The ultimate makeover: Now you’re a TV celebrity

“THERE are no second acts in American lives,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in one of the most oft-quoted yet wrong-headed observations ever penned. There might not have been a second act for Fitzgerald, but American lives in general are all about second acts -- the quest for reinvention that goes to the spiritual core of a nation of immigrants.

The latest eruption of this fundamental American ethos was all over TV this year as a remarkable flood of makeover shows swamped the airwaves and -- especially -- the cablecasts. Once there was “This Old House,” a leisurely jaunt through quasi-historical preservation. Now, a partial list includes “Curb Appeal,” “Style Court,” “Extreme Makeover,” “Trading Spaces,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Clean Sweep,” “Design on a Dime,” “While You Were Out,” “Designers’ Challenge,” “Second Chance,” “Monster House” and “What Not to Wear!”

Oh, yeah, and “Dr. Phil.”

Home, hair, wrinkles, wardrobe, psyche -- if you’ve got it, you can change it, or at least watch someone else do so on TV. And that, in fact, seems to be the meta-narrative of this fascinating glut of makeover programs.

For the second act in these American lives is marked by the seemingly effortless transformation of the protagonists from obscure citizens to television celebrities, however small time or fleeting. In a Media Age, that’s the makeover ne plus ultra.