'Extreme' is worth going to

If I never had to see another "Average Joe" or "Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" or "Next Top Model" or even "American Idol" again, I'd be one happy TV critic. But, fortunately, not all "reality" TV is about bugs and rats and snakes and eating disgusting things on "Fear Factor."

If you watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (Sunday, 7 p.m., ABC/ Ch. 4), you'll actually feel good. Although, frankly, it might make you cry.

"Home Edition" is basically a ramped-up version of "Trading Spaces." Even "Spaces" carpenter Ty Pennington is on board as the host and leader of the makeover team.

But they're not making over one room -- they're making over an entire house in one week. And we're not just talking about repainting; these houses are demolished down to the studs, reconfigured and redecorated from scratch.

The scope of "Home Edition" is bigger, but the format isn't much different than a lot of other shows, ranging from "While You Were Out" to "Merge" to "Design on a Dime." But ABC's new series adds one additional element -- a whole lot of heart.

These aren't just any families with dumpy houses who get chosen for the show. In the pilot episode, which aired in December, the family hadn't had much chance to fix up their fixer-upper because they'd been dealing with their youngest daughter's leukemia for the past couple of years.

And Sunday's episode features a family whose father, a National Guardsman, was called to duty in Iraq just after they'd moved into a new house that needed some work. What Mom and the three young boys don't know is, while they've been sent off to Disneyland for a week, Dad is helping work on the house.

The biggest surprise isn't their fabulous new home, it's that Dad is back from Iraq. ABC sent Kleenex along with the tape of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and you'd be well advised to have some on hand if you watch.

And if you do watch, you won't be sorry.

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com

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