The Anna Nicole Show’s Bobby Trendy: The Style of Ineptitude

It is funny how things somehow just come together like this. Just as I was about to begin writing this article, which would induct the interior decorator from The Anna Nicole Show into the Hall of Shame, I ran across two auctions on eBay: One auction was for a leopard-skin couch that was seen in the second episode of the series, the other for what was listed as Anna Nicole’s bed. Both were listed as “Bobby Trendy’s original one of a kind custom made furniture.” Even better was the comment that the bed was “NOT a replica, re-creation or one of many manufactured. This is the real thing as you have seen on TV.”

Which is funny because the bed created for Anna Nicole by Bobby Trendy was destroyed by ANS, Kim, and Howard in Episode Eleven of the series, with the frame broken up and the fabric ripped to pieces. Yet there was the bed, completely intact, being sold on eBay. Or, rather, attempted to be sold on eBay. A single bidder attempted to purchase the bed for $12,000, only to be reminded that they had not reached the minimum bid, although they could “buy it now” for $75,000 if they had wished. They never bothered when the auction was finally closed down on November 10.

Like I said, just funny how things come together like that. It just seems to nail the whole story of Bobby Trendy in one go.

When reviewing the show over the past several weeks, most readers wrote to say what they found irritating about the program. Some said it was ANS, some stated the boring storylines, some even E!’s insistence on showing all ANS’s faults. However, if there was one person from the program that faced the tidal wave of acidic comments more than anyone else did, it had to be that of interior decorator, Bobby Trendy. Although one or two people wrote to say that they liked Trendy merely because he had the ability to upset both ANS and Howard so much, most commented that Trendy had the amazing ability to build sympathy for ANS and Howard where none normally would exist. All without his knowledge, oddly enough. What is surprising is that Trendy did not start that way when he first appeared.

Trendy was first seen in Episode Two of the series, presenting decorating ideas to ANS for her new home. He also took ANS to his shop to show off some of his ready-made furniture, including a monstrosity that would have fit perfectly in Pee-Wee’s Playhouse – a tall, leopard-skin couch. He tried to convince ANS to buy it, but we never saw the couch make it to the house during the series. In all, the second episode ended with Trendy being set to supply the house with furnishings during the next few weeks.

That never happened. Instead, in the weeks to come, Trendy appeared nearly every episode having screwed up another item in ANS’s order. Now, it is one thing to design bad furniture (actually, most of the furniture Trendy shows off in the series appears to have been bought at a Value City remnant furniture store in Nashville, Tennessee), it is another thing completely to be incompetent.

Here’s a small list of things Bobby Trendy failed to do throughout the series, as clearly seen in the episodes themselves:

• Failed to do each room in the house within five days per room, as promised in Episode Two.
• Failed to completely furnish the first floor of the house within a week, as also promised in Episode Two (he returned two weeks later instead).
• When he finally did return to furnish the first floor, he brought two couches, a table, and a vase with flowers. Nothing more was seen.
• Although supplying a specially designed bed for ANS, and having even brought a mattress for it, Bobby failed to furnish a boxspring for the bed. Furthermore, he tried to blame ANS and Howard for failing to supply such an item themselves, stating – bizarrely – that he “doesn’t supply cups and plates.”
• Made the headboard the wrong size for the bed.
• Feathers on promised pillows appeared to be of cheap variety found on prizes in carnivals.
• When the pillows were returned for correction, Trendy kept bringing back odd variations that were even worse than the originals.
• Never completed invoices as promised.
• Failed to furnish material at agreed upon prices.

As mentioned, all these mistakes were made by Trendy on-camera through the series. Now in saying this, it should be pointed out that some of these problems were bound to happen no matter who was doing the designing. Decorating a house is not something just slap-dashed together, but one that requires a lot of give and take between the customer and the decorator. In Trendy’s case, he could have easily pushed his business in a positive sense by simply working with his customer to get the job done. Moreover, if there was a problem where something would not work, he should have been forthright enough to say, “Look, I can’t do it as promised, here’s what I can do instead. Let’s work this out so we’re all happy with it.”