Truer words were seldom spoken...

TLC's fall slogan is "It's Someplace Else."

Yeah, and it's not someplace I recognize or want to be.

The network I used to watch more than any other except ESPN has gone all to hell this fall.

The trouble started back in the spring, when "Trading Spaces" dumped Paige Davis and went hostless. It sucks. I've watched one episode since about June - the one where they conned the designers with fake homeowners. That one was good. But otherwise, the hostless format is the suck, something it took me about three episodes to realize.

Then two shows I used to watch sporadically, "Trading Spaces: Family" (which kept its irritating host, Joe Farrell) and "In a Fix," vanished from the primetime lineup. They were still on here and there... which is probably how I missed that they got canceled in July. And while these weren't shows I watched regularly, I still watched the repeats from time to time.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, the last show standing, "While You Were Out," vanished from the primetime schedule. Apparently, it hasn't been canceled, but it's been shuffled off to a dreadful 6 p.m. Saturday timeslot, plus its "regular" daily repeat at 5, left over from the days when WYWO and TS were the two hottest shows on TLC.

Meanwhile, TLC has added a lineup of shows that look about as appealing as having a medical implement shoved up my penis. And take my word for it, this isn't very appealing. I'm never trusting a urologist again.

I'll give Adam Carolla this: He was at Raiders minicamp a few years ago, so I'm hoping he's a Raiders fan. That's not going to get me watching his stupid show. And the less said about "Tuckerville" and "Ballroom Bootcamp," the better. Words, on the other hand, cannot describe the horror that was "Random Acts of Duff." I caught a couple of minutes of this. I'd rather go back to the urologist, daily.

Now, I'll admit my TV watching runs in phases. Ask the Iron Chefs, who I haven't seen in ages. On the other hand, I'm watching "Food Network Challenge" every week.

But TLC had shows I consistently enjoyed - particularly as a novice homeowner. And now the cupboard is pretty much bare.

It's too bad. But it was fun while it lasted.

Links:
• WYWO: While You Were Online
• The Web site of Evan Farmer, WYWO host - he takes some getting used to, but he grows on you after a while
• The train wreck that is today's TLC