CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- ABC is hoping to turn "Extreme Makeover" into a bona fide franchise as the network has ordered 12 additional episodes of the series and given a greenlight to a spin-off, entitled "Extreme Makeover: The Home Edition," as well as two one-hour specials.
"Makeover" has helped breathe life into ABC's Thursday schedule, averaging a 3.0 rating and 7 share among adults 18-49 in its 9:00/8:00c time slot, more than double the network's time period average from a year ago (1.4/3). The additional 12-episode order brings the series' total to 22 episodes this season.
As for "The Home Edition," ABC has given a six episode order to the spin-off, which will follow a group of designers and workmen as they attempt to completely renovate an entire home in seven days, a process that would normally take seven months. "Trading Spaces'" Ty Pennington will host the series, which will sequester its participants until the makeover process is complete. John DeMol and Tom Forman will executive produce "The Home Edition," which comes from Endemol U.S.A.
ABC is also going forward with two one-hour specials of "Makeover," both executive produced by the parent series' Chuck Bangert and Lou Gorfain of New Screen Concepts. The first will serve as a reunion special which will check in on some of the show's participants from the past year while the second will feature a "behind the scenes" look at the show and give an in-depth look at how each episode is made.
It's not clear when ABC will roll out "The Home Edition" or the two specials as the network had previously announced "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital" would take over the Thursday, 9:00/8:00c hour beginning in February.
Meanwhile in other ABC news, the network has once again retitled its upcoming reality series "Trading Moms." The project, based on the British series "Wife Swap," will now simply be titled "The Swap." The Alphabet network has committed to six episodes of the series (in addition to its pilot) which follows two women as they switch households for 10 days. For the first half, the women must adapt to their host family's lifestyle after which they are given control of how their adopted household should operate for the second half. For instance, the pilot features a mom from a New Age/vegeterian Los Angeles family who trades places with the mother of a suburban, Italian family from the Northeast. Michael Davies of RDF Media ("Junkyard Wars") is the executive producer of the series, which is expected to bow in spring or summer 2004.
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