Who hasn’t watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and gotten misty-eyed at least once? And no, I’m not talking about crying over why Ty Pennington won’t return your calls. Since its first season, “Home Edition” has went across the country building homes for people who have went through unfortunate circumstances. It’s a staple of the show. In the back of my mind, I’ve always known these people were being exploited but, hey, you can exploit me too if I get a brand new, state-of-the-art house out of it.
The Smoking Gun posted an internal memo from “EM:HE” family-casting director Charisse Simonian. The memo sent to affiliates makes it clear that she wants certain families found for the next season. What she is looking for includes: a family that lost a child in a drunk driving accident, a family whose house was burglarized, victims of hate crimes, families with multiple Down Syndrome children, skin cancer survivors, mom/dad diagnosed with ALS, family of a child with Progeria (old man disease), a child with muscular dystrophy, and more. One particular sought after case is “congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis.” This is a disease where a kid can’t feel pain. In the memo, she mentions that only 17 known cases are in the U.S. but she wants you to “let me know if one of these cases is in your town!”
Did anybody else get the creeps reading some of that? Sure, they are doing good to these people but it seems to be a little exploitive, don’t you think? I think this sort of approach desensitizes you to the troubles these people go through. Do the show producers high five each other and cheer when they get a letter about a kid with AIDS?
”Home Edition” still does more help than harm but it kind of lets you know that helping others isn’t their primary goal. It’s still ratings.
