TV Hoarding Shows – A Compare & Contrast
Sue Millinocket | July 1, 2010
Which set of compulsive hoarders do we like best?
I’ve long ago admitted to my addiction to A&E’s Hoarders. What can I say, maybe it makes me feel better about my own housekeeping skills. But there is something fascinating about delving into the pathology that makes people keep old soda cans and diapers.
Clearly I’m not the only one who thinks so.
There are currently 3 popular cable reality series that focus on hoarders. Each has its own spin, but they all exploit…er, examine the phenomenon of compulsive collecting of crap. Let’s take a brief look at all three and you can decide which is best suited to your viewing preferences.
Clean House
The Style Network entry is the longest running of the three as well as the most shallow. They don’t really use the term “compulsive hoarders” and the overall tone is relatively light. Main host Niecy Nash (yeah, the one from Dancing With the Stars) and her team descend upon families whose homes have become battle grounds over clutter.
Nash and Co. have the signature MO of The Yard Sale. They talk people into giving up their crap and sell it all at a big garage sale in order to finance designer Mark Brunetz’s redesign of the home. Nash matches up to the first $1000. After the yard sale, the family goes off to a hotel and the team does its thing, creating an organized, spiffy new space for them.
Clean House Pros:
- - Tone is light
- - Yard sale is a fun idea
- - DIY fans will like the renovations
- - Home is cleaned
Clean House Cons:
- - Families do little of their own work
- - Hoarding is not addressed as an ongoing issue
- - No aftercare
Clean House is Hoarders Lite and the show does nothing to really help the families it portrays. They’re hoarders and they will simply crap up the new space just like they did the old. Clean House is for entertainment only – there is no examination of pathology. The other two shows are far more serious in their approach.
A&E’s Hoarders
This one I’ve discussed before. They choose severe hoarders who are in danger of dire consequences if they don’t get their shit together. A psychologist or other expert comes in and assists an organizer in clearing the house in two days to try and avert whatever disaster is imminent.
In this case, the families or individuals have to agree to the “intervention” and work with the organizers. Much of the show focuses on the frustration felt by the experts, family members and the hoarders themselves over the difficulty of the clean-up process. Once the two days are up, the show is out of there, usually leaving a clean house and sometimes averting [insert name of this week's disaster here]. There is no host or set team, though there is a revolving set of docs and organizers who apparently have signed on with the show. There is also occasional ominous music.
A&E’s Hoarders Pros:
- - These are the worst of the worst hoarders. They appeal to the voyeur in all of us.
- - The title cards clearly label hoarding as a disorder
- - The docs involved provide pretty good analysis of what the hoarder experiences during the clean up
- - Aftercare is provided
A&E’s Hoarders Cons:
- - Makes me want to clean.
- - Two days isn’t enough time to really address the underlying pathology
- - A cleaning team or group of friends/relatives usually does most of the work
- - Aftercare is only funds
Hoarding: Buried Alive
The newest entry into the Hoarding Sweepstakes comes from TLC. I have boundless love for TLC due to many happy hours watching fashion victims get make-overs on What Not to Wear, but I was sceptical of their hoarding show. It seemed like a lot of bandwagon jumping when it debuted last season. I should have had more faith.
Hoarding: Buried Alive features moderate to severe hoarders. Each discusses their own problem and discusses it with a professional of some variety. The pair begins with some sort of activity designed to reveal some of the root causes of the hoarding or some way to change behaviors that lead to hoarding. The show is far more slowly paced and focused on the individual and why they hoard as well as how they can get better. Each person featured has sought help, usually without the intervention of family or friends.
Hoarding: Buried Alive Pros:
- - Hoarder does most if not all of their own cleaning and discarding
- - Clearly addresses pathology on an individual basis
- - Allows adequate time for the individual to make changes
- - Care appears to be ongoing
Hoarding: Buried Alive Cons:
- - Really makes me want to clean
- - Show is pretty slow paced
- - Not shiny and happy – the disorder is revealed as being painful and intractable
- - Lacks the instant gratification of seeing the whole house de-cluttered
Which show you choose in order to indulge your hoarding watching sort of depends on your mood. Do you want silliness? Go with Clean House. Do you want the thrill of watching really disgusting messes get cleaned up tout suite? Go with A&E’s Hoarders. Want something that is a little less exciting but delves more deeply into the disorder? Try Hoarding: Buried Alive.
It is reality TV – all are exploitative to a degree. But they all also address a problem that is more common than most people think. Every time I see a house with a two car garage that has both cars parked in the driveway I think HOARDER. Come to think of it, every time I look in my basement or my pre-teen’s room I think HOARDER. Exploitation can be fun and educational, too!
So go, indulge in your choice of hoarding shows. I watch all three depending on my mood. Clean House has been around the longest so runs in repeats about 20 hours a day and you have the best chance of catching at random. A&E’s Hoarders is available on Netflix and you can watch some full episodes on the A&E website. Hoarding: Buried Alive has only had a single season of which you can catch occasional reruns. You can buy the DVD or get it through Video on Demand, but it isn’t out on Netflix.
