TV commentary

I was watching a Trading Spaces the other evening, and I noticed something. They mixed the usual crew up a little on the episode - Laura Day was one of the designers, and Faber (the new guy) was the carpenter. First off, Faber seems to be a very good carpenter, but I'm not a big fan. He lacks either Ty's goofiness or Amy Wynn's gee-golly earnestness. He's just talented, nice, and resourceful. I'd hire him to work on my house, but I don't think I'm crazy about him on TV.

Secondly, Laura is cute. Very, very, cute. But she showed more personality while watching the homeowners comment during the reveal than she showed the whole rest of the episode. And I haven't been nuts about her designs in the episodes she's been on so far. Bleh.

In fact, most of the new folks (Barry, Rick, et al) and changes this season haven't done a lot for me. I still like the show, though, but I do a lot more fast-forwarding than I used to.

The only other show on my hitlist today is WWE Afterburn. It's the syndicated highlight show from the SmackDown/Velocity show duo that airs in minor markets nationwide. The reason I mention it is because once in a while TiVo automatically records it for me, and when it does I usually watch (or at least fast-forward) it - mainly because I don't ever bother watching Velocity and I can catch a match recap or two.

The Afterburn hosts are Josh Matthews and Rue DeBona. Josh tried the wrestling thing (he was a contestant on the original Tough Enough), but was too small to get ahead - he's turned into a decent announcer and is improving regularly. Rue, on the other hand, is OK, but more importantly she's hot. Smokin', save this show to tape-class hot. Darn near Stacy Keibler-class hot.

Why they're burying her on Afterburn, I have no idea. She should at least be doing the interview segments on SmackDown.

However, it takes a lot more than hottie-ness to get me watching a show regularly. Sorry, I'll just stick with the Big Two WWE shows.

I also have to say (on the WWE subject) that Michael Cole and Tazz are arguably better than JR and the King. If Cole dropped a few of his cliches (especially talking about how wrestler X is "in control"), they'd be uncontested in the top spot. JR is still good (and remains the best seller in the business), but King is getting old (even if his facelift makes him look younger than ever).