Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
on ABC
By
Ally Matteodo
For the second week in a
row, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition receives the accolade of
Best TV Show of the Week. Airing at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 18th,
this time the design team headed by Ty Pennington journeyed to Lancaster, Texas
to assist the Marshall family. The patriarch of the family, Carlton Marshall,
now must use a wheelchair. Carlton participated in a routine search warrant with
the Dallas SWAT team, and while on duty a perpetrator shot him in the neck,
leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. The Marshall’s house was a
fixer-upper when they first bought it, a residence with land for their beloved
horses and a barn. However, with his injury, many areas of the house and
outside are now inaccessible to Carlton. Ty and his team are joined by the
Dallas SWAT team, and together they demolish the house. The SWAT medic team
leader, Alex Eastman, comments on how important Lieutenant Carlton Marshall is
to them and how they are determined to take care of their own. In addition,
country musician Trace Adkins volunteered to help with the house renovation and
anything else the team needed. A former construction worker with a lumberjack’s
build, Trace is the perfect man for the job.
The team’s ability to make
Carlton’s house accessible to him again is truly touching. The frustration of a
once-active man now wheelchair-bound manifests itself at the beginning of this
episode, and Carlton’s inability to maneuver around his own home is clearly
distressing. However, after the renovation, this changed. Now, Carlton can
access the outside of his property and visit his horses. He can even ride them,
thanks to a seat installed by the team. Now, he can use the kitchen counters
and make a meal, and he can also tuck his son into bed. Furthermore, a therapy
room is built for Carlton so he can make the most progress possible in his quest
to walk again. In a moving moment, Carlton uses the parallel bars in the room
and comments on how great it feels to stand; one of the design team members,
Paul DiMeo explains how he will never forget the look on Carlton’s face when he
stood against those parallel bars. This is what Ty Pennington and his team do
-- they take people who feel lost, hopeless, and frustrated, and empower them.
The team, along with the community, built a beautiful new home, all while
smiling and knowing that helping those in need is its own reward. This
outpouring of generosity and caring is truly a microcosm for how the world
should be.
Best TV Show
of the Week
The Parents
Television Council -
www.parentstv.org
