Get out your handkerchiefs.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is all about warm fuzzies, tear-jerking, and a lot of cool houses. In this edition (it should be noted that the DVD is a best-of from Season One, not the complete season), a crew, led by former
Trading Spaces carpenter Ty Pennington, finds families with extreme needs, such as a child allergic to his mold-infested house and a pair of siblings who became guardian to their six younger brothers and sisters when their parents died within days of each other. They send the family off on vacation for seven days and work around the clock to gut, design, build, and decorate their dream house. Watching them bicker (particularly between building planner Constance Ramos and exterior designer Preston Sharp) and stress out over making their deadline, you wonder: why don't they just keep the family out of the house an extra day or two? But then again, that's what creates drama.
Some of the transformations are truly impressive: a family of three sons receives a mini-baseball field at 1/7th scale in their backyard, complete with authentic Dodger Stadium grass. A tri-level home is completely transformed--including an elevator--to accommodate a teen in a wheelchair. Sometimes they even throw in bonus prizes: a grill the size of a truck for a community mother figure who liked to barbecue for the homeless in her front yard; paying off the mortgage for the eight siblings living on their own. While the ideas make for good television, some of their shtick is all too repetitive, particularly prank-calling each family on vacation to trick them into thinking their house will be lined with fluorescent orange carpet. Host Pennington is especially guilty of this, and his hunk-on-sugar routine can get tiresome. Still, if you enjoy watching nice people's dreams come true,
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will tickle your fancy. --
Ellen A. Kim
