Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Description:
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is an alternative unscripted reality series on Sundays at 8pm, on ABC. EMHE is on its 6th season, which will begin September 28th, 2008. It first aired December 3rd, 2003 and since has kept the rating #1 for it’s 8 o’clock time slot on Sunday evenings. The show's cast consists of Ty Pennington, with designers (who alternate episodes); Paul DiMeo, Paige Hemmis, Michael Moloney, Ed Sanders, Tracy Hutson, Eduardo Xol, John Littlefield, Rib Hillis and Didiayer.


Each episode of EMHE is self-contained and the goal is to demolish the old house, and then completely rebuild a new house in one week from everything to the furnishings and design, to the exterior and landscaping. It involves a team of designers, contractors and several hundred workers and volunteers. All the money to do this comes from their generous sponsors. Some of the key sponsors include: Sears, Kenmore, Craftsman, Disney, Serta, Sony and many more.


The whole point of the show is to help deserving families who live in run-down, un-safe, or un-suitable living environments. Most of the families are in a great deal of hardship either financially or some other type of burden that they need help with. Each family enters with a video or letter, explaining why they would benefit from having EMHE come to them.


The Show:
Each episode begins with the design team on their RV, watching the video of the family they’re going to help. In each video, the families usually introduce themselves, what their problem is and then give a short tour of their house. Once the design team arrives at the location of the house, team leader Ty Pennington takes his now-famous megaphone and does his "Good morning!" wake-up call, to surprise the unsuspecting family with news that their home has been chosen to receive a makeover.


Once the design team has been introduced, along with the family, the family shows them their house and all it’s issues. After that, Ty Pennington tells the family where they’re going on vacation for a week (the families are usually sent to Disney resorts). Once the family is gone, Ty takes out his camcorder and tapes everything. He records the demolition of the house, and the family watches their home being torn down, and viewers are allowed to watch both the demolition and the reaction of the family.


Once building of the house starts, it moves very fast. They construct the actual house in about 4-5 days, and the rest is used for the final touches such as painting, landscaping and furnishing. Throughout this building process, the show takes you to each of the designers, and they explain what their project is. Each designer works on a different room. Most bedrooms have certain themes, which are inspired by the family. In each episode, Ty always has a “secret” project, which viewers aren’t allowed to see until the end. If the family has some sort of disability, the EMHE team always makes the house accessible and suitable to accommodate the family’s needs.


Once the house is built, furnished and landscaped, the family returns in a limo. As they pull up, the home is surrounded by hundreds of people from their community, cheering for them, along with all the volunteers and contractors. The limo always pulls up behind the EMHE RV, so the family can’t see their new house. Once the family comes out and people are greeted again, the family, design team and crowd chant the infamous, “MOVE THAT BUS!” As the bus pulls away, the family reacts to their new, beautiful home.
Ty then invites them to go “check out their new house”. As the family runs in, viewers are given a complete tour of the new home, including before and after shots. After the family has gone through their new house, including the unveiling of Ty’s “secret project”, the family is introduced to the contractors. In each episode, the contractors usually add a gift, usually being a check, or paying off the old house’s mortgage.
Throughout the episode, each design member and family member does little private testimonials, which ads raw emotion to the show and draws viewers in.


Through tears and happiness, the episode wraps up with hugs and goodbyes and final before and after shots and final testimonials of the family, showing their appreciation for EMHE coming to bless them with a home makeover.


Analysis:
One of the key elements of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would have to be the use of raw human emotions. The use of such strong emotions helps relate the viewers to the people on the show, and it gives views a glimpse of the true goal of the show—which is changing people’s lives.


Aside from sympathetic tendencies of the show, it also uses humor to lighten the mood and keep the audience entertained. Ty Pennington is definitely the ring-leader of the show, and always makes things fun for everybody.


A definite pattern of each episode would have to be the attitude towards the old home. They always make it seem so horrible, so that in the end, the new house looks like a dream. Which it always is.