Trading Spouses

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trading Spouses
The Trading Spouses Logo
Format	Reality TV
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	60
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chris Cowan Jean-Michel Michenaud
Running time	44 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX
Original run	July 1, 2004 – May 3, 2007
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Trading Spouses (often advertised as Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy) is a FOX reality show in which two families, usually of different social classes, swap wives or husbands for a week. Each family is awarded $50,000, with the stipulation that the guest mother decides how her host family must spend the money. The title of the show is a play on the title of the television program Trading Spaces.

The show shares a very similar format to the Channel 4 United Kingdom (and subsequent ABC remake) program Wife Swap. In 2004, ABC showcased their upcoming Wife Swap show including projections of its popularity. Weeks before the show's debut, FOX introduced Trading Spouses.^[1] The producers of Wife Swap, RDF Media, claimed FOX stole their concept,^[2] while FOX argued that TV shows have always borrowed from one another and that FOX simply beat ABC to delivery.^{[citation needed]}

Audio clips from contestant Marguerite Perrin appear often on the radio show Loveline.

Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show featured a sketch called "Trading Spouses" nearly a year before the Fox show aired. Despite the similarities, the sketch appears to be based on the home-decorating show Trading Spaces and Dave Chappelle's stand-up comedy.

The show has completed airing its third season on May 3, 2007. On February 27, 2008, FOX has announced that the they have sold the rights to Trading Spouses to CMT, effectively ending the series. ^[3]