Let�s drop Jeff�s Manhood Meter another half-point (near Tom Cruise territory, who, having pretended long enough to love Hollywood starlets, is dangerously close to owning all Prada suita and spending a couple of hours at a spa to get a massage and facial, if you know what I mean).
Every day at 4 p.m. EST, I wake up, turn on TLC and watch �Trading Spaces� while reading the paper before having to get ready for work.
I ogle the sprightly Gen, fawn over the dreamy Amy Wynn, laugh at Ty�s antics, admire the Southern charm of Laurie, shake my head at the image of Doug and shriek at Hildi�s designs.
Thus, I am much closer to appearing on �Queer Eye for the Straight Guy� than �The Man Show,� but doggone it if I didn�t ingest �Trading Spaces Behind The Scenes� in less than a weekend when I could borrow my Mom�s copy last week.
The book is seemingly what hardcore fans want most, sugary goody-goody bite-size confections about the designers and carpenters that are easy to absorb. There are colorful pictures and boxes of asides for more info such as which designer you�re most like, or analyzing a designers most daring rooms.
The book is mostly fluff, but acknowledges designs that didn�t work and that the designers can be prickly about perfection and about a �their way or the highway� mentality. Most surprising to me was that Frank comes across entirely different on the show than he seems in reality, and not in a good way. He seems most huffy and impatient with people, and I�m not sure I�d enjoy working with him like I originally imagined.
Among the insider tales that do stand out, includes that of Mississippi belle Laurie, who had a child a couple of seasons ago:
One thing that helped is that Hildi has a Pluto collection (yes, Mickey�s dog) and that she is a native Cuban who knows the horrors that �Castro is a cancer.� That speaks volumes to my freedom-loving conservative spirit, which was also boosted by the knowledge that her family was well-to-do in Cuba, but fled to the States and became a rebuilding success story. She, however, ended up marrying an elite Frenchman, which knocks her down a notch or ten.
One revelation is that most of the cast of designers and carpenters, including host Paige Davis, has a background in performing arts, especially in theater and dance. It�s what makes �Trading Spaces� stand out against some of the droll design shows out there, especially on HGTV, which is more refined and, to make up a metaphor, an expensive restaurant compared to the fast-food of �Spaces� and TLC as a whole. But really, don�t my middle-class anti-fru fru readers want a hamburger and fries (or nuggets!) over something that includes a la anything?
Still, as a TV employee, I wish there was more behind-the-scenes in �Behind the Scenes.�
I guess I�d like to know more about the folks who actually do most of the hard labor but don�t get the credit. That�s just the humble opinion of me, a technical guy at CNN Headline News who is just fine and dandy that the only airtime I get is the back of my head when I�m at the switcher during a live shot inside the control room, and the excitement on New Year�s Eve of seeing my name in the credit roll.
You, I�m sure, don�t care about my poor depressing behind the camera plight, so you�ll probably enjoy the flattering bios and be entertained by the snazzy graphics. The book delivers just as the show does, quick to enjoy and easy to digest.
� � during Laurie�s first episodes after her maternity leave, Gibson [her son] was on the set (with the care of a nanny), and Laurie was nursing. By day two, Laurie realized that her attempts at discretion were futile. At one point, she was nursing Gibson on a homeowner�s living room sofa, surrounded by no less than nine cast and crew members.� (45)
Speaking of Hildi�s frightening designs earlier, the book did humanize her a touch and attempt to convince us that she�s down-to-earth, which doesn�t mean a flying flip when she walks into your room and leaves hay on the walls. But even though Hildi still panics me, but she did live in Atlanta for a while so I can cut her some slack.
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