Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

[Melinda]

oh!

Well, I knew they apply for the show- the design team watch the videos and cry on the bus every week!

"...Little Timmy has no legs and his dad died in a fire rescuing him, now he and his mother live with their elderly great aunt..."

But it seems the only surprise to the family is the timing? They already know they have been selected?

 

[butterfly child]

oh!

Well, I knew they apply for the show- the design team watch the videos and cry on the bus every week!

"...Little Timmy has no legs and his dad died in a fire rescuing him, now he and his mother live with their elderly great aunt..."

But it seems the only surprise to the family is the timing? They already know they have been selected?

No, the surprise is that they don't know what they're coming home to.

As missfran already said

Some of them really do live in shacks, don't they? I remember one where the family were living in a house with only half a roof and another where like 8 of them were living in something not much bigger than my garden shed AND one the family was in a wheelchair following a shooting. Living in a shed!

I think that last one took longer than a week, they had their holiday extended partway through.

 

[Melinda]

No, the surprise is that they don't know what they're coming home to.

As missfran already said

Bah! you knew what I meant!

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Its wonderful and terrible at the same time. Its like eating the most gooey and sickly cake you could ever eat in your life. It looks so attractive but leaves you feeling sick after and yet still wanting more.

UK Style had a whole weekend of these shows last year and I completely overdosed. The one that got me was the man who was blind. They completely did his house so that he could feel which room he was in. The made a special blind garden and gave his kids loads of stuff and at the end brought out an adorable little labradour puppy to be trained as a guide dog.

What I would love to know is how it all works for people after the show. Some of the families are from really poor parts of the town and suddenly their house is demolished and re built in a fantastic way amongst the neighbours they have been living with all their lives. How do the neighbours feel? Do they maintain those friendships now their lives are so much more improved materialistically?

Thats the other thing I want to know....do their lives improve now they have everything they have ever wanted or....I want them to re visit the families but then the show is so formulaic and American they would only really show happy ever after stories...

I have mixed views of this show to be honest.

Whatever happens, I'm sure that the people who were on the show are better off for not living in the falling-down hovels that are usually selected for replacement by the show.

Often, it's a situation of ten people living in three rooms or something, so even if the new house falls into disrepair, it has to be a better life to be in a 5000 square foot broken down house, as opposed to a 500 square foot broken down shack.

I wonder if it's human nature to want to see those who succeed, or who have good luck, fail.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Ty's lovely though

.

Ask Mighty Aphrodite about Ty Pennington.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

But it seems the only surprise to the family is the timing? They already know they have been selected?

They have to know, because Ty Pennington comes to their original house, and packs them off in a limo to a vacation spot for a week, while their house is demolished. He also checks in with them on the vacation at least once, by phone.

This sort of thing would tip off most people.

 

[Lisarocket]

I love it when the special weekends of back to back Extreme Makeover coincide with my periods. It's a total cryathon in my flat

 

[Jazzz]

Nothing could possibly beat The Swan - I'd go to jelly with that one

 

[twisted_angel]

This was on when i got home today, a 2 hour special it made me cry a little.
But then i spoil it by wondering how they do it all without the families knowledge as surely they need planning permission/ surveys carried out and regulations ect made and passed that the time they say they do it in cant be real.
If i ever do a self build though id love one of those flat pack houses

 

[sparkling]

Whatever happens, I'm sure that the people who were on the show are better off for not living in the falling-down hovels that are usually selected for replacement by the show.

Often, it's a situation of ten people living in three rooms or something, so even if the new house falls into disrepair, it has to be a better life to be in a 5000 square foot broken down house, as opposed to a 500 square foot broken down shack.

I wonder if it's human nature to want to see those who succeed, or who have good luck, fail.

It wasn't about wanting to see people fail but rather to see if by having all their material needs met their lives are really so much better? I think the show is a huge testament to consumerism...buy your way out of unhappiness. I would just like to see if it works on more than just a superficial level.

For example those who have lost family members are never offered some kind of bereavement counselling as part of the package. I just think that some things take a bit longer than a week to heal and require more than what you can pick up at a shop to mend.

 

[baldrick]

Ask Mighty Aphrodite about Ty Pennington.

i'm curious

 

[mentalchik]

^^^^^^me too !

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It wasn't about wanting to see people fail but rather to see if by having all their material needs met their lives are really so much better? .

We want to believe the answer is 'no', because that would validate the meagreness of our own material possesions.

"Rich doesn't make you happy", the refrain of the poor.

 

[mrsfran]

It's on all day on Monday on UKTV Style

*sets Sky Plus*