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''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (''EM:HE''; sometimes informally referred to as ''Extreme Home Makeover'') is an American
reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
series that aired from February 15, 2004 to January 13, 2012 on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
. The series is a spin-off of ''
Extreme Makeover ''Extreme Makeover'' is an American reality television series that premiered on ABC on December 11, 2002. Created by television producer Howard Schultz, the show depicts ordinary men and women undergoing "extreme makeovers" involving plastic su ...
'' that features a family that has faced some sort of recent or ongoing hardship having their home completely remodeled to better suit their exact needs. The series was produced by
Endemol USA Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...
in association with
Disney-ABC Television Group This is a list of assets currently or formerly owned by the Walt Disney Company, unless otherwise indicated. Corporate Walt Disney Studios Live-action production Animated production Disney Studio Services Disney Theatrica ...
's Greengrass Television. The original ABC run was hosted by
Ty Pennington Tygert Burton "Ty" Pennington (born Gary Tygert Burton) is an American television host, artist, carpenter, author, and former model and actor. His rise to prominence began with his role as carpenter on the TLC home improvement reality show ' ...
; the HGTV season was hosted by actor
Jesse Tyler Ferguson Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he earned five consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...
. The executive producers were Brady Connell and George Verschoor.


Team


Reaction and criticism

Despite the show's positive message, ''EM:HE'' has been a target of
tabloid media Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...
and scrutinized for several issues, including the show's ethics, its authenticity, and leaving some families with an increase in
mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...
payments and
property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
es and worsening their circumstances. Ethically speaking, the show has often been criticized by some viewers and the media for unnecessary contributions and glorifying excessive
McMansion In suburban communities, McMansion is a pejorative term for a large "mass-produced" dwelling marketed to the upper middle class mainly in the United States. Virginia Savage McAlester, who also gave a first description of the common features w ...
-like construction and lifestyles, such as in a ''
Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
'' article that questioned giving a 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 7-television house to a family of 4 in
Kingston, Washington Kingston (formerly Appletree Cove) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,099 at the 2010 census. Kingston is along the shores of Appletree Cove and Puget ...
. However, ABC countered this criticism by explaining their approach towards building homes for each family was to do so in a manner which best suited their own individual needs, noting the sizes of many of the homes is due to the fact a considerable majority were built for either exceptionally large families, families of individuals with certain accessibility needs and families who ran various types of organizations or small businesses out of their homes, the latter of which was the case of the Kingston home. ABC responded to the ''Mother Jones'' article by noting they had failed to mention that particular home was also a functioning bed and breakfast. Authentically speaking, one such claim was frequently made against the show's lead designers, particularly Ty Pennington. At several makeovers, they have been criticized for never doing any work at all, with anonymous contractors mostly doing the work and the designers only performing light work for the cameras. In 2007, during the makeover for the Carter Family in
Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
, a local radio DJ accused Pennington of using a spray can of grease on his face to make it look like he was really working, only to be confronted over the air by Pennington himself, who called in from the construction site. The largest piece of evidence to prove the design team's contribution to the house and the family is a severe hand injury that
Ed Sanders Edward Sanders (born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, activist, author, publisher and longtime member of the rock band the Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have bee ...
received during a 2006 makeover in Ohio for the family of Jason Thomas. While creating a wood carving of the American flag, Sanders removed part of the guard for a hand-held wood grinder, which led to him slicing one of his hands open. Sanders took a leave of absence for nearly an entire season to recover. In an article entitled "ABC's 'Extreme Exploitation'", ''
The Smoking Gun The Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources. Most o ...
'' published an e-mail sent on March 10, 2006, from an ABC employee sent to the network's affiliate base, relaying a message from the program's casting agent detailing specific tragedies and rare illnesses sought by the show. Included were a "Muscular Dystrophy Child", a "Family who has multiple children w/ Down Syndrome (either adopted or biological)" and a child with a CIPA disorder. This last request included a parenthetical remark stating, "There are only 17 known cases in US - let me know if one is in your town!" This e-mail has led some major media networks and blogs to accuse the show of opportunism in seeking out the most sensational stories in a push for higher ratings. Another criticism aimed at the show surrounds financial issues that some of the families have had after receiving the home makeover, which following the onset of the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, received media attention. As of 2020, nine of the original show's recipient families have given up their homes due to financial issues, which included two
foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...
s. While most cases were reported as resulting from instances such as unemployment, accumulations of medical bills or property tax rate increases, the most widely publicized cases featured families who had defaulted on
home equity loan A home equity loan is a type of loan in which the borrowers use the equity of their home as collateral. The loan amount is determined by the value of the property, and the value of the property is determined by an appraiser from the lending inst ...
s taken out on their homes since receiving them, one of which resulted in a foreclosure. In a 2018 interview with ''
The Wrap ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', Pennington explained the nature of these cases. “There’s a couple of stories that families lost their home. We left them with a financial adviser. However, if the family chooses to triple-mortgage their house to start a business that they’ve never done before just to see if they can get into it, that’s their own demise. That’s how you lose your home, is you’re like, ‘Oh, let’s use it as a lottery ticket and see what we can get out of it. And then you lose it because you can’t make the payment. But that’s what press does. They were like, ‘This is too good to be true, what is really happening?’ But with ‘Extreme’ it really was that good.” The five children of the Higgins family, aged 14–21, filed a lawsuit against ABC after they were evicted by a family that had taken them in before the show came to renovate the family's house. The five kids "say that the producers took advantage of the family's hard-luck story and promised them new cars and other prizes to persuade them to participate in the program", according to the LA Times. On July 17, 2007, Judge Paul Gutman ruled against the siblings, stating that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case. The decision of the trial court was affirmed on appeal. Questions arose when Theresa "Momi" Akana was picked for a Hawaii-set episode. The ''
Honolulu Advertiser ''The Honolulu Advertiser'' was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Int ...
'' investigated their tax records and found out that she and her husband each made over $100,000 in salary. Denise Cramsey, the executive producer of the show, responded with "I think Momi certainly fits the bill." She defended the pick by stating that they look beyond the family's finances and consider other factors, including family plight and contributions to the community.


