Trading Spaces S02E45

I'd been eagerly anticipating this episode of A Makeover Story for months, since it represented the conflation of two of my favourite shows: this one, and Trading Spaces. For those of you not familiar with the formula for A Makeover Story, it's basically a variation on the Trading Spaces theme: two people (couples, mothers/daughters, friends, colleagues, what-have-you) agree to get made over by the show. The first segment is an interview with the pair, talking about their style problems (e.g., young people making the transition from college students to first professional positions need new looks; a couple who've been married for years want to rejuvenate their looks for each other, etc.) and going through their existing wardrobes, usually with much sartorial criticism from their makeover partner. The desire for a makeover is usually prompted by some big upcoming event (anniversary party, graduation, new job, divorce, marriage, award show, etc.). All this is interspersed with shots of them doing their jobs, living their lives, etc. The second segment is the shopping trip, where each party goes to a store (almost always without the other one) and tries on four or five different outfits with the assistance of a store clerk or a personal shopper, evaluating the positives and negatives of each outfit and finally selecting one. The third segment is the salon visit, where hair, makeup, aesthetic and/or spa services are performed (or inflicted, as the case may be) and they get dressed for their big event. Then you have the "reveal," where the two participants see each other for the first time and exclaim and hug and, about 75% of the time, cry. Often the makeovers are pretty good, and occasionally quite dramatic; some have been a bit of a fright show, though. It's kind of like Trading Spaces only with people instead of rooms.

The show starts out describing Ty Pennington and Amy Wynn Pastor as "television's hottest carpenters" (sure they are, but then again...the competition's so stiff) while we see some footage from the show (Gen good-naturedly sniping at Ty, Amy Wynn helping Frank demolish a kitchen cabinet), followed by two quick shots of the two of them trying on clothes for their makeover. The narrator informs us that they need makeovers because they've been asked to present an award at the Daytime Emmy Awards. I'm not sure if there are too many women on television these days who need a makeover less than Amy Wynn Pastor...maybe Gillian Anderson (someone I'd give a kidney to look like and sound like). We see some more shots of Ty and Amy Wynn being made over and whirling around in their various outfits, and of course, Ty mugging (go figure) with a tie wrapped around his head, as the narrator wonders for us whether they'll "glam up" in time for the red carpet. The suspense is killing me. Roll credits.

We start with Ty. Various photos of him at various ages are shown, and then we see a shot from an episode of Trading Spaces, where he leapt onto a huge, ugly, crushed gold velvet ottoman on wheels, bicycle helmet strapped on his head, and sailed down a sloping driveway toward Frank, immediately crashing into some carpentry stuff. The titles describe Ty's age as "???" (what's the big secret? Most articles mention his age as thirty-seven) and his job as "carpenter/actor" (though I think "carpenter/court jester" would be more accurate). As Ty stands up, Frank calmly asks if "this is an Olympic thing with [him]." We then see a still shot of Amy Wynn and MPDP sitting back to back. Amy Wynn's smiling normally; MPDP is holding up a huge drill and feigning a quasi-cheesecake pose. This is followed by a photo of a very young Amy Wynn with big rollers in her hair, and looking none too happy about the fact. That's followed by a photo of her holding a baseball bat and wearing a uniform, and looking much happier. Then there's a shot of her with some guy, possibly her husband. The titles inform us that she is a twenty-six-year-old "carpenter/actor" as she gives Vern and MPDP some bad news from an episode of Trading Spaces. Another cute childhood picture for each of them, and then a shot of them at some party with the rest of the cast holding a big Trading Spaces cake.

The narration begins over some footage from the show, reporting that Ty and Amy Wynn don't usually stray far from their tool belts and power tools. Unlike some people, I guess they don't think that high heels and pearls are the ideal work site garb, although I bet Ty could be convinced if he thought it'd get a laugh. Then we see the two of them walking along the water's edge on a beach, wearing casual clothes with their pant legs hiked up. They fool around -- Ty smacks Amy Wynn in the face with a piece of seaweed or something -- and frolic on the beach a bit as the narrator reiterates the information about them being asked to present the award. Ty declares, "All I know is, I better not be in a dress. That's all I got to say." Amy Wynn adds, "And I don't want a tux, 'cause I already look like a man at work." I should look so manly.

We cut to another interview with the two of them at a poolside, probably at a hotel; Amy Wynn's wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans; Ty's wearing a grey t-shirt, army green shorts, and red baseball cap (backwards) with a hank of hair sticking out of the hole at the front. They're talking about the strangeness of their show becoming so popular, since it's a cable show, and Amy Wynn adds that it's exciting. Ty describes being approached by people brandishing Polaroids of projects they did that were inspired by the show. The interview is liberally sprinkled with shots from Trading Spaces. Amy Wynn says, "I know for me, I love that women will come up to me and say, 'You know, my husband's had a garage full of tools for our whole...we've been married for like twenty-five years, but I've never gone in there and used the tools because I thought that I couldn't. But I watched you do it and I'm like, "You know what? I can do this."'" Ty says, "I get just the opposite: The men come up and they go, 'Hey, man, I've seen that show and uh, you know, my wife makes me watch it. But I didn't have to do anything for years until that show came on, and now I have to do something every weekend.'" Amy Wynn laughs. More reveals and show footage.

