Extreme Makeover Home Edition, ACFW Style
January 11, 2008
I’m a fan of ABC’s Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. In case you’re not familiar with the show, Ty Pennington and a crew of designers surprise a family who needs some help, tear down their messed-up house, and build a new one and furnish it in seven days. It’s one of those feel-good shows where people who’ve gotten behind in life get a hand.
This week, the family on EMHE is a Christian family. In fact, the wife is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the writer group I’m a part of. And it’s been interesting hearing bits of behind-the-scenes workings of the show.
The most fascinating thing I learned is how that first morning of the show starts off. I’ve always wondered how the whole family just happened to be there at home and dressed when Ty and his crew show up. (I mean, if it were me, I was sure I wouldn’t have taken a shower yet, you know?)
But I’ve been told that, after a lengthy process and surviving a few rounds of elimination, there are five families who are all told to be home on a certain day. These are the final five families, and a producer is at the home with each family, waiting with them to see if the bus shows up. For one family, that bus pulls up, and they get Ty’s famous wake-up call.
For the other four, the bus never shows up.
I can’t imagine being one of the other four families, and I have to say that’s made that opening so much more emotional. You can understand why that family comes out ecstatic like that. They’ve been sitting on pins and needles for how longs, not knowing if it would happen for them.
If you watched last week’s show, you know that they did a house that had ghosts and had to ask the ghosts for permission to tear the house down. (Puhlease.) And now this week, it’s Christians who are going to be center stage.
So all that to say, watch this Sunday’s EMHE. The 7 pm central one is a rerun. The 8 pm EMHE is the one with the Woodhouse family.
Comments
2 Responses to “Extreme Makeover Home Edition, ACFW Style”
There is so much to the Show that it takes a visit to the site during the week of activity to understand a lot of it.
My husband and I traveled from Arizona to Virginia to personally deliver and install our bubbling water features for the Lucas Family.
It was an uplifting experience that we would do again if asked. Although I’m not so sure of traveling all the way across country… between traveling the distance and working long hours on the set, it was exhausting!
More info about our experience (at least what we can say until it airs in February/March) is available on our Extreme Makeover: Home Edition page.
I highly recommend that if EMHE comes to your home town, or one nearby, you take the opportunity to join in the enthusiasm and camaraderie. It’s eye opening.
Lisa
It was a truly amazing show! The part you highlighted–that I now know the family was sitting inside waiting, wondering if the bus would show up–was the main part that got to me, as well. Although, having experienced a lot of rejection in my life, I couldn’t help thinking about the other families. Still, it’s hard to imagine a family more deserving than the Woodhouses.