Premise
Home owners apply to Monster House to have their houses radically remodeled according to themes they specify, for example dinosaurs, Egypt and gangsters. The show's host, Steve Watson, then recruits a team of five or six builders, who almost always do not know each other, to radically remodel any parts of a house (including yards) that the show's producers choose, although the home owner may declare some areas "off-limits". The builders win prize packages of tools, worth thousands of dollars, if the build is completed on time. The build starts on a Monday morning and must be finished by midnight on Friday. Often, the builders will have to get all of the constructing, fabrication, and furniture in place, and the in-show designer (who was not recruited) would finish hanging curtains, place pillows, make the bed, and small decorative touches.
Other than picking the theme, the owners have no say in the design process and only get to see the results, not the progress of the build. The owners live for the week in a recreational vehicle parked in front of the house. If the owners are caught peeking at the construction, they are "penalized" by Watson in the form of a practical joke. If the builders fail to meet the deadline, a separate group of "superstar" builders is brought in to complete the effort.
The show has two interesting facets: the outlandish designs and the interactions between the builders. The workers occasionally have personality conflicts. Toward the end of the week, fatigue increases tempers, especially if the build is not going well.
The show originally only remodeled residential houses, but in the third season, expanded to public buildings such as a teachers' lounge of a school, a fire station kitchen, and a police station break room. During the final season, the series regularly employed product placement by including a bald actor portraying advertising mascot Mr. Clean who would stand around during the last-minute cleanup jobs and nod approvingly.
Read more about this topic: Monster House (U.S. TV series)
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