ABC has announced that following a layoff of more than a year, Extreme Makeover will return to the airwaves with four all-new specials beginning Friday, October 20 at 8PM ET/PT.
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Back in early June, ABC had announced that new fourth season episodes of Extreme Makeover (the original plastic surgery edition that later spawned the network's more successful Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ratings hit) would premiere on Thursday, August 3 at 8PM ET/PT and take over the time period that was scheduled to have been previously occupied by Master of Champions, one of the five new reality shows ABC had originally planned to air this past summer.
However after later deciding to cancel The One, a highly promoted but poorly received American Idol-like singing competition that was supposed to, along with Extreme Makeover and One Ocean View, serve as ABC's only August and early September original programming, the network (which would also elect to cancel One Ocean View two weeks later) decided to fill the Thursdays at 8PM ET/PT time period with Grey's Anatomy repeats and table Extreme Makeover's return until later in the fall season
Somewhat ironically, Grey's Anatomy -- the same show that took over Extreme Makeover's originally scheduled summer time period when ABC decided to postpone its return -- is the show that currently occupies the Fridays at 8PM ET/PT time period that Extreme Makeover will be taking over when it returns. After deciding to shuffle its originally announced fall schedule and move its new Ugly Betty series to Thursdays, ABC has been thus far airing Grey's Anatomy repeats in Ugly Betty's originally announced Friday night timeslot.