[3] The series is a spin-off of Extreme Makeover that features a family that has faced some sort of hardship, having their home completely remodeled to better suit their exact needs.

On May 7, 2024, the series was revived again and returned to ABC for the first time since 2012, with Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer from the website The Home Edit as co-hosts.

It was among ABC's top-rated series and has become far more popular than the original Extreme Makeover, which struggled in the ratings through its last two seasons and quietly ended with its episodes burned off wholesale in July 2007.

It was a short-lived spin-off of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that featured extra behind-the-scenes footage of what had happened in that week's episode.

An occasional special would feature The Muppets, property of ABC, engaging in comical scenes with the design team.

Ty Pennington flies back and forth between the cities to do the "door knock", the braveheart march, and the "reveal", as well as to finish up work on his projects, which he mentions and gives walk-throughs in his magazine.

Generally, the lead designers are notified in advance of the makeover recipients, to enable them to start their plans ahead of time.

ABC received thousands of applications from families in need, and the team said that it was extremely hard to filter through the stories and choose only one of them.

The families they looked for must have met two criteria: first, they must have been truly deserving and in need of the makeover, and second, they must have been the kind of people who gave something of themselves back to their community.

The main theme of the show was advocacy, as each family that was selected helped to address a wide range of issues in American society.

The first season of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition had took place mostly in Southern California, particularly Greater Los Angeles.

Beginning with season 3, the demolitions became quite creative: the team had used falling trees, tanks, and even monster trucks to accomplish the task where needed.

In 2008, a rather innovative episode showed Pennington and his team rolling a five hundred pound bowling ball through the house to eventually demolish a family's "bowling-themed, Big Lebowski-inspired" bathroom.

Pennington selected a portion of the house to be his "secret room" (except in the case when the secret project took place in the backyard), which no one was allowed to view prior to final reveal (with one exception in The Pauni Family, season 4, episode 10, which involved a commercial kitchen; the health inspector had to approve the kitchen and issue the permit before it could be used).

Shows often featured design team members making a trip to a local Sears store as well as special guest appearances.

[10][11][12] Ethically speaking, the show has often been criticized by some viewers and the media for unnecessary contributions and glorifying excessive McMansion-like construction and lifestyles, such as in a Mother Jones article that questioned giving a six-bedroom, seven-bath, seven-television house to a family of four in Kingston, Washington.

ABC responded to the Mother Jones article by noting they had failed to mention that particular home was also a functioning bed and breakfast.

[citation needed] Authentically speaking, one such claim was frequently made against the show's lead designers, particularly Ty Pennington.

"[16] This e-mail has led some major media networks and blogs to accuse the show of opportunism in seeking out the most sensational stories in a push for higher ratings.

The five kids "say that the producers took advantage of the family's hard-luck story and promised them new cars and other prizes to persuade them to participate in the program", according to the LA Times.

[22] On July 17, 2007, Judge Paul Gutman ruled against the siblings, stating that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.

[25] Another spinoff, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How'd They Do That?, aired for one season between November 1, 2004 and May 23, 2005; it featured extra behind-the-scenes footage of what had happened in that week's episode.

On December 15, 2011, ABC announced that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would end its run on January 13, 2012, but continue to air network specials.