind of be OK with Doug doing my room, so long as he wasn't in a "mood."  He's done some incredibly beautiful stuff, and even his over the top stuff could be edited down to a nice room, like his "Prison of Love" room.  But every once in a while, he'd get in a snit--I blame the producers--and go full metal Hildi on a room.

I fear for Brown Jessie's family.  That instant physical pushing of her "friends" as she objected to her room was indicative of someone who cannot control themselves appropriately..

The one thing I thought they'd do a little segment on, but didn't, was how Genevieve always painted barefoot.  I remember one episode where Paige finally asked her about that quirk, and Genevieve said it was so she could feel if she'd stepped in any paint drippings, so she could clean her feet or put on sandals before stepping off the drop cloth and onto the flooring in the rest of the house.  It made so much sense!  Here we were assuming it was some hippy-dippy flower child, airhead, scattered Genevieve thing, and it turned out to be very practical.

Are they just doing the two part reunion, and now we're done?  Or are they going to preface all the new episodes with another hour of reunion?  I think they've mined what they could mine out of the reunion material, and any more episodes would just be Laurie showing baby photos.

[Mabinogia]

17 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

The one thing I thought they'd do a little segment on, but didn't, was how Genevieve always painted barefoot.  I remember one episode where Paige finally asked her about that quirk, and Genevieve said it was so she could feel if she'd stepped in any paint drippings, so she could clean her feet or put on sandals before stepping off the drop cloth and onto the flooring in the rest of the house.  It made so much sense!  Here we were assuming it was some hippy-dippy flower child, airhead, scattered Genevieve thing, and it turned out to be very practical.

I didn't know that. That's actually pretty smart. Certainly makes more sense than Hildi and her kitten heeled slip ons while standing on scaffolding or riding bikes.

 

And yeah, Brown Jessie was scary. If that's her reaction to a room being painted, YIKES! I fear for her family!!!!! haha

[auntjess]

1 hour ago, roughing it said:

I'm not a designer but my room needs help.  So here's my challenge for the designers (and Trading Spaces) - make my room into something you might see in a magazine on a $2000 budget, not something you'd see in an exhibit at the clown museum.

You need that show, and I can't remember the name of it, where people would find a room that they loved, in a magazine, and a designer would figure out how to approximate it, at a much lower cost.

[Bastet]

54 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

Are they just doing the two part reunion, and now we're done? 

Yep, it was just these two parts.

32 minutes ago, auntjess said:

You need that show, and I can't remember the name of it, where people would find a room that they loved, in a magazine, and a designer would figure out how to approximate it, at a much lower cost.

Sensible Chic.

[ElsieH]

3 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

The one thing I thought they'd do a little segment on, but didn't, was how Genevieve always painted barefoot.  I remember one episode where Paige finally asked her about that quirk, and Genevieve said it was so she could feel if she'd stepped in any paint drippings, so she could clean her feet or put on sandals before stepping off the drop cloth and onto the flooring in the rest of the house.  It made so much sense!  Here we were assuming it was some hippy-dippy flower child, airhead, scattered Genevieve thing, and it turned out to be very practical.

I do that too, except it does hurt to stand on the ladders with bare feet. What I have always wondered is, how come those designers never get paint or anything on their clothes? I could not begin to paint a wall and not end up with something on either me, my hair, or whatever I'm wearing. How do they do it, if they indeed do more of the painting than is shown? 

 

Also makes me wonder how those HO's always look so put together. If I was doing that show, I'd be a sweaty, sloppy mess with paint in my hair but they always look like they just got out of the shower.

[Lakebum]

6 hours ago, Wings said:

Paige's ever changing, flippy hairstyle now makes sense.  Of course!  She gets it cut by randome stylists all over the country.  What I don't understand is she hated that style.  Why not change it to something more knew how to cut. She eventually did but she had that one for years! 

It's picky and apropos of nothing important, but... I have never seen a relatively tame hairstyle alter someone's appeal more. I found "previous Paige" to be incredibly attractive, and "present Paige" to be... considerably less so. And I can't see any real difference between the two except the hair.

[Wings]

2 minutes ago, Lakebum said:

It's picky and apropos of nothing important, but... I have never seen a relatively tame hairstyle alter someone's appeal more. I found "previous Paige" to be incredibly attractive, and "present Paige" to be... considerably less so. And I can't see any real difference between the two except the hair.

 I agree.  Her hair looked best in the cut she had after the many versions of the flip.  When that old style was cut correctly it looked great.  

The cut she has now is a good one but not on her. 

[Eeksquire]

Quote

Frank's country kitsch is not for me either.

I am curious to see Frank's first episode of the reboot - I've caught a couple of the older episodes that they've rerun and it wasn't always chickens and serapes.  His country thing was out of date (though not unheard of) when the show was originally airing and I'd like to see if his aesthetic is more modern now. 

By the same token, even some of Vern's rooms on the reruns made me cringe - I think the very nature of design shows is that they will age rapidly.  (The immediate analogue that comes to mind is the barn doors that Chip and Jo insist on putting on every freakin' bathroom door in master bedrooms - they will scream 2018! in about 18 months.)

ETA: As far as I can tell, Laurie's preppy rooms still mostly work - even if they're a bit boring, classic is classic for a reason.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Eeksquire

[Jsage]

Quote

I am curious to see Frank's first episode of the reboot - I've caught a couple of the older episodes that they've rerun and it wasn't always chickens and serapes.  His country thing was out of date (though not unheard of) when the show was originally airing and I'd like to see if his aesthetic is more modern now. 

By the same token, even some of Vern's rooms on the reruns made me cringe - I think the very nature of design shows is that they will age rapidly.  

What I always loved about Vern and Frank is that they always put the homeowners and their needs first. They also seemed to always be their genuine selves on the show, rather than a character like evil Hildi and boho Gen. Or pregnant Laurie.

[lovinbob]

On 4/14/2018 at 11:32 PM, Bastet said:

Also the woman who hated everything Genevieve did to her bedroom, a reaction I found wildly over-the-top sour under the circumstances, and Gen responding to the question of whether there is something she'd do differently to the room by saying, "Now?  Of course!  I was 25; I can't believe anyone would have asked me then to design their room other than for this show."  Heh.  (I liked the room a lot other than the patterns on the wall in the dressing area.)

I was happy to see that woman smile and laugh about the room in the present day. I didn't hate Gen's room--there was a lot about it like that--but the bed looked like crap. 

On 4/15/2018 at 1:35 AM, mlp said:

I don't think Carter said a word during the entire show.  If he did, I missed it.

I think Carter is a genuinely nice person and not an attention seeker. When surrounded by over the top personalities, he just sort of fades into the background. Despite being seriously hot. 

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, lovinbob said:

I think Carter is a genuinely nice person and not an attention seeker. When surrounded by over the top personalities, he just sort of fades into the background. Despite being seriously hot. 

I'm shallow enough to be fine with him just sitting there looking hot. He doesn't have to say a word if he doesn't want to. :)

[endure]

Paige is so Mary Tyler Moore!

[Westiepeach]

11 hours ago, endure said:

Paige is so Mary Tyler Moore!

“You’re spunky. I hate spunky.”

[Gam2]

I loved Lou. In fact, I loved all of the characters and the whole show.  I miss really funny, well written sitcoms. MTM, Cheers, Frazier, Seinfeld, etc. Sad.