Jadzia

Anyone going to watch this? I saw them on GMA the other morning starting the project, apparently it's for some NY firefighters who have a crappy apartment.

They are doing the entire makeover in 12 hours and they are showing the "reveal" live after the special.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/go...wswire&id=6537

EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION (ABC) - The Alphabet has scheduled a special two-hour edition of the series, "Friends Helping Friends," for Thursday, May 6 at 8:00/7:00c. The episode, which will feature a live "reveal" at approximately 10:50/9:50c following a shortened edition of "Primetime Thursday," will "create magic on one home in one day for some truly deserving New Yorkers," according to a network press release. "Throughout the live special, viewers will experience the chaotic process that goes on that day, beginning with team leader Ty Pennington's now-familiar "Good Morning!" surprise wake-up call to the deserving family, and ending with the emotional reveal.In between, there will be a behind-the-scenes look at how the work gets done, and updates on the families from previous episodes, including the Powers Family from the pilot episode and "Sweet" Alice Harris and her family from Watts, in California. There will also be never-before-seen footage of some of the rooms and projects that were undertaken but simply hadn't the time to be shown -- until now. The designers for this episode will be team leader Ty Pennington, Paul DiMeo, Paige Hemmis, Tracy Hutson, Michael Moloney, Constance Ramos and Preston Sharp." In addition, ABC will encore the two-hour installment on Saturday, May 8 at 9:00/8:00c.

marty888

This was actually happening 2 blocks from my apartment - they were crawling all over the place yesterday, using a vacant corner store as a carpentry shop, etc. The place is on 8th Avenue, practically around the corner from the old Studio 54. As a bystander said, "Someone's gonna get a great apartment out of this!"

I'd be happy if someone just painted my living room and washed the windows.

B.A.

I'll be watching it - I hope it isn't depressing and teary-eyed like a lot of their latest episodes seem to be.

Iron Chef

My girlfriend calls it "The Crying Show".

B.A.

Paul reminds me of my dad. He doesn't look like it, but he is an emotional baby who will cry at a moments notice.

the_dude8

how come they never make over a house in a ghetto place or neighborhood?

John-In-VA

Apparently you missed the episode about Sweet Alice in Watts.

das Monkey

This show is just so damn annoying, between all the shouting and self-obsessed sensationalism. I gave up on it earlier this year but tuned in for this event, and it was a chore to make it to the end. It was pretty cool what they did to the place, though. I wish they had reserved more than 7 seconds for the reveal.

das

Jadzia

That reveal was very poorly done. They only had 10 minutes and they had a 3 minute commercial break in the middle?!? And they spent the first couple minutes BSing outside of the apartment.

Ty obviously has no sense of timing as he was lollygagging with the one homeowner looking at the eternal flame for awhile while the guy prattled on. Good thing they had that other woman there to shoo him along or we would have never seen the bedrooms (which we barely saw anyway.)

And what was the deal with the boat? That was thrown in too quickly to understand. They gave them a boat? I hope they are also giving them a place to dock it too.

I thought it was funny how at the end they said "We'll be right back..." and then the local news started.

I would have much rather seen a non-live edited reveal that actually showed everything they did in detail. And after two hours I still had no idea how they managed to do all that in 12. The way they kept jumping back to present was odd. I would have liked to have seen hourly progress updates showing the place progressing.

B.A.

The reveal was awful and what was up w/ the ending? Like Jadzia, it cut to my local programming.

The editing of the show was not very good. It went back and forth during certain parts of the day and they showed a few clips twice.

It was neat what they did and how quickly they did it, but they didn't need to do it live - they need the time to tighten up the show and present it properly.

I liked the blonde host - where is she from?

marty888

They spent the previous 36 hours getting ready, doing all the carpentry etc in a vacant store downstairs - the prep work actually started Wednesday morning. STill impressive, but it's not as if they just showed up and had 12 hours to make plans and do the makeover.

j123vt_99

Seems like they always take a crappy small home and make it into a new big home (duh!! about the transformation).. my question is about the size of the new home.. do they purchase an additional lot on which to build or do these homes just no longer have any yard?

Jimmy James

I thought you were going to ask about tooth bleaching and got all excited. I never have understood that process.

I don't watch the show, but I seem to recall seeing an ad for the "How'd They Do That?" show they tried out explaining how they rebuilt the whole neighborhood. Perhaps they do some sort of barter transaction with the surrounding homeowners and buy portions of their lots for use as a yard.

Jadzia

They usually build "up"-- replace a single story home with a 2-story. The designers usually make pretty good use of space. I have seen them work with really small lots. I seem to remember one, it was a small place in California and they ended up removing a swimming pool in order to make the house bigger, but the people definitely needed more space than they did a pool.

Most of the houses seem to be in the middle of nowhere and are tiny houses on a big piece of land.

Or I have seen one where they converted the attached garage into a big living space and they no longer had a garage.

Grimm1

Depends on how old the house is. It seems older houses used to be built on a plot of land that was 3-4 times the size of the acual house. These days there is no such luck (at least in california). You get a piece of land big enough for the house and then an extra 5-10 feet behind it and in front of it.

sjrab16

They usually work with the land they the owner already has. I have never heard about them buying more land for the owner. They probably pick the ones that have extra land anyways, to make sure that they have enough room. I did see an episode that took place in Compton, California I think that was a small lot. And then just built up like people have already said.

tbird2340

Ok, well not in my back yard but about 7 minutes away. It is pretty crazy because we are a very small town compared to others..

I've gone to see the house three days so far.. Last night was the best yet.. I got passes and was able to stand in a pretty sweet spot.

Got to see Paul, Paige, and Connie. Took some pics of them too. It's still hard to believe they are in this area. The reveal is today...

Just wanted to post this because it's pretty cool / unreal that they are in this area!

B.A.

If you took pics - post them. I want to see the ridiculously absurd house they are building for someone who probably can't afford to pay the utility bills.

GuessWho

Move! That! Bus!!

tbird2340

I will post some pics a little later. After lunch. I forgot my camera at home..

I'm not sure if I can post the pics of the house or not.. I remember there being a disclaimer there that said some crap.. I really didn't pay attention but I know it said something.

Chew

Be sure to bump this thread when the episode in question airs.

tbird2340

j123vt_99

a disclaimer?? did you sign anything?

tbird2340

No, didn't sign anything...

Chew

After reading this article, I had to come back here and double-check where the OP is from: http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...ver-home_x.htm

Doesn't look like the same episode.