Fans of HGTV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition were extremely excited about the revival of
the original home renovation show.
There's a lot to be learned about the return of this feel-good favorite.
Keep watching as we lay out the untold truth of the network's incredible reboot.
From Punky Brewster to The Biggest Loser, new reboots of old shows continue to be made.
HGTV, however, hadn't dipped its toe into the revival pool prior to revisiting Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition.
Kathleen Finch of Discovery, Inc, which owns HGTV, told Variety why the network decided
this show was different enough to warrant a resurrection.
Finch explained,
"We like to come up with our own formats and our own ideas, but every now and then, there's
something out there that just makes so much sense from a brand perspective that we have
to do it."
The executive also credited the show's enduring popularity to the fact that it contains, quote,
"real drama, and real stakes around a home being rebuilt."
Ahead of the series' February 2020 premiere, HGTV senior VP of production and development
Loren Ruch explained why the timing was ideal for an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition revival.
Speaking during an appearance at the Television Critics Association press tour, Ruch said,
"I just feel like right now the climate that we're living in it feels like the show is
the warm hug that everybody needs right now."
Several months after announcing plans to revive Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the network
revealed the identity of the new iteration's host: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, best known for
his role as Mitchell Pritchett on ABC's hit sitcom Modern Family.
In the network's announcement, Ferguson was quoted as saying,
"I was so inspired by the original series and now I can't wait to help families as the
new host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Ferguson also shared the news with his social media followers in a video he posted to Twitter.
"I cannot wait to bring you the next chapter of deserving families who are about to have
their lives completely changed for the better, and I'm so honored to be bringing you these
uplifting and inspirational stories."
Admitting that he "loved the original," Ferguson told Parade in an interview how he came to
be involved.
He explained,
"The producers came to me because they wanted someone totally different from [original host]
Ty [Pennington], and they wanted someone who could bring humor as well as a human connection.
It's a tricky balance because you're part Oprah Winfrey, part Bob the Builder."
"We are buying you a house!"
HGTV's resurrection of this beloved series introduced a trio of new designers: Breegan
Jane, Carrie Locklyn and Darren Keefe, who each oversee different aspects of whole-home
overhauls during the revival's first season.
Celebrity guest stars also signed up to be a part of the action, including Anthony Anderson,
star of ABC sitcom Black-ish.Iin a statement to Variety, Anderson said,
"I will be part of making a real impact on a family's future.
The joy of working alongside people in the community to help a family get a fresh start
in their new home is extraordinary."
Also showing up as guest stars: Derek Hough from Dancing With the Stars, Laila Ali from
the Oprah Winfrey Network, Tyler Florence from the Food Network, and singer LeAnn Rimes.
Revealing in a statement that she was an "avid fan" of the original series, Rimes said that
when she first heard about the revival, she knew she "just had to have a hand in it."
In her words,
"I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
Let's move that bus, y'all!"
While the original Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was renowned for gifting life-changing,
heartwarming home renovations to deserving families, there was also a hidden dark side
to all those good feels.
As it turned out, once the cameras packed up and moved onto the next reno, some families
were unable to handle the increased costs of the larger homes.
Among these costs were higher taxes based on the increased values of the renovated homes,
which ironically, and tragically, led some families to lose their new homes to foreclosure.
However, that shouldn't be an issue with the HGTV reboot.
As network exec Loren Ruch explained during a session for the show at the Television Critics
Association press tour, the revival series has tried to ensure that most homes being
renovated are already existing properties, they won't be trying to build McMansions or
other large homes from the ground up.
Ruch also revealed the show was offering the families other financial options to assist
them, such as scholarships, with a goal of assisting them to succeed in the long haul.
If there's one person most associated with the original Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,
it's host Ty Pennington.
The actor-slash-carpenter first came to viewers' attention via his role on TLC's Trading Spaces,
which led to him being tapped to host ABC's Extreme Makeover spinoff.
Fans wondering whether or not Pennington is involved in the series revival didn't need
to wait too long to find out if he was showing up, because he did!
Announced as one of the guest stars to appear in the first reboot season, Pennington said
he's thrilled to be a part of the new iteration, even if he's no longer the show's host.
On the subject of being replaced, Pennington told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
"To be honest, my ego wasn't bruised.
I went to the folks producing it and said, 'Hey, man.
I know you are not sure who the host will be.
I'm totally okay with that.'"
Pennington did concede, however, why it was kind of a no-brainer for HGTV to include him
in its rebooted version.
As he put it,
"Let's face it, my voice and face are synonymous with the show."
