Fans of the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition may be interested to learn that the show is currently filming right here in Utah. Specifically, Bountiful, Utah, which, for you out-of-staters, is a quiet little burg just north of Salt Lake City.
If you’re unfamiliar with EM:HE, it’s basically a touchy-feely reality show in which a needy family — typical attributes include chronic diseases, tragic deaths, and/or physical challenges — gets sent away on vacation for a week while a team of contractors and community volunteers “remodel” their home. This “remodelling” process more often than not involves the total demolition of the existing house, whereupon an all-new, entirely customized structure is built for the lucky fam. The gimmick of the show is that all the work must be done within seven days, or as close to that limit as possible. The end results are revealed to the family in a theatrical fashion, and many tears usually ensue.
I’m not a big fan of the show, for a number of reasons. The host and ringleader of the construction team, Ty Pennington, is a little too hyper for my personal comfort level, and the whole-house demolitions strike me as being more about spectacle for the cameras than actual engineering necessities. In addition, the big weepy endings generally make me feel twitchy, rather than surrounded by the warm ‘n’ fuzzy glow the producers are going for. But then, as my Significant Other frequently reminds me, I am kind of a curmudgeonly old poop, and not easily moved by the things that work for other folks. (For the record, Anne enjoys the show quite a bit, and I tolerate it for her sake.)
So why am I blogging about a show I don’t much like? Easy, it’s a slow news week… no, actually, I always find it interesting when Utah ends up in the national spotlight, and having a local family and community appear on the #4 TV show in the land definitely fits that bill. Plus, I’m trying to be a good neighbor here by providing a valuable service: if this show is your sort of thing, then by all means check out Bountiful’s official Extreme Makeover Web site, and watch for the episode some time in the winter…
(Incidentally, do they even still do the original, human-edition Extreme Makeover?)
Yes, they do. It’s on tonight or tomorrow. 🙂
Steve hasn’t liked watching that show for two reasons… 1) the endings usually make him cry, and 2) ever since they took out all the actual construction tips and put them in a separate show Monday night (Extreme Makeover: How’d They Do That?) he feels it’s less about the actual rebuild and more about the spectacle and heartstring-tugging, and it’s the rebuild we’re interested in.
I completely agree with Steve. Well, except for the crying bit. Remember, curmudgeonly old poop here. But the spectacle and manipulative heartstring-thing… definitely.