Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition on ABC

By Ally Matteodo

In past seasons a frequent choice for Best TV Show of the Week, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition once again did not disappoint with its sixth season premiere episode.  The program’s theme for this season is “Heroes,” and the first hero the team decides to help is single mother Felicia Jackson, who cares for fourteen children.  When her sister Cassandra died due to cervical cancer, Felicia promised that she would look after her ten children.  With four children of her own as well, Felicia struggled to find a suitable living place for the family. No landlords wanted fifteen people living in their residencies.  Eric Kuhn, a teacher, sponsored Felicia as a “hero” and candidate for Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition.  Felicia and her family sent a tearful video to Ty Pennington and his team, begging for their help.  Felicia explained that if something didn’t change, she was going to lose her kids.  Ty’s team arrived on the scene and sent the family on a vacation to Disney World.  During the week they were gone, the team tore down the house that was on the site given to them by the city, and built an entirely new one in its place.  The designers created beautiful interiors to complete the renovations.  The result is an amazing, brand-new brick house with plenty of space for all fifteen of the Jacksons. 

Not many people would take on the daunting task of raising their sister’s ten children, in addition to their own four.  This is the first sign that Felicia is an unusual and extremely giving person.  When Ty Pennington, the ring leader of the group of designers for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, enters the group’s living quarters, which consists of three hotel rooms, he sees a box.  Felicia explains that inside the box are all of the family’s pictures.  Ty reflects that this is very sad -- the family’s existence is like that of the box, constantly being moved around and reshuffled.  On that note, the renovations team gets to work.  Along the way, they do a series of wonderful things for Felicia and the kids, including a shopping spree at Sears.  In addition, they send a plethora of new toys and books to the recreation center at which the children spend much of their time.  All of the books contain a card at the beginning that says “In Memory of Cassandra” to honor Felicia’s late sister.  The new house built by the design team contains so many details that are etched with love.  In Felicia’s master bedroom her comforter has written on it the promises of her kids and nieces and nephews, including such things as “I promise to always keep the family together.”  Outside there is a bench made out of bricks, and on the bricks words are inscribed like “Family” and “Hero.” 

Everything about this program shouts joy.  Ty and his team completely rejuvenate a deserving family.  Not only this, they do so in a manner that is eco-friendly, with “green” designs being utilized in the construction of the house.  Felicia makes a comment to Ty that she felt like her life was spiraling downward at the beginning of the episode.  By the end, it’s clear that her life has spun upward in a way she never could have imagined. 

Best TV Show of the Week

The Parents Television Council - www.parentstv.org