Spin-off

Another spinoff, '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How'd They Do That?'', aired for one season between November 1, 2004 and May 23, 2005 and featured extra behind-the-scenes footage of what had happened in that week's episode.


Broadcast

On December 15, 2011, ABC announced that ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' would end its run on January 13, 2012, but continue to air network specials. On January 15, 2019,
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...
announced that they would be reviving the series; the revival premiered on February 16, 2020, running for 10 episodes until April 5, 2020. Reruns of the series aired on
Discovery Family Discovery Family is an American cable television channel co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Hasbro Entertainment. The channel was originally launched by Discovery Communications on October 7, 1996 as Discovery Kids, a spin-off of Discover ...
from April 2020 to September 2022.


International versions

This list includes both officially licensed versions and so-called ''copies'' of this show, mostly inspired by that, but not licensed by Endemol Shine Group, the current owner of format.


See also

* Mitre 10 Dream Home *
My Lottery Dream Home ''My Lottery Dream Home'' is an American reality television series on HGTV based on a prize home lottery. It is hosted by David Bromstad. It premiered on March 7, 2015. It is produced by 7Beyond (now Beyond Productions US), a joint venture between ...
* Prize home lottery * Show home


References


External links

*
Former website
* * {{HGTV series 2004 American television series debuts 2012 American television series endings 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2000s American reality television series 2010s American reality television series 2020s American reality television series American Broadcasting Company original programming HGTV original programming Makeover reality television series Home renovation television series Television series by Banijay American television spin-offs Reality television spin-offs English-language television shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program winners Television shows set in the United States Television series about families Television series by Disney–ABC Domestic Television American television series revived after cancellation Television Academy Honors winners