Even reality television isn't immune from the current real-estate downturn.

"Hope for Your Home," the newest addition to TLC's slate of property-related reality programming, is a direct response to the needs of financially-strained homeowners. Eschewing emotional hysterics in favor of pragmatics, each half-hour show provides participating families with tangible advice on how best to increase the value of their home so they can sell or refinance. The show debuts Saturday at 8:30 p.m. EDT.

"Hope," which is hosted by veteran real-estate agent Kirsten Kemp Becker, differs from TLC's more traditional shelter shows, such as "Flip that House" and "Trading Spaces." Home makeover shows are typically defined by low-cost, high-impact aesthetic changes and highly-sentimental participant backstories. "Hope," however, features a nuts-and-bolts tone, and takes a close look at its participants' financial situation.

Initially conceived in October as a niche property show, "Hope" broadened its reach as the market worsened. "Historically, if you look at how home and property shows respond to market downturns, there's a tendency to shy away from the concern and go back to basics, because people will always want great design and decorating information," says "Hope" executive producer Eric Black. "We wanted to say to audiences, we know [these fears] are on your mind."

TLC Kirsten Kemp Becker, host of TLC's "Hope for Your Home."

Equipped with $10,000, each of the 12 families selected by "Hope" producers is given 30 days to confer with contractors and renovate their homes through landscaping, plumbing repair or, in one family's case, just getting their washing machine out of the backyard. (All the families featured on "Hope" are based in Southern California.) At the end of the month, each house is re-evaluated by a real-estate agent and mortgage brokers who present the families with a new market value for their house -- an estimate that is often lower than anticipated.

In one episode, the Steele family, who bought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom Huntington Beach, Calif., home a year ago for $553,000, are disappointed to learn that even after sodding the front lawn and fixing the bathrooms, the revised value of the home is only $550,000 -- a sum that barely recaptures their property's lost equity.

Find television listings for "Hope for Your Home" and more at LocateTV.

"There are certainly episodes where it's not necessarily feel-good TV at the end, but it's a real profile for what's going on," says Ms. Becker. "Sometimes, there's nothing to do except try hard and hope to be rewarded."

Write to Michelle Kung at michelle.kung@wsj.com

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