Extreme Home Makeover

Paul and I used to watch this show together the 1st season it came out. Then the 2nd season began and we soon lost interest. I'm all for helping people out, but what turned us off was the gluttony, for lack of a better word, on the show. I tuned into a recent show, however, because Atticus Shaffer of The Middle was going to be on. The preview for the show said that Atticus and the child of this week's family had something in common and I wanted to find out what that was. Turns out they both have brittle bone disease. Nine year old Patrick was a hoot and has a wonderful outlook on life. His parents work opposite shifts and homeschool Patrick. Loved the family; loved the awareness that Patrick works to get out about the differences and similarities between all children.

But they are only a family of 3 and don't need a McMansion! They just need a safe, soft, even floor and certain things at Patrick's level to allow him as much independence as possible. I kept waiting to hear what the square footage of the new home was, but I never heard it. I wondered if other viewers had expressed their dislike for this over-the-top show so they don't release that info anymore. Turns out, I am not alone.

I read an article this morning about a previous EHM family who have recently had their children temporarily taken away from them. The parents are under investigation for allegedly making their daughters sick in order to qualify for the show. Evidently, there have been other families who had not been truthful in their submissions to ABC, as well. The article went on to say that there has been criticize for quite some time about the show going too far beyond meeting the needs of people.

With companies contributing so much money and materials to this show for free advertising, did no one think to worry about who they were aligning themselves with? Did no one think to take some of that money to hire a decent background checker? But more importantly, I would love to see the houses and decor scaled back! People have had to give up these new homes b/c they can't afford the upkeep. How are you helping them? Usually the comments made to online articles are garbage, but these readers had some good input. One person claimed they lived in the same town as an EHM recipient and that the family had to sell the house b/c the taxes went up so much. This person also said the neighbors' taxes went up, too, due to the value of the new house on the street. Another reader suggested that instead of making 1 huge home they could help to rebuild some of the thousands of homes recently destroyed by tornadoes. Very good point.

I think lots of Americans have made changes to our lifestyles during the recession. We've cut back, scaled down, focused on needs vs. wants. Some of us because we have to, some of us b/c we want to. I think it would be nice to see EHM reflect these changes.