Sunday, September 30, 2007

ABC Gets Extremely Generous



Extreme Makeover: Home Edition premiered tonight and I'm watching it right now. Because I am a firm believer in enhanced TV and because I missed the first 10 minutes, I did a little research on this episode before committing. As it turns out, this week's family resides in Hawaii and had their home torn apart by flooding. The matriarch, Theresa Akana, runs a non-profit organization and community center she started and has since helped 9,000 people. ABC boasted that this would be the largest build in Home Makeover history, since the family and the community center were getting new homes. Sounds perfect. Oh and not that it matters, but Akana and her husband have a combined income of $225,000 a year. No biggie though right?

In an interview with the Orlando Journal Sentinel, executive producer EM:HE Denise Cramsey said the families are selected based on "desperation and deserving." I suppose the Akana's had done a lot for their small town. Judging from the 3,000 people who helped them that week, the rest of the community thought they needed the help and support. But did the family deserve it more than the countless numbers of families who've applied for the show? I want to say no, but hundreds of families can't be wrong right?

Right?

1 comments:

Unknown said...

I do not watch extreme makeover, and after reading the research that you did on a particular episode, I see no reason to start watching the show. There are many families who face disaster and devastation every day...and a lot of them are in situations where they cannot afford to put their lives back together. In our nation, in general, the average family makes around 40k per year. The thought of making over 200K per year to many seems impossible. There are those who need a home because they cannot afford one, let alone food. Essentially, we could say that this goes against our basic needs: food, clothing, and shelter. If you could afford food, clothing and shelter, you do not need help from extreme makeover. If you have faced devastation, you may need emotional support, and maybe even advice, but certainly not a new, large home.