i think there is a special place in hell for this ABC exec

the good people at thesmokinggun.com have posted an internal memo from an ABC executive to local affiliates asking for them to be on the lookout for hard luck stories for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. in the memo, the casting director has a laundry list of afflictions a family might be suffering from that will make for really good television, including cancer, ALS (Lou Gerhig's disease) and Progeria (premature aging in a child, which the casting director describes as "the little old man disease") among others. she also excitedly is looking for a child suffering from CIPA (which is an insensitivity to pain) realizing that the potential pool is limited.

if you want to be sickened by the exploitation of these families for network profits, definitely check out the link above.