| 6/30/2005 |
OUR HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR STREET by Madness
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I need to approach this subject carefully. I already walk a fine line and trash talking something like this might send me straight to Hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
I love Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It is the highlight of my Sunday evenings. I didn't start watching it till part way through the season. A commercial was telling about an upcoming episode where an 8 year old girl who is in remission from cancer wanted the team to not redo her home, but the hospital ward she stayed in while receiving treatment. Ok. I was bawling from the commercial. This wasn't a good sign. I set the DVR to record the episode, even though I was home and available to watch it. This show doesn't pull any punches when it comes to tears. The show follows a pretty simple format so if you've never seen the show here is a quick run down.
The family sends in a video.
The EM:HE (supposedly traveling on a rockstar bus) gather in the galley to watch the video.
Deserving family explains the hardships they have endured/are enduring while showing footage of the current state of their home.
The EM:HE team cries (guys and girls).
The decide and commit to helping the family in a very Brady-esque sort of way.
The bus pulls up in front of the deserving family's home at a very early hour of the morning.
The host Ty (formerly of Trading Spaces) jumps off the bus and rouses the home owners with his megaphone.
The family runs out of the home screaming at the top of their lungs with no regard for any sleeping neighbors.
The EM:HE team is introduced.
The team is given a personal tour of the home and talk to the family about their personal likes/dislikes, goals, dreams, etc.
The deserving family is sent on a Disney vacation of some kind.
Plans are drawn up right on the spot.
Ty picks his secret room that he personally will work on.
The building contractor is troduced and his company is touted as being the best in the land.
Demolition begins, involving a lot of a pomp and circumstance. Parades. Clowns. Bulldozers. Hundreds of workers.
The amount of demolition depends on the assessment of the home and what needs to be done. Usually it's all the way to the ground and then some.
Contruction begins almost immediately as foundations, and framed out walls spring up out of nowhere.
5 Days of construction/renovation which can and usually involve many of the following.
-Shopping at Sears for appliances
-Weather delays
-Shots of the family enjoying their vacation
-Shots of the family astonished/overwhelmed/ecstatic at footage of the demolition of their former home.
-Visits to a local point of interest.
Then Ty exclaims how close the deadline to bringing the family back, and begins running around like a buffoon and shouts in a megaphone to anyone who will stop long enough to catch their breath is willing to be on television.
The family is brought home, but can't see their house with the huge rockstar bus in the way.
Everyone yells "Move That Bus" and the bus obeys.
The deserving family explodes in a moment of sheer overwhelming joy. Pure joy.
The house is shown on camera.
The EM:HE team is brought out of the house and introduced.
We are lead on a 'Family's Eye' view of walking into the home.
Every home will have a fireplace, flatscreen TV, AOL broadband in most of the rooms, hardwood flooring, a patio, water feature, outdoor grill kitchen, just to name a few standard features.
Each family member is shown entering their new room and falling apart again as they marvel over what they have been given.
Personal interviews are done with each family member that has the capability of speech no matter what age.
The family is gathered in the backyard, the team is introduced and reassembled again (in case you missed the previous two introductions).
The builder steps up proclaiming what support and love went into building the home.
Typically some monetary donation will be made to the family, sometimes a scholarship or two will be given, sometimes a lump-sum check is given.
Everyone smiles and waves.
It's the same for any family that is on the show. I've usually teared up, if not full blown boo-hooed by at least the half way point. And I love it!
Well mostly...
Remember when ABC (owned by Disney) would have the Disney movie of the week on Sunday. This is basically the new Disney movie of the week. Something to get the kids cuddled up close to you on the couch and just sit back and watch some good family entertainment. Or basically and hour long commercial, for Disney, Sears, Kraftmaid, and AOL. It's like the family's tragedy is just being used to promote the company's that are giving them a brand spanking new home. Sure the families are always SUPER grateful and with good reason.
I don't think that any of the families that have been on the show are undeserving of what they are getting. That's very heart-warming. These people have gone through or are going through more shit than most of us can even imagine. A widowed dad, raising his three toddlers. A woman adopting three girls living with AIDS and raising them even though she was recently diagnosed with severe cancer. A family who takes in another families children after the parents are killed. They are amazing stories in their own right, but it seems like the stories are lost in the overwhelming product placement of the show.
Some of these families I'd rather hear more about them and less about the house. Once you've seen one of these houses that they build, you've seen them all. They really are all the same with some tweaks and perks here and there to suite an individual family's needs.
I'd love to see what happens to these families after the show is over. Most of the homes are paid for. Old mortgages are paid off. Donations are made to cover the expense of utilities. But in some cases, how long would that money last? What kind of homes are these people really getting? Some of these families are may not be able to keep up their homes. How long will a child truly be able to use a bed in the shape of a princess carriage before she outgrows it and needs a new bed? Then what? The dance and recording studio is a cool idea, but how long will that really be functional as such a room?
I do think that the quality of some of these families lives are greatly improved by being on the show. I think others are going to have a hard time regardless of where they live. That's when I am the most saddened by the show. Because for as touched as they are, I don't think they really understand what is going to be the long term ramifications of having a mansion. Do the scholarships they give actually ever get used for what they are supposed to be used for?
The Team itself seems like decent people. Yet I can't get over how Girl/Boy next door they all look. We have sun-baked Ty who really could use some face cream or something to smooth out those crow's feet. SPF 80, Ty.
Michael (in charge of Glamour) typically sports the Mariska Hargitay look, which... good for him. Now get off my TV.
Since it is owned by Disney... Might as well have Cinderella and Snow White. Though, I do think Snow White needs to dump this Up With People Barn Raisin' and go host TLC's Trading Spaces. It's not the same without a host, since Paige decided to pull a Pamela Lee and go all sex video and wall paper.
Some of my personal favorites have been:
-The 8 year old who underwent treatment for a tumor in her stomach. Her matter-of-cast attitude about what she was going to do in her life was absolutely amazing. I tear up just thinking about her.
-The Mother of two children, who was the first Native American woman to die in a foreign war. She was the best friend of PFC Jessica Lynch who had her own war story to share.
-The Mother who adopted three girls living with AIDS. She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and knew that she needed to do something to make sure her girls would be ok if something should happen to her.
If you happen to catch any of these episodes in reruns make sure you have plenty of tissues ready.
Now go hug your damn kids! |
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I posted this @ 6/30/2005 10:58:00 AM.............Need a link?..........
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