Here's a doozy!!!!!

[SueM in MN]

I don't watch it all the time, but the people I have seen get houses on Extreme Home Makeover have been very involved in the community.
One family had adopted a number of children with special needs and as the kids got older, the house was just not accessible enough for them.
family in the Twin Cities area had taken in the sister's children after the sister and her boyfriend were murdered by an ex-boyfriend. The children's father had died in a car accident a few years before. They were making do with what they had and didn't even know they had been put in for the show.

My DH doesn't like the show though; he thinks they make it too 'tear-jerky'.

 

[BroganMc]

As sick as this sounds she is an amazing friend and will do anything for you.

FWIW, as an adult who grew up a disabled kid, she doesn't sound like she'd win any parenting awards from me.

She makes it sound like her life is harder than her child's and he's the one living with the disability. One day she'll figure out where she's gone wrong. Fate has a way of doing that.

 

[dclfun]

While I don't want this thread to start a discussion about Extreme Home Makeover I feel I must reply to comments made about how I feel. I have seen this show maybe 4-5 times over it's history. One of the first shows featured a 21 year old paraplegic who was living at home and not working. They wanted a makeover as he could no longer go upstairs. The show built him a huge upstairs area (with elevator) full of "toys" to play with- computer games,all the latest electronic "stuff". It encouraged him to isolate with all his new games vs. go out to work or think about working or furthering his education. Plus what 21 y.o. needs to continue to live at home with Mom/Dad with a disability that isn't very limiting to start with? Another show featured a young child who due to her disability will always remain the size of an infant. Their home was gorgeous- hardwood floors, etc. and in no way was in need of repair. In fact as I flipped the channel I thought the before was the "after". They didn't need what was given to them, which was an obscenely larger home full of things too many people value - bigger, better, newer. I also watched the show one year where the adopted SN kids got a bigger home. The older girls cheered and watched in glee as their bunk beds were destroyed by large machinery. Not everyone has a bed...why destroy things, waste resources, and teach people not to value what they DO have vs. what they think they want? The show is about greed and waste IMO and the money spent on one home could build an entire village in Africa where people have nothing and are more happy with what they have than what we are with what we don't. Someone doesn't "deserve" an extreme home just because they did a good deed or have a disabled family member, and disabled people don't need the tears and pity the show tries to portray. I'd much rather see a show that helped an entire community in need in a way that wasn't "extreme" but yet life-changing. Now I promise to not say another word here about a show I feel is absolutely disgusting but please don't bash my opinion either. To get back to the OP, it sounds like since the issue was dropped at least this woman has time to hopefully think about what was said to her. We can only hope she chooses to do the right thing. At least she has a friend who is kind enough to share an opinion which is sometimes a hard thing to do w/in a friendship when you know it will stir up emotions.---Kathy

 

[BeckyScott]

The problem with EMHE is that, like most tv shows, they feel that they have to "up the ante" every year.

The first season they didn't build a new home, they remodeled, and it was a big deal. Then it was a huge deal the first time they built a home from scratch. Then when the show got popular all the corporate sponsors got in the middle of it. Then it was a huge deal when they built a 2-story home. Now they've done a couple where they've built more than one thing. So probably 3 or 4 years from now they'll be doing entire communities.

As it got more popular, the pr for it got so huge, that people were competing to see who could be more generous. As long as the camera shows the company logo, thank you very much. I imagine there is some friendly competition amongst the contractors to out-do previous builds.

It bugs me that companies (who shall remain un-named) will fork over huge amounts of product and money to EMHE so that their logo will be on tv and they'll be seen as generous, while those same companies treat "regular customers" like dirt.

I can see both sides to it. The show isn't the same as the first two seasons, I think some of the spirit has been lost. I don't like the idea of families "begging" on camera. I don't like how they've started to do over-kill on the projects. The kid's theme bedrooms always bug me, because if they're any kind of normal, they'll be tired of it in 3 years and then what will they do? I don't like what around our house we call "a diamond earring on a pig" where there is this spectacular house surrounded by slum, and they could have built 4 or 5 perfectly good houses instead of one monstrosity.

However, I watch it every week and I don't think I've made it thru one episode yet without crying. It's my weekly cry. If Ty showed up on my doorstep, I sure wouldn't turn him away. It's a feel-good show, a weeper. I compare it to shows like Clean House, or when Peter Walsh shows up on Oprah. Half of the appeal is that you can watch it and think "ooookay, I guess we're not so bad after all". Our house is crappy but it's not as bad as theirs. My kid is disabled but not as bad as theirs. Whenever you feel bad about your life, nothing will snap you out of that faster than seeing someone who has it harder than you do.

 

[SueM in MN]

I think at this point, this thread has run its course, so I am closing it.