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I’m talking about certain TV shows. Yes, television. The boob tube. The flickering black box. The technology that I’ve never lived without. I am the TV generation. Life without TV is life not worth living.
I know how that sounds.
It’s still true.
I have watched many, many television shows during my stint on Planet Earth and only a few of them have changed my life or the life of someone I love. One of those shows is Hoarding: Buried Alive.
Oh, Hoarding, what did the messy people of the world do without you? They never knew they were messy, did they? They never knew they were (gasp) hoarders.
I watch Hoarding and I know that these people are mentally ill. They have a medical problem and they need clinical help. Like drug therapy. Or daily psychiatric therapy. Or both.
Now that that disclaimer is out of the way, what is wrong with you people? Throw out the stupid old dolls! Throw out your rotting food! No one needs 58 cats! And, you, the man who kept rats as pets and had them living in the walls and under the couch and in the box springs of your bed and had them breeding like . . . rats, YOU NEED HELP!
But Hoarding, thank you. You probably didn’t know that when Big D happens to wander into the room while I’m watching you and he catches a glimpse of that stranger’s stacked-to-the-rafters kitchen, he runs away . . . because he must, he feels HE MUST, clean the garage that very instant.
And did you know, Hoarding, that when Number Two Son looked at his favorite, stained, ripped sweatshirt, the sweatshirt that he wanted to keep even though I had just bought him a new sweatshirt, he it threw out with these words on his lips: “I don’t want to be a hoarder.”
So thank you, Hoarding: Buried Alive. I love you. You’ve changed my life.
Have any TV shows changed your life, had a palpable impact on you, changed the axis of the planet by even one degree? What are your favorite TV shows that are no longer with us? What TV show was a surprise hit for you, personally?
What Not To Wear: I thought I had my outfits together, but they added just a bit of je ne sais quoi to my wardrobe. They made me feel ok if I didn’t wear the size I thought I should be for some clothing, because the cut often is what designates the size, and it ended my love of the crew neck, and what I thought was ok to wear on the weekends. (Yeah, I’m still wearing comfy jammies to a point, but I don’t ever wear sweatpants…even to sweat) I love those two fashion obsessed people.
Design On A Dime: It’s ok to paint stuff, find stuff in garage sales and redo furniture you bought for a few dollars. No matter what the Big Bang Theory said…(The red chair episode). And if you mess up…oh well…it was only a few dollars.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:56 am.
Oh, my gosh, YES. Yes to both. I adore What Not To Wear–thank you Clinton and Stacy for telling the world that size does not matter! Fit is what matters!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:12 am.
I tend not to become too involved in the TV shows I watch, so I don’t really think they have impacted on my life. Perhaps subliminally they have & I just don’t know it.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:49 am.
Mary, Mary, Mary.
I can see an intervention is in order (speaking of, that’s one show I can’t bear to watch–too tragic). I feel it is my duty to get you as hooked on TV as I am. Watch your back!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:13 am.
Christopher Lowell convinced me,”It’s only paint!” so if I don’t like the way it turned out – change it! “It’s only paint!” Those words are so liberating.In the 12 years we have lived in our house we have probably repainted the interior four or five times and the exterior three. My sister has dug out her paint chips and is looking around the living room, the subject of refinishing the coffee table and the two side chairs arose again.
I miss the shows where the parents were not the butt of all jokes and they were actually parents not buddies or boobs.
The show that changed my views of things was the Oral Roberts Show when I was ten years old. The shows were still live back then so they couldn’t correct mistakes. I was watching him perform all these “miracles” one day when I saw a man run across the back of the stage while Roberts was telling the story of a man who couldn’t walk without the aid of crutches and he needed our prayers.Then I saw the same man who had run across the stage hobble out on crutches and he got healed by Roberts. Since no one else had seen what I did they thought I was mistaken; I wasn’t, I know what I saw and that was a televangelist perpetrating a fraud.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:04 am.
What ever happened to Christopher Lowell? He was such a doll. I lost track of his show–his style became too overblown for me, too many accessories.
