Makeover Shows Rule New TV Schedule

Dec. 20 -- It's the dream-come-true of a better you … and it's TV's hottest trend.

From niche cable channels to major networks, plain Janes and boring Bobs are being turned into jaw dropping beauties. And when their faces and bodies aren't being transformed, their living spaces are being turned upside down.

The makeover trend began a few years ago with just a couple of unique cable programs like TLC's Trading Spaces and E! Entertainment TV's Fashion Emergency

Those shows led to a series of new cable makeover programs. When word of their success got out, the makeover trend hit the networks.

Today, "before and after" junkies have more than 40 of these shows to choose from.

"There's Ambush Makeover, Mission Makeover, Makeover Story, What Not to Wear, A Personal Story, Model Mission… ," notes television historian Tom O'Neil.

O'Neil says the roots of the TV makeover craze can be traced back a half a century.

"The first makeover show was Queen for a Day back in the 1950s [in] which audiences would decide which sobbing housewife would get the mink stole or the washer dryer," O'Neil said.

While Queen for a Day may have planted the makeover seed, it's still a far cry from what today's contestants wind up with — new faces and new places.

Some individuals who actually make it on Extreme Makeover, on ABC, end up looking like entirely different people. Many of them undergo chin implants, tummy tucks, eye-lifts, weight loss and much more. Their recovery can take weeks.

Meanwhile, on shows like Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,TV contestants undergo complete makeovers — physical and domestic.

One new show on the USA Network goes one step beyond a traditional room or home makeover. Producers on House Wars start from scratch, and the luckiest contestants get to keep the new home they have decorated.