Along with new host Jesse Tyler Ferguson, a trio of new designers, and a gaggle of celebrity
guest stars, HGTV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition revival differentiates itself from
the original by populating the show with the network's own personalities.
Fans were told to expect appearances from an array of HGTV stars, including Tarek El
Moussa of Flip or Flop, Jasmine Roth of Hidden Potential and Tamara Day of Bargain Mansions.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's new version set out to help not one, but two deserving
families in Ogden, Utah.
One such family is the Barobis, refugees from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Deseret News, the Barobi family didn't own a home, so a vacant lot was donated,
upon which a new 2,900-square-foot, six-bedroom home was built.
Ogden-based contracting firm the Wadman Corporation donated its services for the construction,
and company CEO David Wadman told Deseret News that the solar-powered home is so energy
efficient that the family's monthly living expenses, including insurance and taxes, were
estimated at just $200 a month.
In the first season of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition revival, viewers meet the Fifita
family of Hawthorne, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.
According to a feature in the Californian newspaper Daily Breeze, the family landed
on the radar of the show's producers thanks to the nickname their home had been given
within the community: YMCA, referencing all the children and young adults that Brian and
Lisa Fifita have charitably taken into their home over the years.
A family friend told the paper,
"They are a family who's always given back.
They will take you in at any time and give you the shirt off their backs."
Given that the Fifita home encompasses only 887 square feet, the plan was to enlarge the
structure significantly.
Lisa Fifita's reaction to her new, bigger home pretty much said it all.
She told the newspaper that what she was most looking forward to was having more people
over when it was all done.
When it came time to cast HGTV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition revival, the network put the
word out that the show was seeking families in desperate need of a home renovation who
had also made an impact in the communities in which they lived.
As one might imagine, this was a tall order, and led to a nationwide casting call.
HGTV's casting announcement was picked up by numerous local news organizations from
coast to coast, ranging from Naples, Florida to Bakersfield, California.
In its announcement, HGTV revealed that producers were seeking homeowners in dire need of a
renovation, but revealed a twist that was being introduced: renters and those who were
interested in relocating were also encouraged to submit applications.
According to the network, hundreds and hundreds did.
While reality shows have been known to fudge the truth for entertainment's sake, there's
one thing about HGTV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition revival that is exactly as it appears
on the show: the tight time limit.
As a story from KMJ in Clovis, California, revealed, the show constructed a brand-new
home for a local man and his family in just 96 hours.
Ryan DeYoung, president of De Young Properties, one of the construction companies featured
in the series, described the experience of building a home in such a ridiculously short
period.
As DeYoung described it,
"It's definitely not a lot of time.
We have 13-hour shifts, it's AM and a PM shift.
We are straight all the way through until the very end."
Despite the tight timing, corners cannot be cut.
As the Chicago Tribune reported back in 2005, the show has always fast-tracked the construction
process, but the work must be impeccable.
Travis Jones, project manager on a 2005 Kansas City reno, insisted that all work had to be
up to code.
He said,
"We had inspectors there on the job 24 hours a day.
It wasn't just thrown up and we said, 'Here's your home.'"
One of the more heartwarming aspects of the original Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was
the way neighbors pitched in to help the deserving families who received renovations.
In HGTV's reboot, that's only expanded.
When the network debuted its first teaser video in November 2019, Deadline reported
at the time that HGTV president Jane Latman detailed some of the amazing logistics that
went into launching the reboot of the beloved series.
"With help from more than 10,000 volunteers, families, friends and neighbors, sharing more
than 560,000 hours of their own time, we improved the lives of 10 special families and created
another can't miss television series on HGTV."
While receiving a new home is nothing short of life-changing for the families on the show,
the same seems to hold true for those who volunteer.
Mike Caldwell, mayor of Ogden, Utah, spoke to the Deseret News about the many residents
who pitched in to help build a new domicile for a family of refugees.
He said,
"It's just an amazing feel-good story.
I think it's a great reflection [of] what Ogden's all about."
In addition to broadcasting the resurrected show, the network is offering some expanded
viewership opportunities to take fans behind the scenes in ways the original show never
could.
Thanks to the power of social media, HGTV has been providing additional content via
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, in addition to two online series on HGTV.com going into
more detail about the families on the series and their home overhauls.
Viewers can experience that in-depth material in Meaning of the Makeover, which delves into
the stories of the ten families profiled in the revival's first season, and Extreme Makeover:
Heart and Home, which takes a deep dive into the construction work that went into the season's
home renovations.
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