Hmm. Wonder if I can blame that on Clinton and Stacy?
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:15 am.
Christopher has gone internet, he does webisodes now. He is franchised all over the place. We can get his fabrics at Joanne’s, I love them (hate the prices).
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:51 am.
No kidding! I knew he couldn’t be GONE, but TV is so much easier than internet. For me, anyway.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:36 pm.
Yes, shows have changed my life. Fiction shows, actually. I pretty much only watch fiction shows, and, man, I get very, very, very involved. I’m a really lonely person, so, since I was a pre teen, I’d steal advice from tv shows. I can’t count how many times I stole advice from Dawson’s Creek, Popular, Buffy, reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 and especially Charmed. That’s probably the one show that changed my life the most. When I was 11, I would hope the Charmed ones would come and vanquish my demon
I can say tv shows saved my life, literally, with the same strength I say books have. Desperate Housewives saved me when I was 16. I had nothing, no one to turn to, nowhere to go, and, bam, out of nowhere, comes this show I turn completely obsessed with, and it really saved me. I know, I have issues.
Funny, I just wrote a blog post tonight on my latest obsession and why it makes a huge difference in my life. ONCE UPON A TIME. Are you guys watching it???? Seriously, YOU HAVE TO!!! Like, NOW!!!! Here’s how persuasive I can be, haha!!!
http://booksandhugs.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/my-obsession-with-once-upon-a-time/
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:13 am.
B, I LOVE Once Upon A Time! I don’t miss it and I can’t say that for too many TV shpws these days.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:32 am.
I do watch ONCE and I love it. But it needs to move faster. The pace is glacial and I must =insist= that the writers write Emma smarter. It’s not cool to have her lose every single ‘put up or shut up’ moment with the mayor.
Not cool!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:17 am.
I loved Dawson’s Creek! I had such a crush on Joshua Jackson.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:13 am.
I love Once Upon a Time, but seriously, they need to pick up the pace a bit.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:11 pm.
I cannot think of one show that has really changed my life per se. The show I do miss most is the Golden Girls. Thankfully I can still find reruns of it. They don’t make em like that any more. I laugh at your Hoarders comments because I think the same way. That show has impacted my father. He has started cleaning the garage, finally. My mother appreciates that. It’s one of these-he knows where everything is, but anyone else would never find it, deals.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 6:47 am.
Okay, Kelly, this is how I see it: Hoarding HAS changed your life because now your dad is cleaning the garage, and it was driving your mom nuts that he didn’t (speaking from experience here), and now you won’t have to take care of a mom battered by slob-induced dementia?
See?
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:19 am.
Yes exactly! Mom is much happier now that he is doing it. Maybe it helped that I accidentally on purpose put it on the last time they visited
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:42 am.
I haven’t had any show change my life but What Not to Wear has made me look more closely at what I wear. It’s too easy to get into the baggy comfy shleppy thing so I try to make more of an effort.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:13 am.
In my universe, What Not To Wear has changed your life. Your behavior, the way you think about clothes, has changed.
Yay, TV! I knew you weren’t a total waste of time!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:20 am.
I absolutely loved M*A*S*H. I have the entire series on DVD and watch it fairly regularly. Come to think of it, it is the only show I own on DVD. Other than that, I can’t really think of any that truly influenced my life (and even that is stretching it, aside from it’s anti-war stance.)
There have been a few shows that I loved that got cancelled. I think if New Amsterdam had continued it would have been one of my all time favorites.
I don’t watch much reality TV, except Biggest Loser and America’s Got Talent. The former makes me hungry, and the latter makes me realize how deluded most of the world is.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:22 am.
ROFL! Exactly.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:21 am.
My husband loves that hoarding show – I will admit, after watching that show I am so much more careful about throwing things away – and already, I am one of those people who if I haven’t worn it/used it in a year, it gets tossed. But I can easily see how it can start having had to clean out houses for deceased relatives who saved everything!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:35 am.
