So much unsaid in this NY Daily News article about TLC’s Paige Davis returning as host of “Trading Spaces.”

Let’s recap: TLC’s “Trading,” based on a UK reality format, launched in 2000 with host Alex McLeod. The show was popular from the start, but in the second season, McLeod was replaced by Davis.

By 2002, the show had become the most successful program TLC had ever aired. “Trading” launched a ton of knock offs across a slew of basic cable networks in two genre directions – shows about decorating/houses, and shows about makeovers.

TLC over-stuffed their schedule with as much “Trading” as they could produce and, like ABC over-airing “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” the short-sighted strategy blew up in their faces.

The ratings for “Trading” crashed in 2004, dragging TLC down along with it.

That same year, Davis was photographed like this (NSFW), trading the space inside her panties for fistfuls of cash while stripping at a fundraiser.

Then she was fired in January, 2005.

Was that fair?

Well, it certainly wasn’t her fault the ratings crashed. Audiences weren’t rejecting Davis, they were weary of watching the same show every couple hours.

It was her fault that she got her thong stuffed by eager hordes of men in a New York club but, hey, it was for charity, and the network should have been more forgiving. We’re all grown ups here in the home improvement aisle, right?

Welcome back Paige.

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