"Total Home Makeover"

[SHRED]

Apparently this is a TV show that rebuilds people's homes in about a week.

Well.....anyway....A coworker was talking about one show where they rebuilt a home in my town, Encinitas, CA. He was going along with his "How grateful they were", "Super nice people", yada yada. Then he mentioned it was a guy with EIGHT KIDS! Now me and my BIG editorial commenting mouth blurts out, "Damn I am suppose to feel sorry for this guy and he popped out 8 kids?" "Where is the personal responsibility in all this?". This I said to a group of "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" type conservatives.

Then another new hire coworker turns out helped with the project while working at Dixieline.

Needless to say I became the "cynical" bastard of the crew yesterday.
I still maintain my insight was correct.

That stupid show is about ratings. If they really cared they would donate the profits to a worthy cause like Habitat For Humanity.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. ummmm...

what show ISN'T about ratings?

theProdigal

[SHRED]

2. I know

But the way it is cloaked in a phony benevolence is ugly.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. just remember...most of what is done in public

is for show only. Real benevolence is mostly carried out behind the scenes where there is no one to applaud...only someone who has a real need to be met...and someone willing to meet it.

theProdigal

[SHRED]

4. Very true---eom

[Cheswick2.0]

8. how is it phony benevolence?

They need the ratings to get the income to help the people.

[SHRED]

9. They focus...

on 1 family and rebuild their home with all the latest gadgets.

That is how.

If they cared they would build modest homes for many families.

[KurtNYC]

6. America's Most Wanted

seriously, Fox wanted out years ago but the public and the FBI keep the show on. Ironically, the show that actually does some good for the country is the one Murdoch wanted out of.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

10. they keep the show on with ratings

while it may serve some pubic good, without ratings and public support it would die out. All shows that are privately created and funded require ratings and advertisements to survive...but public funds can drive certain types of shows...but still have to have significant public support.

theProdigal

[KurtNYC]

11. True but the ads don't quite pay the bills on that one

They keep it on through subsidising the cost of production/broadcast as a community service. And they did try to get out of it at one point.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. well, then it IS getting enough funding from somewhere

and that, to me, is a good thing...that show (as well as many others) does do a good service!

theProdigal

[Screaming Lord Bob]

5. Don't get Underpants started!

He'll start bringing up property and gift taxes and such!

It seems like they end up adding to the family's expenses...

[Red State Rebel]

12. Actually, the way they work it...

They use the same property, they just totally rebuild the house.

I watched the show and thought it was great.

[Screaming Lord Bob]

21. yes, they rebuild the house

so now its worth more (higher property taxes) and they add lots of goodies inside (gift taxes).

That's how the burden increases...

[Cheswick2.0]

7. the show can do what it does because of the TV adertising that comes

from ratings. The man in question has eight kids but that doesn't make him unworthy of help. He lost his wife and he was raising the kids alone in a very small house.

[SHRED]

16. He needs birth control help

"The man in question has eight kids but that doesn't make him unworthy of help."

OMG. Am I missing something here?

This dude bangs out 8 kids and I am suppose to feel some sort of empathy or think he is more worthy of help? Bullshit I say.
That is a sign of irresponsibility in my view. He was not thinking of his overall impact on the rest of us by overpopulating now was he?

What a load of crap.

[Red State Rebel]

14. First of all....they weren't destitute - they were just

crowded. He didn't seem to have any problem supporting them. The mother had died and the father was raising the 8 kids alone now.

I have 4 kids, does that make me some kind of an animal?

[Lavender Brown]

15. It's always a family with a horrible sob story

Once there was a family of 5 + kids whose mom AND dad had died unexpectedly within months of each other. It's hard not to feel bad for these people. But the way they redo the homes is a little crazy ... they'll put 10 TVs in the family room so each kid can watch something different at the same time, and put 10 sinks in the bathroom so there's no traffic. It WOULD make more sense to build decent houses for several needy families, rather than one over-luxurious home for one... but that doesn't really make for good TV I guess.

[Shananigans]

17. Oh get a life...

What a twisted view on life. You poor thing. It is this mans constitutional right to have as many children as he would like. There are families who prefer more children and those who don't. That's just life... to claim that this man is less of a good person for it is ridiculous. My grandparents had 7 children and they weren't socially irresponsible...their religious beliefs dictated not to use birth control. All of those 7 children are responsible, tax paying Democrats today. Thank GOD!

No matter what, the show could have picked someone a little worse off, or spread out the money a little differently, but they chose to do it this way and that is their RIGHT.

Damn, you'd think we were living in a communist nation or something the way some people talk.

[SHRED]

19. A religious belief...

that requires no birth control IS NOT acting in a socially responsible way.
How can you think any different?


He may be "a good person" but helping to overpopulate the planet is not good. How can it be?

[GiovanniC]

20. Um

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[SHRED]

25. Nice response

Very well thought out.

I'll chalk you up as being a religious kook, in favor of overpopulation.

[sbj405]

18. It's one of the few TV shows that I watch

And of the reality tv genre (which seems to be 50% of programming these days), it's the least objectionable.

As for the comments regarding the father, I saw the show and the house as really for the kids. It's not their fault or choice they were brought into such a large family. I mean the 4 boys were living in a garage - not exactly what every 18 year guy wants. On top of losing their mother, they were living in a cramped, deteriorating home and amazingly didn't seem to complain too much.

I think for the most part the show does a pretty good job of picking families that have some actual need. One family with a handicapped son who hadn't been outside one room of the house because they couldn't afford the modifications. A young foster mother with several kids. True, they are perhaps not the most in need of housing, but I think that it is a rarity in TV in that it actually makes a difference in at least a few people's lives. And besides, Ty is pretty cute. ;-)

As for the $, I'm guessing a good amount is covered by the excessive and overt product placement ads throughout.

[slinkerwink]

22. that show's my guilty secret

I know it's hokey and all, but it still makes for great reality television---much better than those stupid reality shows where 25 women vies for one man.

[daddybear]

23. GREAT show....

That is one terrific show and we watch it faithfully... do not always agree with who is getting the house etc, but love to see it happen. Is having 8 kids a sin? He HAD a wife (she died at 41 of cancer or some such)... not his fault... and the kids were all very well adjusted and good kids...a Christian family... what's the beef?

[cmf]

24. They would be better off if Habitat built their house

My friend worked on the production team of one of those extreme home remodel shows (something like "Renovate My Family" or some other nonsense on Fox). Anyway, you just can't build a house in a week. The work on these homes is incredibly shoddy. The families end up with a money pit, albeit a good looking (at first) money pit.