Amy Wynn continues, saying that travelling is hard but that it's also fun. She adds that it makes it hard for your relationships at home. Ty says that because his car's always loaded with stuff, a friend of his commented that he always looks like he's in the middle of moving. Amy Wynn and Ty agree that travelling for the show is a little bit like that. Cut to the two of them in a hotel room (not like that...geez) in front of their open suitcases; Amy Wynn is criticizing Ty's suitcase as a mess (and indeed, it looks like a bagful of wrinkled laundry). Ty says he knows where everything is. Amy Wynn teases him that she sniffed a dirty sock and explains that she keeps her dirty clothes and her clean clothes separate. Ty jokes that he uses dirty socks instead of fabric softener.

Ty says, "It's filth...and wrinkles." Amy Wynn giggles. I suspect he was asked, as all participants in this show are, to describe his style. We see a screen split into three shots of Ty, and he's wearing a different outfit in each: in the first one, he's got on the interview outfit (grey shirt, mid-calf-length army green shorts, white socks, and sneakers); in the second one, he's wearing a tan suit with a butter yellow shirt and tie. And sneakers. In the last, he's wearing jeans, a white v-neck t-shirt, and a plaid long-sleeved shirt over that. And sneakers. I sense a theme. Ty likens his dirt-and-filth style to a form of tie-dye.

Back to the hotel room: from Amy Wynn's suitcase, Ty grabs a red t-shirt with the neck and sleeves cut out of it and calls it a "Flashdance number." He asks if she cut that out herself. She laughs, saying that she likes the cutoffs. Ty asks her if she prefers Footloose or Flashdance; Amy Wynn picks Flashdance without hesitation. I have no opinion since, I am pleased to say, I've seen neither. Ty thinks that's great and launches into what I believe is supposed to be the jogging-esque phase of the Flashdance...er, dance? Or does one just call it "the Flashdance," like the "the Hustle"? I don't know. I've seen clips of Jennifer Beals doing what looks like some sort of pee-pee dance on meth. I guess that's the Flashdance. Amy Wynn indicates that she's sort of a red person, and there are a few red shirts in her suitcase. It's a great colour on her; she has the perfect colouring to wear blue-toned reds (as opposed to orangey, yellow-toned reds).

Back at the poolside, Amy Wynn says she always dresses for work, even when she's not working. Back in the hotel room: Ty squeezes into one of Amy Wynn's clingy long-sleeved shirts, which proclaims, "It wasn't me." I can see how'd you want that shirt to wear around the Trading Spaces set. It goes to the middle of his rib cage, and given that he has a fairly long torso, you can imagine how ridiculous it looks. Amy Wynn laughs and briefly pulls up his t-shirt to expose his abs. Amy Wynn says that it's Trading Spaces that "turned [her] into a girl." Ty: "Me too!" Amy Wynn says that before that, she never wore makeup, and she always wore jeans and a t-shirt. We see three shots of Amy Wynn side-by-side: in the first, she's wearing blue jeans and an eggplant turtleneck, with black stacked-heel boots; in the second, she's wearing the interview outfit (same jeans, grey t-shirt, sneakers) and in the third she's wearing a black strapless ankle-length A-line dress with a profusion of flowers all over it in various shades of pink, along with a pair of black platforms. I wouldn't have guessed she would own a dress like that.

Back in the hotel room, Ty expresses interest in Amy Wynn's approach of keeping the clean clothes neatly folded and the dirty clothes separate. Poolside, she explains that they're in L.A. again, having done an episode there earlier (we see a shot from the "Los Angeles: Willoughby Avenue" episode) and mentions that she's kind of psyched about getting ready for the awards show. We see some footage of them hanging out at the Los Angeles apartment of one of the Willoughby Avenue homeowners (the room Gen did -- and it looks much as she left it) with at least one of the couples from that show; one of the people there is comedian Chris Wylde, who appears in this episode more than you'd expect. He's one of those people who's always on, always trying for the laugh, which personally tends to grate on my nerves after a while, although I understand some people enjoy it. But one needy goofball per show is plenty for me, thank you. Chris expresses to Ty his hope that he would get a makeover. Then there's a little interview with Chris, saying that Amy Wynn is gorgeous (word) but that Ty needs work.

Chris teases Ty that he heard he wanted to go to a dog groomer for his makeover. Ty says he did: "I wanted to get my back shaved, or waxed...a full waxing." Some friends of Amy Wynn's -- Sarah and Amy -- are also present. Sarah says she's really excited for Amy Wynn. Her friend Amy tells Amy Wynn that she should go for drama in the eyes for her makeover, indicating a kind of Elizabeth-Taylor-as-Cleopatra look with her gestures. Amy advises her that she should play up her great eyes. Ty says something that sounds like he wants pizza crust in his eyes. I'm not sure if I've heard him right but there's no closed captioning, so we'll go with that.

Poolside again: Amy Wynn talks about the season wrap party, and we see some shots of them there. Ty's wearing the jeans and plaid shirt outfit described earlier, even though most people look slightly dressed up, or are wearing "dressy casual" clothing. Amy Wynn's wearing a short-sleeved leopard-print t-shirt and tan pants. We cut to Gen (black halter-neck t-shirt, light beige pants), Hildi (low-cut sleeveless little black dress and a haughty expression); and Laurie (black sleeveless dress with a see-through black jacket over it, probably about six months pregnant) saying how they'd like to see Amy Wynn look. Gen says she'd like to see her in a "full-on formal dress," because Gen's never seen her in anything like that. Laurie agrees. Hildi contributes, gesturing with her hands, that Amy Wynn "has curves" and kind of wiggles to emphasize her point. Laurie would like to see Amy Wynn in something form-fitted and elegant.