by Neil W. McCabe

A deaf teenage resident of the Somerville Housing Authority helped remodel his bedroom in tribute to the Boston Celtics Feb 10 and 11 for an episode of the ABC Family program “Knock First.”

“The experience was great,” said Sergio Merry, the teenager, through a sign interpreter.

“Some of my friends at my school, the Boston Art Academy, knew people from the show,” he said.

Merry said that he hadn’t heard of the show, so he didn’t know to expect.

The show’s producers asked him questions about his personality and his likes and dislikes, he said.

Then, they explained to him the show’s concept and he quickly agreed to participate, he said.

“Knock First” is a product of the Boston-based company, Scout Productions, said Fitz, the show’s supervising producer.

Scout is the same company that makes the Bravo/NBC program

“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” she said.

The show has three professional designers who take turns drawing up new a new look for a lucky teenager, who is called the show’s hero, said Fitz.

When the show’s crew arrives, the parents and any siblings are sent away to a hotel, and the hero is shown a set of proposals by that episode’s designer, she said.

Then, with the help of his friends, the hero works with the show’s two regular carpenters, Carrie Roy and Andy Hampton, to complete the project, she said.

Roy said she was expecting a greater challenge when she was told that the show’s hero was hard of hearing.

Very quickly, she found that she could communicate with Merry through gestures and facial expressions, Roy said.

“It was really nice to have someone so locked into my eyes and face,” she said.

Roy, who once lived in Somerville, said she learned the signing gestures for street expressions and was fascinated by the system for signing names, she said.

Before meeting Merry, the cast members spent time at a school for the deaf students in Newton, in order to get better acclimated, she said.

On top of all the other issues, there was the problem of finishing the bedroom in two days, then editing action to the show’s 21 minutes of actual content, Fitz said.

The signature of the show is the specially modified silver Airstream camper trailer, Fitz said.

The trailer has a video game console in the back lounge, where the
hero and his friends hang out and have a late-night product placement pizza party, she said.

There is also a confessional booth in the trailer, where the hero and his friends can candidly opine into a camera about the project and the show’s progress behind a curtain, she said.

Throughout the project, the hero maintains total creative control, she said.

That control is an important part of the show because in their regular lives the heroes have decisions made for them, she said.

Empowerment was especially important for this episode because Merry responded so strongly to having control, she said.

“I insisted on doing my bedroom the way I wanted, not the way they wanted,” Merry said.

“I wanted it to reflect my personality,” he said.

The designer for Somerville episode, Shane Booth said he knew that Merry was a Celtics fan, so he planned a parquet floor like the one the Celtics made famous in the old Boston Garden and walls painted green and white.

Booth, who grew up in Ontario, Canada, now lives in Somerville, he said.

When Merry insisted that the walls be painted completed green, Booth said he was shocked, but that it is all part of the show’s fun, he said.

Merry was part of the show’s biggest surprise, Fitz said.

The show’s producers secured an authentic piece of the original Boston Garden parquet floor to be part of Merry’s bedroom floor, she said.

Unlike in other episodes, the issue of ownership could have been very tricky, since the apartment unit is actually owned by the S.H.A., she said.

Before “Knock First” arrived, Scout Productions worked with Kevin Bumpers, the deputy director of the S.H.A. to formally deed the parquet floor to Merry, she said.

“Kevin rocked!” Fitz said. Now, when Merry leaves the apartment, he can take the parquet with him.

Merry said he loved all of the Celtics, but he does have a favorite. As he finished signing the player’s name, Merry smiled broadly and slapped the hand of his sign interpreter, who called out, “Paul Pierce!”