Isn’t that the truth? One of the nicest things my family does (talking the old folks) is get rid of stuff as they go. They think it’s criminal to leave the sorting and tossing to the kids once they’re gone. I think it’s one of the nicest gifts you can give.
But that’s because I watch Hoarding: Buried Alive.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:23 am.
Buffy changed my life because I wanted to write a book very similar to the show since I loved it so much.
There are several shows my kids watch with me and only me–Supernatural for youngest son and Game of Thrones with oldest son. That’s special.
I miss I Love Lucy, Friends, Seinfeld–all the shows you can watch over and over and even though you KNOW what’s going to happen, you laugh anyway.
I did not think I’d like Game of Thrones. Don’t like fantasy, don’t like other worlds, don’t like weird names for the characters. But I LOVE it!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 8:54 am.
I haven’t heard a single bad thing about Game of Thrones–which I haven’t seen yet. I expect to love it.
I have special shows I watch with my kids. NCIS and House and White Collar with Number One Son; Castle and Hawaii 5-0 with Only Girl; that mining for gold show with Number Two Son. I save those shows to watch until they’re available, which explains why I’m always a few days late on those shows.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:26 am.
I’m a messy person by nature. I have no problem with waiting until I run out of socks to do laundry.
When I catch Hoarders, my skin crawls and every piece of furniture,counter top,floor is swept clean. shudder! A result of keeping things ready for moves during my growing up yrs,I don’t hold on to things, thank goodness. Although i have been in the same home for over 15 yrs now, so I’ve gathered a good pile of crap.lol
the Waltons changed my life. Growing up none of my friends had large families- only 4 kids at the very most. Seeing a large family like mine made me feel less like an oddity.
also the Osmonds.
when i would prance around the house honing my quips and sarcasm, my mom would tell me “You’re not Marie. stop that”
Buffy changed my view on vampire drama/comedy. It had my warped sense of humour, and the stories were more than just face value. there were important life lessons mirrored in the stprytelling. it is still absolutely fascinating to me. I’ve worn out my dvd collection.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:12 am.
I’m glad I’m not the only one! I can’t watch Hoarding without jumping up and cleaning something, even if it’s just throwing out junk mail. It creeeeeps up on you! Clutter enough to drown in!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:28 am.
I can’t think of any shows that have changed my life, but there are a few I watch religiously every week. I watch House and Modern Family all the time. I have other shows that I watch, but I don’t get bent out of shape if they aren’t on. I hate it when my tv schedule is messed with. I am not sure what I am going to do next year because House is going to end after this season. I hate when my favourite shows end.
I was a huge fan of ER and was so sad to see it go off the air. Luckily I have all the seasons on DVD, so I can watch it any time I like. I also watched Friends and Seinfeld, along with ER every Thursday night. Thursday night used to be the best tv night.
I have really been enjoying The New Girl.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:32 am.
What?! This is the last year of House!? I don’t know if I can handle that. Do you know why they’re stopping it?
I hate when my TV schedule is toyed with. Like now. I blame it on all those sports shows. Dumb sports.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:29 am.
I have read a few articles which have mention that this is probably the last year for House. Hugh Laurie and the cast are only under contract for this year. I read they almost ended it last year, but at the last minute it was picked up for an 8th season. The only one not to sign back on was Cuddy.
Fall baseball always messes with my shows, and it makes me very unhappy.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:09 am.
I guess, if I have to brutal about it, the show has gone about as far as it can go. What else can Gregory House get into? He’s been to prison, after all.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:37 pm.
I’ve watched a few episodes of Hoarders. While I am a clutter bug, I just can’t go and throw things out on a whim. I have to be in a “mood”. But, when the mood strikes, look out! Thanks to Hoarders, I’ve been more conscious of actually getting trash to the can and to the curb on trash day. I downloaded the book “Throw 50 things out” back when it was free on amazon.com. That really helped me part with some things. I wouldn’t consider myself a hoarder, as I really can part with things, but sometimes, it takes a book or a word of a stranger to actually get motivated to get rid of stuff.
