Older readers will remember the golden era, long before every show on television was a makeover show. But that was before "This Old House" begat "Trading Spaces," which begat "While You Were Out," which begat "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which begat "Pimp My Ride" (fixing up cars and bikes). Now the airwaves are filled with sexually ambiguous young male designers, bubbly female colorists in tight T-shirts, and sensitive but studly carpenters, who descend upon bland suburban rec rooms, closets and garages while the owner is away or in a coma. In a flurry of exuberance and flirtation, they transform a...