Now I’m going to sit here and fight the urge to clean the bathroom.
New on Netflix – June 29th and July 6th
Sue Millinocket | June 28, 2010
Got Netflix?
Well, even though the studios are squeezing Netflix by forcing DVD release delays on them, we still want to know what’s new, now don’t we? Of course we do. More now than ever since some films will release for purchase and rental on the same day and others will be held hostage for a month. So here we go!
June 29th
The Crazies (horror, Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
The White Ribbon (German drama, Ulrich Tukur, Susanne Lothar) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
The Eclipse (thriller, Ciaran Hinds, Iben Hjejle) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-ray
Creation (biography, Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly) Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
The Wolfman (horror, Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins) Netflix release, DVD and Blu-Ray – delayed 28 days from June 1st purchase release
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (children and family, Logan Lerman, Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan) - purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray, Netlix delay probably until the end of July
Hot Tub Time Machine (comedy, John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry) – purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray – Netflix delay – look for it at the end of July
The Pagan Queen (sci-fi/fantasy, Winter Ave Zoli, Csaba Lucas) – Purchase release, DVD – Netflix release delayed
Airline Disaster (action/adventure, Meredith Baxter, Lindsay McKeon) – purchase release, DVD, delayed Netflix release – this one looks like a Direct to Video release. Maybe it will never come out on Netflix. Maybe we don’t want it to…
July 6th
Brooklyn’s Finest (drama, Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Antoine Fuqua director) – Netflix and Purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (foreign thriller, Michaeil Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven-Bertil Taube, Ewa Frohling, based on novel by Stieg Larsson) - Netflix and purchase release, DVD, Blu-Ray and Netflix Instant Streaming
A Single Man (drama, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 7 (TV comedy, Larry David, Cheryl Hines) - Netflix release, DVD, delayed from June 8th purchase release
That’s a big up-tick in delayed releases. Now that we all know now that it results in no increased DVD sales, no financial gain for the studios and a highly probable increase in piracy, it just makes the studios look stupid and stubborn. Remember, Warner Bros., Fox and Universal – piss me off, lose my money down the road. For once have a little foresight and admit that your actions make no sense, achieve nothing other than ticking off DVD renters and ultimately increase criminal piracy and maybe I’ll consider spending my money on your theatrical releases. I’m petty and vindictive, Hollywood, don’t try my patience.
On the other hand – so cool that Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will get Instant Streaming right away! Petty, vindictive and fickle. That’s me!
This week let’s have Raisinettes, shall we?
Questions Remain About Vince Flynn Movie – “Consent to Kill”
Sue Millinocket | June 24, 2010
Fans wondering who will play Mitch Rapp
Fans of Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp novels will finally get to see their hero on the big screen, but who will they see? Casting remains one of the biggest questions for fans of the author and his series of counter-terrorism novels.
Early on, there was only a studio – CBS Films optioned the movie rights to Consent to Kill in 2008. Then came a screenplay by Jonathan Lemkin. Early this year it was announced that Antoine Fuqua would direct.
Right there we have at least one iffy decision. Jonathan Lemkin’s resume is neither long nor impressive – and there was a 7 year break between his last two projects. However, he did pen Shooter, which Fuqua also directed, so maybe his presence had some pull in getting the director behind Training Day involved in the project. But neither director nor screenwriter give me great confidence – both have minimal credits and even more minimal quality credits.
Also at issue is why CBS and Flynn decided to start with book 7 in a series when making the first Mitch Rapp film. Will it necessitate too much monkeying around with both the arc of this story and the establishment of the Mitch Rapp character? Another reason to question the decision to bring in a screenwriter without a more impressive and extensive resume.
But the biggest question of all remains unanswered – who will play lead character Mitch Rapp? It looks like Fuqua and producers Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler have narrowed the field to three:
Gerard Butler, who seems to be a fan favorite and perhaps the frontrunner.
Colin Farrell, whose broody good looks and (let’s face it) better acting chops may give him an edge. If he can behave himself.
Matthew Fox, whose only saving grace seems to be that he really, really wants the role.
Fan sites are looking to be all over Butler, but who knows? There’s been little news on the project since Fuqua signed on. Even with a script and a director, this thing is going nowhere fast. Get casting already, CBS – Vince Flynn and Mitch Rapp fans are tired of waiting!!
Consent to Kill has a scheduled release date of 2012, which seems like a long time away. But if they don’t get moving on casting they aren’t going to make even that generous deadline. Fans are clamoring, time’s a’wastin’, let’s see some action on this Vince Flynn movie!
More Studios Delaying Netflix Releases = More Stupid Studios
Sue Millinocket | June 19, 2010
Studios and Netflix look pretty dumb in light of Paramount study
Earlier this week I wondered about the Netflix release delay of Green Zone. It isn’t a Warner Bros. release, so it shouldn’t be subject to their agreed upon 28 day delay, right? Wrong. It looks like Universal (the studio releasing Green Zone) and Fox have also sealed deals with Netflix to delay their DVD releases for rent.
