I'm watching Trading Spaces. Fizzgigg just went nuts when somebody on the TV opened and closed a screen door. It sounded just like our front door opening and closing. So now he's standing at the stairway door barking his little head off.

He's been doing a lot of that lately. The cats appear to be quite bothersome to him. Vanilla (the old bitchy kitty) still barely tolerates Nibblet (the adoreable pain-in-the-ass kitten), although she will deign to be in the same room with her now. But Nibblet likes to chase her, and she hisses, and they get into slap fights, and Fizzgigg loses it. I don't blame him. The cats are pretty annoying. He springs up out of his little bed and runs over to them, growling and barking and just generally being pissy with them. "Dammit, cats! Shut up! Just Shut. The. Hell. UP!" is what he seems to be saying. Poor little guy. By the way, his leg seems to be better. He still limps on it, but at least he's using it now.

So anyway, Trading Spaces. America's answer to (read: rip-off of) Changing Rooms. I started watching it out of curiosity, to see how well it stacked up against it's UK predecessor. The answer? It doesn't. Maybe it's just because Brits are just a hell of a lot more fun to watch, but Changing Rooms is a much better show. I think it also has to do with the way the two are edited. Changing Rooms is only a half hour show, it's fast-paced and much more suspenseful (yes, I said suspenseful. Yes, it's a decorating show. Trust me, there's suspense. Will they finish on time? Will they come in under budget? Will the people like what's been done to their house? Will somebody cry? Will Andy and Lawrence fight? Edge-of-your-seat stuff, baby!), and it's more concerned with entertainment value. Trading Spaces, on the other hand, is an hour long, and they feel it necessary to show you EV-er-y-thing, and, in keeping with the rest of The Learning Channel, they seem to feel it necessary to explain every step. Also, with the former, when they like it, they say things like, "Bloody hell! I'm completely gobsmacked! This is fab!" while on TS everybody's more likely to say stuff like "Wow, this is really cool!"

And yet, I'm hooked on TS. Not as hooked as I am on Changing Rooms, but still. It's a nice afternoon distraction. I can spend a whole hour making fun of it, and then switch over to CR as soon as it's over and see it done right.