Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EM:HE; sometimes informally referred to as Extreme Home Makeover) is an American reality television series providing home improvements for less fortunate families and community schools. The show was hosted by former model, carpenter and veteran television personality Ty Pennington. Each episode features a family that has faced some sort of recent or ongoing hardship such as a natural disaster or a family member with a life-threatening illness, in need of new hope. The show's producers coordinate with a local construction contractor, which then coordinates with various companies in the building trades for a makeover of the family's home. This includes interior, exterior and landscaping, performed in seven days while the family is on vacation (paid for by the show's producers) and documented in the episode. If the house is beyond repair, they replace it entirely. The show's producers and crew film set and perform the makeover but do not pay for it. The materials and labor are donated. Many skilled and unskilled volunteers assist in the rapid construction of the house. EM:HE is considered a spin-off of Extreme Makeover, an earlier series providing personal makeovers (often including plastic surgery) to selected individuals. Unusual for a spin-off, Home Edition outlasted its mother show by several seasons. This show displays extreme changes to help recreate someone's space. However, the format differs considerably; in the original Extreme Makeover, for instance, participants were not necessarily chosen based on any recent hardship, whereas the family's backstory is an important component of Home Edition. EM:HE also has similarities to other home renovation series such as Trading Spaces, on which Pennington was previously a key personality. The series was produced by Endemol USA (the people behind Big Brother, Fear Factor, Deal or No Deal, Wipeout, and other reality shows) in association with Disney-ABC Television Group's Greengrass Television. The Executive Producers were Brady Connell and George Verschoor. The program originally aired on Sunday evenings but was moved to Friday nights as of October 21, 2011. Upon the airing of its final episode in series form, and for the 2012 special holiday run, it remained ABC's last series to air solely in 4:3 standard definition and never converted to a high definition or widescreen presentation. On December 15, 2011, ABC announced that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would end its run on January 13, 2012. It will, however, continue to air as a special on the network.