PBS’s Nova did a 4 part series recently about quantum physics, and I’ve found other channels with physics documentaries. Those have changed my outlook on some things. While I still can’t do basic addition, much less the higher math that is required for such things, I find the theories fascinating. I find myself looking at the physical world differently.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:34 am.
Isn’t that something! Good for you, Amanda. While I’m snorting over Modern Family, you’re learning physics!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:30 am.
I have watched Hoarders or shows like that & said to DH “If we ever get that bad…” and he just laughs. I used to be a pack rat but since we’ve been married I throw stuff away. I dated a guy years ago who literally had a path from his front doot to his kitchen to his bedroom in his apartment. He would shove stuff onto the floor whenever I came over. And his bedroom? Well, you don’t want to know what that was like! You are so right, Claudia, when you say those people have a mental illness.
I can’t think of any TV show that changed my life. I might think differently about things I wear after watching What Not To Wear, but I can’t say it’s impacted my life.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:42 am.
If you think new thoughts, you have been impacted. That’s all I’m sayin’.
And way to dodge the bullet with that guy! Bad, bad life, married to that kind of agony.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:31 am.
Mr. G has hoarders in his family. He has the gene, but I am a minimalist, so Mr. G’s hoarding never got out of control. But at one time, he did have an impressive hoard of coffee cans. Why coffee cans? “You never know when you might need a boat anchor.” He never did make boat anchors out of all those coffee cans, and when we did buy a boat, we bought a real anchor. Now he hoards nuts and bolts. But he keeps them all nice and neat in a file cabinet in the garage.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:49 am.
Nice and neat doesn’t count as hoarding. Does it? I hope not!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:32 am.
Hoarding really really freaks me out. I shudder to imagine rooms overwhelmed with crap.
As for television shows that changed my life… Dark Shadows, probably. I was in grade school and we’d rush home to see the vampire.
Movies tend to be my thing. I see them over and over again.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:57 am.
I’m hooked by anything with a flickering screen, so movies are definitely my thing as well. I’ve seen most of them several times.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:33 am.
I remember Oprah’s gratitude journal being something of a revelation to me. It forces you to look for things to be happy about. It’s amazing what an impact that small shift can make.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:29 am.
There needs to be a prize for the first Oprah mention! LOL Oprah lived (not that she’s dead, but her show is kind of dead) to impact lives.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:34 am.
The West Wing did not change my life but it did open my eyes to the underbelly of politics. “Two things you never want to see how they are made: laws and sausages.” One of my favorite quotes. I would have liked that show to continue. Jimmy Smits as POTUS would have been fun to watch!
I am a sucker for romantic comedy. Scarecrow and Mrs King was an early favorite. Bones and Castle are current watches. Over-the-top humor rarely makes me comfortable so Modern Family has been a really surprise.
Chopped was a show I never expected to take off. Weird baskets of food – who would have thought?
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:32 am.
Chopped? I’ve never heard of that. What’s that show about? What channel?
See how easily I can be hooked?
I loved Scarecrow and Mrs.King as well—I’m a Bruce Boxleitner fan. I wish he’d make a come-back. He was adorable. I wonder how adorable he is now?
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:36 am.
Take four chefs and put them in front of a basket of weird food. They have 30 minutes to make a course out of each – one basket for entree, main course then dessert. Each basket eliminates one chef. Fun to see what they make out of eel, grape jelly beans and jalapeno peppers. The judges are ruthless and very brave!
Bruce is aging very well.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:05 pm.
I fell for House almost immediately, unfortunately all the sudden I end up with the nagging feeling I have the diseases.
I loved Twin Peaks until it got weird. Quantum Leap was a favorite. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer had me talking and dressing like “the scoobies” with my friends.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:34 am.
LOL Diseases! I have diseases! Oh, too funny.
I read an interview somewhere with the dr. who advises the show and one of the writers was worried they’d run out of weird medical problems to feature the shows around. The doctor snorted and said, “We’re not going to run out.”
I really, really loved Quantum Leap. Just a cute show.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:52 am.
