Extreme Exploitation Makeover

[Deattribution]

ABC's "Extreme" Exploitation
Makeover show loves sick kids, cancer patients, hate crime victims

MARCH 27--Not content with humdrum stories of poverty, heartache, and distress, the producers of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" have compiled a creepy wish list of woe for the next season of the hit ABC television series, The Smoking Gun has learned. In an e-mail forwarded earlier this month by an ABC executive to network affiliates, the program's casting agent details the exact kind of tragedies and rare illnesses being sought by the Top 20 show. Families featured on the program have their often ramshackle homes renovated for free by a platoon headed by handyman/heartthrob Ty Pennington. The show is maudlin, tug-on-your-heartstrings television, "Queen for a Day" with finish carpentry. Based on the ABC e-mail, it appears that victims of hate crimes and violent home invasions and families coping with the loss a child killed by a drunk driver make for good television. And the show would also absolutely love to feature those battling skin cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease, and muscular dystrophy. Oh, and families with multiple children with Down Syndrome would be ideal, whether the kids are "either adopted or biological," the e-mail notes. And, shooting the moon, the program's "family casting director," Charisse Simonian, would love to locate a kid suffering from Progeria, the rare condition that causes rapid aging in a child (for those unaware of Progeria, the ABC e-mail helpfully describes it as "aka 'little old man disease.'") As if that terrible affliction weren't enough, Simonian is also on the hunt for a child with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. "This is where kids cannot feel any physical pain," she notes. But the hunt for a young victim--who will likely die before 30--will not be easy. "There are 17 known cases in US," she writes, before chirpily adding, "let me know if one is in your town!" Such spirit in the face of tragedy. The March 10 correspondence was written by Phinel Petit-Frere, a network executive based in New York, who passed along the makeover show's wish list to network affiliates in the Southeast. The affiliates were requested to help in locating prospective families for the series, which finished eighth in last week's Nielsen ratings. When contacted by TSG, Petit-Frere said he only forwarded the memo on Simonian's behalf and directed other questions her way. (1 page)

In a way it's good for the people involved, they get a new/free house, and the TV show gets ratings - but this still seems pretty sick.


Link has the actual letter - hxxp://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0327062extreme1.html

[Franklinnoble]

Bah. Let them exploit me if they want. I wouldn't mind a new house.

[oliegirl]

I agree that the email is kind of callous sounding, but considering the show does nothing but help people, I can get past that. Most families that have children with these awful diseases are so buried under medical bills and debt that their house suffers b/c of needed repairs that can't be done, etc. If by sending out this email they find out about these families and basically give them a new house, I'm fine with the email...

[SackAttack]

But what about the increased property tax bill?

[sachmo71]

While it sounds pretty heartless in it's phrasing, the show is just a big commercial for Sears. That fact that a needy family get's a free home out of it makes it worth it in my book. BTW...I don't watch the show anymore, mostly because it made me sad.

[Celeval]

I bet some of those ideas are coming from the crew as well... as much as it's "who do we get to help", I would imagine there's an awful lot of brainstorming about how to make a home work for someone with a particular type of problem. Especially the medical ones... and if someone has an idea for xyz to help someone with abc, it'd make sense to seek someone out.

That and ratings.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

But what about the increased property tax bill?

You're the sort of pessimist that would win the lottery, and then whine about the taxes, aren't you?

Most of these families get a nice fat check at the end of the show from the contracting company that has built the house. This is meant to help defer expenses like this.

In one case, I saw one family get their mortgage paid off completely. I would happily take a brand-new, mortgage-free, palatial home in exchange for the increased property tax liability.

[gstelmack]

Not only do they do a ton of good for those families, they also raise awareness of that particular issue / disease (they are often also doing fundraisers, blood drives, and the like during the show, plus post info at their abettercommunity.com web site), and often help out others in the community while they're at it. They've redone a couple of free clinics, for example, and built a meeting hall for a Navajo veteran's group in another.

Sears and all the others involved deserve all the publicity and advertising they get for this. Someone finally figured out how to make charity profitable, and if that lets them do more charity, more power to them.

P.S. the paying off the mortgage bit is done regularly, as are scholarship funds and similar bits. They got a whole bunch of donated hay for a farm they redid as well.

[Raven Hawk]

My gut response to this is: "Aren't there enough people suffering that have sent in tapes/applications? Why do they need to specifically target special cases?"

But then I realized that it IS a TV show and they DO need to keep their content fresh. They can't do the same stories over and over again, or they will lose their audience and the show will go under. It would be a shame to see a show that does so much good for people go under. There is a line that can be drawn; grey as that line may be, this email did not cross it.

The show is also a medium for you to learn about serious afflictions/situations that might one day be something that you can sympathize with, if you don't already. Although I don't watch it as much as I used to, I still enjoy the show when I get a chance to watch.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

While it sounds pretty heartless in it's phrasing, the show is just a big commercial for Sears. That fact that a needy family get's a free home out of it makes it worth it in my book. BTW...I don't watch the show anymore, mostly because it made me sad.

I've never watched it, nor the plastic surgery one, regularly but everytime I've seen part of an episode, it's always the way I felt. Always happy that they'd do something nice for people in need, but always very sad that they had to be so unlucky for luck to come to them.

And sometimes, when I simply see an episode of people who didn't take care of their place, or their body when they're talking about plastic surgery, I keep wondering if they won't just go back to their bad habit a few months removed from the whole fantastic experience and that sometimes makes me even sadder...

FM

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

You're the sort of pessimist that would win the lottery, and then whine about the taxes, aren't you?

Most of these families get a nice fat check at the end of the show from the contracting company that has built the house. This is meant to help defer expenses like this.

In one case, I saw one family get their mortgage paid off completely. I would happily take a brand-new, mortgage-free, palatial home in exchange for the increased property tax liability.

Not me. I'm only saying, absent mention in the actual story of such a payoff, I'd be concerned about the unintended financial consequences that a family already facing mounting medical bills could suffer as a result of an essentially altruistic act.

If they are getting a payoff to defray those costs, that's great. If they're not, that's something I'd be concerned about.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Not me. I'm only saying, absent mention in the actual story of such a payoff, I'd be concerned about the unintended financial consequences that a family already facing mounting medical bills could suffer as a result of an essentially altruistic act.

If they are getting a payoff to defray those costs, that's great. If they're not, that's something I'd be concerned about.

My wife saw a story about that once. I wish I knew where it was, but she basically said they set up a charitable organization to defer the costs for the homeowners. I'm sure there's more to it, but they really do try to help these folks.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Not me. I'm only saying, absent mention in the actual story of such a payoff, I'd be concerned about the unintended financial consequences that a family already facing mounting medical bills could suffer as a result of an essentially altruistic act.

If they are getting a payoff to defray those costs, that's great. If they're not, that's something I'd be concerned about.

In almost every case (I can't think of one where it's not true), at the very least the mortgage is paid off. And I would be willing to bet that even the McMansions they build are much cheaper to pay the taxes on than whatever mortgage they had. So they've now got a much more livable home than what they had, no mortgage hanging over their heads to take it away, and an increased property tax burden. I can't think of a case where they are worse off financially after the fact.