Why ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ Is the Perfect Feel-Good Show Right Now, According to the Show’s Designers
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition returned to television last month after about eight years of being off the air. A few things are different this time around. Jesse Tyler Ferguson is hosting, there are new designers, and the show’s new home is on HGTV.
Back in the day, it was one of television’s first prominent feel-good shows. And now, more than ever, the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team feels families could use a little feel-good in their living rooms on Sunday evenings.
Why the designers feel America needs ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ amidst social distancing
“I think Extreme Makeover: Home Edition really taught me the power of community and what can happen when we all come together. And I think, right now, we’re all feeling very isolated but we are in this together and, as a community, we can make big changes,” designer Breegan Jane told Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
Additionally, Jane feels like everyone could use a good happy cry right now. EMHE has been known to get the waterworks flowing.
“Having that show that can just allow you to cathartically cry and like let it out, but that’s based in this heartwarming power of positivity. I mean, it’s like the perfect drug for what’s happening right now being stuck in your house,” she said.
Designer Carrie Locklyn says the show is a great reminder to be neighborly.
“The show just really shows how we can really come together, the goodness and the kindness of your neighbor and, right now, for a lot of us, that’s all we have. Our neighbors walking out their front doors, waving to them next door as they’re walking past, asking them how they’re doing. It’s a really large reminder of just how neighborly this country really is,” she said.
Darren Keefe, the show’s third designer, says EMHE is showing us how we’re going to have to come together “when we get past this.”
“When we get past this, and we will, the community’s really going to need to rally together and support each other because this, unfortunately, will affect our economy. People will need all the help they can get. I think this is a kind of shining example and beacon of what can happen when people come together and help each other,” he said.
What ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ lesson fans can apply to their lives right now
Be a good neighbor.
“Help your neighbor. Support one another. If there’s ever been a time for that it’s now. I know that we’re obviously practicing social distancing, but it’s one of those things. You go to the grocery, call your neighbor up, ask if they need anything,” urges Keefe. “Just looking out for one another and checking in with one another. Making sure that they’re healthy and if they need anything. The sense of community that we have on the show is the same that I’d like to implement in my own life.”
Jane wants the show’s fans to take this time to make sure their homes are comfortable and safe.
“I think it teaches us about how important our home spaces are. How they help us function and how they make us feel. And so I hope everyone’s taking the moment to give their home a little extra TLC to fill their own needs right now and make themselves feel comfortable,” she said.
Locklyn hopes Extreme Makeover: Home Edition viewers are maintaining “gratitude and keeping the faith.”
“I think the main thing that you see when [the families] run out of the house, when they realize that they’ve been chosen, is the pure gratitude that someone is there to help them. And I think, right now, what’s touching me the most during this time, is just everyone being so grateful for what it is they have and where they live and having that home space. Being grateful for your friends and your family and just kind of the human spirit,” she said.
“Everything is going to work out. Even in the darkest moment, your neighbors are there to help you,” she concluded.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is on HGTV Sunday evenings at 9 PM.
