This Side of the Pond

Someone has hit the rewind button on my television, all the way back to the 1990s. The infamous home renovation show that birthed an entire genre is set to return to British screens – and I honestly cannot wait.

The name of this game is Changing Rooms, and it was an accidental masterpiece. I believe it was adapted here after it became wildly popular back home (and was the inspiration for Trading Spaces), but I don’t know if the American crew was quite as oblivious to its own insanity.

This was the early days of the “modern” home renovation show, long before designers were given buckets full of...