Extreme Makeover” and the Good and Bad of Reality TV

Sunday night, America will see the fantasy that Philo residents Nathan and Jenny Montgomery and their family have been living since last August. The ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" destroyed the family's dilapidated home and built them a new one, filled with new furnishings. Nathan Montgomery's creation of the Salt and Light food bank helped get them selected.

"Extreme Makeover" belongs to a TV genre that's often pummeled by critics for hype, over-commercialization and lowest-common-denominator values. But University of Illinois media observer James Hay says reality TV has real roots. He tells AM 580's Tom Rogers the shows grew out of an ethic that took hold as the century changed and Americans chose a conservative government.