No Healthy People Need Apply

I hate the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and now everyone else in the world will know why. From the very beginning I've said this was nothing more than a over-the-top, big budget version of the 50s TV show "Queen for a Day". Sixty years ago some poor woman who scrubbed floors for a living could go on TV, tell her sob story, and if it was pathetic enough -- win a toaster or a waffle iron or some equally miraculous contraption. So now the Smoking Gun--once again, gotta love 'em-- releases an email sent to ABC affiliates to "be on the lookout" for specific types of families in need. So what makes for good pathetic television these days? Kids with progeria are a big winner (just ask Morey Povitch), ALS patients, victims of hate crimes who've had their houses burned down, multiple Downs Syndrome families, and the ever popular "amazing Mom or Dad" with skin cancer. I know that all reality television is about exploitation but have the decency to keep your wish list to yourself. It also makes me doubt the authenticity of those heartfelt videos played for the weeping team of rah-rah builders and decorators.

Boo hiss.