Put me in the camp of those who detest this emotionally exploitative show which is all about greed. The premise takes down-and-out families, sends them on a luxury vacation for a week, while a huge team of workers rebuilds (or builds) them a house for FREE. (NOTE: I have no idea how they get around the tax liability that this kind of several-hundred-thousand-dollar gift would normally entail.) Furthermore, this show is an appalling insult to the many millions of hardworking American homeowners who work hard and save to afford even modest homes.
All of the families apparently already have homes of their own, and in many cases they seem incompetent to care for a small, simple house (some are living in squalor), so how can they possibly keep up a large ornate home? Anyone who owns a home knows that there is more to it than the mortgage payment -- even a "free house" has maintenance costs and responsibilities. Furthermore, the situation involved seems to invite exploitation: a recently publicized lawsuit was filed by several orphaned children, whose foster parents used the show to get a huge new house and furnishings for their "big family"...and then threw the kids out, and kept the place for themselves! Since no one bothers to revisit the other "winners", I would assume that similar greediness has affected many others.
Another example noted here is that of a home donated to the family of a US soldier killed in Iraq: even overlooking the fact that 1500 US soldiers have lost their life there and what makes this ONE family so special?, you are still faced with the reality that every soldier has about $250,000 in military life insurance MINIMUM (required) plus whatever regular insurance they have, plus burial expenses. No mention is made of this, or the fact that most families who lose a breadwinner get neither $250,000 OR a brand new home and luxury furnishings.
Many needy, worthy families in this tough economy need basic housing and furniture. Yet hundreds of thousands are spent in this show to give just ONE family (with a schmaltzy tale to tell) a super-luxury home. What ever happened to concept of a basic decent house and normal furnishings? Why do people NEED plasma televisions and 4000 square foot palaces? This is a horrible, morally shoddy kowtowing to the wretched values we have picked up as a culture from Hollywood celebrities, "lifestyles of the rich and famous" and so forth. We no longer have a reasonable idea of the basics.
Why not a show called "Extreme CAREER Makeover"? After all, what most of these "contestants" really need is a JOB, not a free house. (If you have a JOB, you can buy your own house.) And another one called "Extreme HOUSECLEANING Makeover". Because most of them also require a crash course in basics like vacuuming, washing, sweeping, picking up trash and so forth.
It takes little imagination to see the future of the Extreme winners: big houses gone to seed, family fights over the money and possessions, furniture and plasma TVs hocked to pay bills and so forth. Not telling "the rest of the story" is a big, dirty lie.
Conclusion: this is the worst and most base, vile show I can think of. Morally and spiritually, it's actually worse than "Fear Factor" and that's saying something!
