Back in early 200s, a show that caters to home design changed the flow of cultural and television history, the Trading Spaces on TV's TLC. The failure and success follows a line in the network's programming, starting from a reality TV as operational basic education to a mild Duggar-filled eyesore it has become today.
Trading Spaces premiered on Oct. 13, 2000. Just like several great shows that came before and followed it, the notion came from the other show, which had been quite successful abroad, the Changing Rooms on BBC. Like most programs that were made at the onset of a reality television progress, its proposition was fairly simple. A couple of groups of people who are known to each other will literally exchange their spaces for a couple of days, and through the guidance of a carpenter, designer and budget of $1,000, will redesign a room in an opposite's home, Multi Channel shared.
At least, that was the concept of reality then. The following year, in the latest article, Times discussed Stephen Schwartz, the show's EP bragging that Trading Spaces received " applicants of about a thousand and more each week from over the country wanting to participate," citing that "they must have a long list of designers committed to be part of the regular team."
Trading Spaces did not have an instant success. With its premiere episode that aired in 2001, as reported by New York Daily News, had a few outstanding programming slots, which aired in the afternoon during weekdays and on weekends. During the weekends, it roughly made half a million viewers per episode. "That's quite nowhere near tv ratings of those daytime giants like Oprah with 7.1 million of viewers every show and Martha Stewart with 1.7 million and the leagues behind the Changing Rooms' with 12 million viewers," New York Daily reported.
