Extreme Makeover - Home Edition Cancelled

[pwdebbie]

I was so disappointed today to see that ABC has cancelled EMHE. Jan. 13 will be the 200th episode and will be the last episode aired. According to the EMHE Facebook post, quoting from thehollywoodreporter.com, "The network has opted not to move forward with the series in its weekly format, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. ABC, however, will air four special episodes after its current ninth season ends its run on Jan. 13 with its 200th episode."

I'm sad to see it go as this show was probably the reason I started wanting to make a trip to WDW and why we finally did so in 2007 for the first time (for my 52nd birthday). I love catching glimpses of familiar sites in WDW when they film families there.

Comments were made about the ratings going down since they switched it to Friday nights. Well, then, switch it back! For us, we watch in OnDemand as most episodes this year have been two-hour episodes and we would rather not stay up until 10:00 (dh is disabled and has to push it just to stay awake until 9:00). We will definitely miss this show.

 

[doconeill]

I was so disappointed today to see that ABC has cancelled EMHE. Jan. 13 will be the 200th episode and will be the last episode aired. According to the EMHE Facebook post, quoting from thehollywoodreporter.com, "The network has opted not to move forward with the series in its weekly format, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. ABC, however, will air four special episodes after its current ninth season ends its run on Jan. 13 with its 200th episode."

I'm sad to see it go as this show was probably the reason I started wanting to make a trip to WDW and why we finally did so in 2007 for the first time (for my 52nd birthday). I love catching glimpses of familiar sites in WDW when they film families there.

Comments were made about the ratings going down since they switched it to Friday nights. Well, then, switch it back! For us, we watch in OnDemand as most episodes this year have been two-hour episodes and we would rather not stay up until 10:00 (dh is disabled and has to push it just to stay awake until 9:00). We will definitely miss this show.

Ah...the never ending debate on ratings...unfortunately they are very unlikely to switch it back, for two reasons - one, they don't want to admit they made a mistake, and two, if what they put in it's place is in fact doing better (and better can be less ratings but be cheaper to produce so their margin on ad sales is higher), they aren't going to give up that income.

 

[dISNEYlOveer]

I love that show and I can't believe they are canceling it?!?!?!?! dont cancel it!!!?

 

[Disco]

Eh, it went downhill a long time ago.
Ever since it became more about advertising for the partners then the houses they were building for the people. They barely even show the rooms that they create any more. They still look awesome and original but they spend like 5 seconds on each room.
It was also much more interesting back in the old days when the remodeled the houses instead of replacing them with the current impossibly sized palaces. Like the families could even keep up the households without hiring staff now a days. Totally unrealistic and probably why most of the families end up moving out within a couple of years.
It was a good show though and one of the few dedicated to helping people out. While the concept was stolen from another show, the premise of helping people who needed it was a far superior idea and more deserving of its successful run.

 

[stashbin]

Eh, it went downhill a long time ago.
Ever since it became more about advertising for the partners then the houses they were building for the people. They barely even show the rooms that they create any more. They still look awesome and original but they spend like 5 seconds on each room.
It was also much more interesting back in the old days when the remodeled the houses instead of replacing them with the current impossibly sized palaces. Like the families could even keep up the households without hiring staff now a days. Totally unrealistic and probably why most of the families end up moving out within a couple of years.It was a good show though and one of the few dedicated to helping people out. While the concept was stolen from another show, the premise of helping people who needed it was a far superior idea and more deserving of its successful run.

I agree with this. I stopped watching it because it seemed like normal, everyday people with financial issues weren't chosen anymore unless they had an illness or a sick child, etc. Not that those people weren't deseriving, but average people who just needed their houses fixed were not featured anymore. I liked a variety of both.
Plus there were so many rumors about people losing the new houses because they couldn't afford the power bill, property taxes, etc. I heard of one woman charging people to walk through the house! It kind of takes the point out of it.

 

[rodkenrich]

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[DizCaptain]

The show used to be really good, and I liked it, but it was both the slot change and as others have said, the scale of it all. This leads me to believe that it might've been cancelled not because of these reasons alone, but mainly the financial trouble recipients have afterwards. If you look up stories on those who were on the show, many can't afford the various payments for such a grand house and end up foreclosing on them and losing it anyway. It's really unfortunate, but that's what happens when you're given a ridiculously grandiose house with 2 bedrooms per person and a floor for the family pet...

