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Q: I was just wondering, does "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" ever go back to visit the families who have been chosen to get makeovers to see if they are taking care of the houses?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

First of all, it depends which version you're talking about. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" just got a high-profile reboot on HGTV this past winter -- that one hasn't had time to do any revisiting.

But the original version, which ran for nine mega-smash seasons on ABC from 2003 to 2012, did go back to revisit families pretty frequently, but maybe not in the way you're thinking.

There wasn't a lot of checking up on maintenance -- instead, the show frequently revisited past featured families for heartwarming-reunion purposes, or to let the families "pay it forward" by helping out on new builds.

However, maybe a bit of the sort of checking up you're talking about might not have been a bad idea. It could have helped the show stop making a mistake that has just now been corrected in the reboot. In an interview with USA Today, new host Jesse Tyler Ferguson, of "Modern Family" fame, made a simple promise regarding the new version: "We're not giving people more than they need."

During the original run, there were stories of families not being able to afford the houses they had been given. That doesn't seem to make sense until you consider that mortgage payments are just one of many bills a homeowner faces. The families suddenly found themselves with drastically increased property tax and utility bills that had as much as tripled. For families who were barely making ends meet at the start -- which was often why they were selected -- it was too much.

The HGTV reboot has faced that failing head-on and promised to repair the show's model, just like it would fix a faucet.

"The makeovers are dramatic, but that doesn't mean the homes need to be enormous," HGTV executive Loren Ruch told USA Today.

Ferguson added that the show's new motto is "changing people's lives, but not people's lifestyles."

 

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