In light of famine, global warming and gushing oil spills this hardly measures as tragic. It is, however, annoying, particularly for those of us who rent rather than buy our DVDs. The logic, apparently, is that if the studios make renters wait an extra month they are more likely to buy the DVD.
Bullshit.
Renters and buyers are different breeds.
If I really want to see something, I’ll see it in the theater. If I am waiting for it on DVD it’s because I don’t want to pay full theater price for it. I’m sure as hell not going to shell out full DVD price for a movie that might suck and that I will almost certainly watch only one time. DVD buyers are going to buy no matter what – they collect DVDs, are repeat watchers, or whatever. They aren’t me and I’m not them - nothing the studios do is going to change that.
And now we have proof that I am right.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting a 10 month Paramount study of the the impact on DVD sales when rentals were delayed. The result? Withholding rentals does not increase sales. No freaking duh, people. For a bunch of people who supposedly live and breathe movies, Warner Bros., Universal and Fox sure as hell don’t know much about the people who watch their products.
I shouldn’t be surprised, really. It’s a leap before you look world. Why bother checking to make sure your theories are sound before acting on them? That just delays the money factory! Too bad, big boys, your money well is not going to be helped by withholding rentals. As a matter of fact, your bottom line might suffer more than just a little bit and in ways you didn’t see coming.
You see, also inferred in the Paramount study is that those who want to see a DVD on release day without buying it are going to find a way. In other words, withholding rentals is just going to increase piracy. The studio then loses both a rental and their mythical sale. Add in anyone else who watches the pirated movie and there goes more rental money.
Then add in me. I don’t steal movies. But the studios refused to do their homework and thought they could trick or strong-arm me into buying products I have no desire to own. Thus I will be punitive and vindictive. That’s just how I roll, people. Though I don’t see a whole lot of movies in the theater, that number has begun to increase as my kids get older. I also like to see things in the nice, expensive theater. But I’m choosy about the films upon which I lavish my big screen dollars. Unless Warner Bros., Universal and Fox decide to release their stranglehold on Netflix, I may just stop seeing their films in the theater. Wouldn’t that just be too bad for them.
Studios need to remember that regardless of what their focus groups and polls and other yes-men tell them, it’s the people who have the money that keep them afloat. Does my teenage boy spend money going to movies? Yes. Where does he get it? From me. Keep me happy or lose my business, folks. And his. That’s the way capitalism works. If you screw up, you better come crawling back and do some ass kissing if you want me to give you the money that I work long and hard to earn. In other words, stop pissing me off or my wallet closes.
For now, I’m giving Netflix a provisional pass on my wrath, for I imagine they were forced into these deals with threats of complete withdrawal of access to the titles held by the studios involved. But I’d surely like to see some lobbying by them to regain first day renting rights now that it has been proven that withholding does no one any good and only harms Netflix and helps those who steal movies. If they won’t stand up for themselves, I’m sure as hell not going to. They might be stuck with the deals already on the books, but any more like them signals a company that doesn’t have a spine or a brain.
New on Netflix – June 15th and June 22nd
Sue Millinocket | June 14, 2010
Wanna watch a movie? We can have popcorn!
So what do we have coming out on DVD and to Netflix in the next two weeks? Let’s have a look!
June 15th
Valentines Day (romantic comedy, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey) – Netflix release (delayed release – was released for purchase in May)
Hoarders – Season 1 (reality TV, A&E) – Netflix and purchase release , DVD
When in Rome (romantic comedy, Kristin Bell, Joah Duhamel) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
Youth In Revolt (comedy, Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
Control Alt Delete (indie comedy, Tyler Labine, Sonja Bennett) Netflix Instant Streaming and purchase release, DVD and Blu-ray
The Book of Eli (westerns, thrillers, Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman) – Release for purchase – delayed Netflix release, not date announced. Since it’s a Warner Bros. film, expect to see it on or around August 5th.
June 22nd
True Blood – Season 2 (TV, science fiction, fantasy, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
Remember Me (romance, drama, Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Pierce Brosnan, Lena Olin, Chris Cooper) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray
The Last Station (biography, historical drama, Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren) – Netflix and purcahse release, DVD and Blu-Ray
Bluebeard (foreign drama, director Catherine Breillat, Dominique Thomas, Lola Creton) – Netflix and purchase release, DVD and Netflix Instant Streaming
TiMER (indie comedy, Emma Caulfield, John Patrick Amedori) – Netflix Instant Streaming and purchase release, DVD
Green Zone (military action, Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan) Purchase release, DVD and Blu-Ray. Netflix release delayed, reasons unknown.
That last one is a puzzler. It isn’t a Warner Bros. release (it’s Universal) thus I have no idea why the Netflix release is delayed or for how long. I’ll keep an eye on it for you, though. They don’t give this job to chimps, after all.
Will you make the popcorn?