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I agree with this. I stopped watching it because it seemed like normal, everyday people with financial issues weren't chosen anymore unless they had an illness or a sick child, etc. Not that those people weren't deseriving, but average people who just needed their houses fixed were not featured anymore. I liked a variety of both.
Plus there were so many rumors about people losing the new houses because they couldn't afford the power bill, property taxes, etc. I heard of one woman charging people to walk through the house! It kind of takes the point out of it.

I only watched it a few times and after realizing that you had to be either dying, chronically or terminally ill ir have so meone in the immediate family die, I stopped watching. Like you said it wasn't that I though these families were undeserving. I just would like to have seen a family that was a hard working family living within their means that needed their house repaired to get chosen.

 

[pwdebbie]

I agree that some of the homes were over the top. However, the one that was built around the corner from me was not. I think they began to tone it down somewhat a few years ago. The experience of volunteering is one I most likely will not have again. I think the show could be revamped with less theatrics and more emphasis on the home being built than on the family receiving the home. Maybe ABC just got weary of all the whiners, "Why did they get a home when I'm so much more needy?"

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I'm by no means a "hardliner"...

but the entire premise...that if you have something bad happen to you, you get a free house...and they make a spectacle out of it...never sat quite right.

The show was never really about construction...like the good shows on HGTV and the networks formerly known as Discovery, Bravo, and TLC...it was just another stunt at a cult of personality thing for the "brand".

I don't begrudge anyone who liked the show...but just like the original "extreme makeover" - where it was "hey, your ugly...lets get you some dental work and a $500 haircut"...the whole "they've had it really bad, lets put a free, unaffordable house in a bad neighborhood or on a failing farm for them" also just seems poor taste.

And a very large part of the American population has been either treading water, sliding backwards, or really struggling/ collapsing over the past 5 years...the show is not a good one when looking through that prism.

 

[Patricksp]

I know here in Ohio one family does charge 50 dollars to take a tour of the house, it is the one when the Guy hurt his hand really bad doing the flag wood carving.

One house has been foreclosed on because the people took out a loan to start a construction company right when the bubble burst, and they had a paid off mortgage.

I also know of lawsuit where the Kids where suing the show and the Family that took them in, the family where friends and not related to the kids.

 

[mickeysaver]

Well rats. We had an idea that were waiting for some other news before we made the decision to approach them with the idea for something to do with our house in Georgia to help one of our neighbors. I guess the house gets to sit there a little long until we can get it sold, rented, or whatever. Dang it.

 

[Leitadala]

It was a good show, and the people on it were legitimately nice people who really cared about the families they were helping. I saw that Ty is going on "The Revolution" (the show replacing One Life to Live) so maybe they wanted to move on. If it makes anyone feel any better, the people I know that had their house redone are living in it just fine (although they do have higher bills to pay). TV can really make a home look much grander than it is in person though (not that their house isn't beautiful, just that TV makes it look that much more) - so I'd hope that the homes aren't bankrupting all the families.

 

[Wyndale]

Well, I can tell you that they are in Knoxville, TN this week doing a make-over. Lots of Tennessee Volunteers out to help. It has been mentioned that it will air in November, around Thanksgiving, so it may be a special show, but it's being canceled is news to most of us!

 

[pwdebbie]

Well, I can tell you that they are in Knoxville, TN this week doing a make-over. Lots of Tennessee Volunteers out to help. It has been mentioned that it will air in November, around Thanksgiving, so it may be a special show, but it's being canceled is news to most of us!

Four specials in the next year is what they said would happen when they announced the cancellation of the regular show. So you are seeing one of the specials being made. They have had way too many two-hour episodes this season (maybe all of them?). So maybe we will get a two-hour show every three months now.

Sounds like you might be close by? If so, do try to volunteer. We didn't do anything glamorous -- served up food and drinks, picked up trash, tore labels off water bottles, pretended we were working on Pauley's project for a shoot (my hard hart got into the shot as did my dd's posterior when Ty brushed past her). But it was so interesting just to be there, see what was happening and know that every little effort helped.