Struggling to compete with the rise of home makeover shows across network and cable television, TLC’s “Trading Spaces” will undergo a facelift. After this spring, “Spaces” will move to a host-less format, meaning that Paige Davis will be departing the cast.
“We believe that this new creative direction will enable the show to be more spontaneous, focus more on the homeowners and designers, and create alternative home trades in different cities and on opposite coasts,” the network says in a statement.
Davis joined “Trading Spaces” in 2001 and has been hosting ever since. It’s unclear if TLC’s decision to go hostless had anything to do with the pictures of Davis doing a striptease at a party and the unfounded rumors of a Davis sex tape had anything to do with the decision. Certainly the network still wishes her well.
“Paige helped make “Trading Spaces’ a great success for the network and we wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors,” the statement reads.
Davis’ final new episode will premiere in March, though she’ll live on in repeats.
“I just wanted to take a minute to say goodbye,” Davis writes on the show’s Web site. “I cannot begin to explain what an incredible journey this show has been for me.”
HBO sweeps major producers guild categories
Premium cable giant HBO dominated Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America awards, winning prizes for drama, comedy and long-form programming.
The Norman Felton Producer of the Year Award for episodic drama went to HBO’s “The Sopranos” and the team of David Chase, Brad Grey, Mitchell Burgess, Robin Green, Ilene S. Landress, Terence Winter, Henry Bronchtein, Matthew Weiner and Martin Bruestle. The mob drama, which won its first outstanding drama Emmy last fall, also won the PGA drama award back in 2000.
HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” also won its second Danny Thomas Producer of the Year Award for episodic comedy. Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Robert B. Weide and Tim Gibbons were the show’s honored producers.
Winner of every other imaginable award under the sun, HBO’s “Angels in America” earned the David L. Wolper Producer of the Year for long-form television. Mike Nichols, Cary Brokaw, Celia Costas and Mike Haley were able to add new trophies to their mantles.
The team behind CBS’ “The Amazing Race” won for nonfiction production, while the variety prize went to the producers of “Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
A frequently reliable predictor of Oscar glory, the Producers Guild Award went to “The Aviator,” and Michael Mann and Graham King, in the feature category. Eleven of the last 15 years, the PGA winner went on to win the best picture Oscar.
Kutcher brings ‘beauty’ to the WB
Ashton Kutcher and producing partner Jason Goldberg are making their first foray into network reality production with The WB’s provocatively titled “Beauty and the Geek.” The series has recently begun production.
“It’s a kind of makeover-meets-a-competition show, where we pair really intelligent young men, high-IQ Mensa students, with some really attractive women who may not quite have the same capacity,” explains WB Entertainment President David Janollari.
On the production side, Kutcher and Goldberg are best known, of course, for the MTV series “Punk’d.” Janollari promises that despite the somewhat sketchy premise, the new series won’t be mean-spirited toward either the geeks or the beauties. In the show’s premise the very different men and women are paired up and they’re expected to share their strengths to become a well-rounded couple.
“It’s actually quite endearing,” Janollari says, “because when we started production and brought them into the set and told them the concept for the first time… the girls were like “Oh, they’re so adorable, I can’t wait to buy them clothes and teach them to dance’ and the guys had the same reaction, “Oh, they’re so lovely, we can teach them math.”
Kutcher’s contract for Fox’s “That “70s Show” expires at the end of the show’s current season, but Fox recently announced plans to go forward with an eighth season in which Kutcher and Topher Grace make only rare cameos.
‘What I Like’ stages mini ‘90210′ reunion
The Feb. 25 episode of The WB’s “What I Like About You” will briefly reunite “Beverly Hills, 90210” stars Luke Perry and Jennie Garth, which must mean that somewhere out there, Shannen Doherty is storming off in disgust. Perry’s appearance leads a list of February sweeps stunts on The WB.
Perry, whose post-“90210” career has featured stints on HBO’s “Oz” and Showtime’s “Jeremiah,” as well as a recent London stage run in “When Harry Met Sally,” will appear in the episode “Dangerous Liaisons.” He plays a plumber who works a job at Val’s (Garth) bakery and stirs up her interest when she remembers him as a flame from her high school days. Amanda Bynes probably does something in the episode as well.
In other guest starring news on The WB, “Titanic” co-star Billy Zane plays an ex-demon with a Robin Hood complex in the Feb. 13 “Carpe Demon” episode of “Charmed.” Zane sticks around for at least one extra week and time travels back to 1899 with Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) in the Feb. 20 episode “Show Ghouls.”
As was previously announced, the Feb. 4 episode of “Reba” will feature an appearance by James Denton (“Desperate Housewives”) and later in the month, Sarah Lancaster’s Madison will be back on “Everwood.”
Also in February, Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp perform on “One Tree Hill.”
‘Reba’ says hello, Dolly
Reba McEntire will be joined on her sitcom by another country-music star later this season when Dolly Parton guest-stars on an episode.
The episode, which tapes in mid-February, will be a rare sitcom appearance for Parton; her last such guest spot was on an episode of CBS’s short-lived “Bette” in October 2000. She’s also appeared on “Designing Women” and starred in a couple of pilots that never made it to the air.
In the “Reba” episode, which doesn’t have an airdate yet, she’ll be playing a successful real-estate broker who crosses paths with Reba, who’s entering the business herself. The part was crafted with Parton in mind.
“I have respected Dolly, both professionally and personally, for my entire career,” McEntire says. “Having her on our show and playing opposite her will be the thrill of a lifetime.”
Parton earned an Oscar nomination in 1981 for her song “Nine to Five” from the movie of the same title, in which she also starred. She’s won seven Grammys in her career, most recently in 2001 for best female country vocal performance.
Her other acting credits include “Steel Magnolias” and “Straight Talk.”
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