Hoarders is so depressing. I just want to send the hoarder on vacation, throw out all the junk and just have a psychiatrist there when they walk in the door and freak out.
Most life changing show – The Tudors. Watched it with my husband and passion abounded off screen as well. We want to go on the executed queens tour in England for our 25 year anniversary
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:51 am.
Christy, you may be on to something!! I always am impressed and equally frustrated by the therapist or organizer who is so patient with the hoarder. “Are you sure you want to throw out this used Q-tip? Are you comfortable with that?”
ARGH!
Just get a skip loader and get it over with!
I’m heartless that way.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:54 am.
I don’t know if shows have really changed my life, per se, but I don’t think I could live without TV. I never thought that I watched that much TV, but I realize now that even if I’m not actually sitting down to WATCH a show, I still have it on while I’m puttering around the kitchen, etc.
I always loved Golden Girls and Designing Women. I think that Betty White and Annie Potts are two of the funniest women alive. I will still watch those if I ever see them on. GG is on quite a bit, but I haven’t seen DW in YEARS.
My daughter and I actually like to watch Switched at Birth and Jane By Design. Andie MacDowell is gorgeous and she is so funny in Jane. Switched at Birth is just a fascinating soapish/teen drama, and we like it. We are also hooked on the Guy vs. Rachael celebrity cook off show, Man vs. Food, Iron Chef, and Cupcake Wars. We watch Chopped too. Those ‘mystery’ ingredients are kickers sometimes!
I love having either HGTV or Food Network on while I am at home. There are so many great shows full of great ideas. I may not get around to doing them in my current house, but IF we ever win the lotto, I know EXACTLY what I’m going to do in my dream kitchen within my dream home.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:54 am.
Oh, I forgot Moonlighting! Someone mentioned Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and I liked that one too, and then I remembered Moonlighting. Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd were SOOOOO good on that show! I wanted to marry Bruce…
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:56 am.
Didn’t we all? Sigh.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:57 am.
Oooh, you like the cooking shows. That’s one thing that’s never lured me in. Other than Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I love that show! My tastes are very low-brow.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:56 am.
Oh, I like that one and Man vs. Food. Guy Fieri and Adam Richman bring humor to their shows that a lot of the other hosts lack.
We also watch Pawn Stars, American Pickers and Storage Wars. Those are a lot of fun, plus there is a lot of cool history info.
When we had BBC American, I used to love watching Cash in the Attic–they had SO many cool things on that show that were old, old, OLD. And, they were just sitting there collecting dust. Go figure! I really liked the male hosts…Alistair, Angus and Ben. Didn’t really like the girls. They always seemed like they were trying to hard. Gorgeous homes, beautiful views and really cool finds.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:06 pm.
I used to watch Cash in the Attic and it was amazing the stuff they had in there, so deliciously old. Of course, I’d get upset when they’d sell the family china from 1855 so that they could rent a “marque” and throw a graduation party for their daughter.
Really? That’s what great-grandma’s prized china is being used for?
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:25 pm.
I could not agree more! Why are you getting rid of family heirlooms?!! I’ve a few things that belonged to 3 of my great-grandmothers that I would NEVER dream of selling. I was finally able to convince my mom to give me a necklace and bracelet that belonged to the g-grandmother that has been sitting in my mom’s jewelry box for who knows how many years. I wear it when I can.
I think one of the oldest things we own, is a bible that belonged to my dh’s ggrandmother, who was born in the 1850s in Cornwall. It’s tiny just like she was.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:19 pm.
Oooh, what a great heirloom to have!! And so easy to keep!
My sister got our grandmother’s mahogany bedroom suite (and I loved it), sold it in a garage sale and went to Vegas for the weekend with the proceeds.
That was 20 years ago. I’m still mourning. And incredulous.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:40 pm.
I’d be still mourning that, too. That’s just so sad.
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 12:56 am.
Oh, that would be AWFUL! I can’t even imagine…we have a hutch and buffet table of my grandmother-in-law’s that was her mother’s and we have a cedar chest of mine that my grandfather made that we will never sell. I also have the cherry dresser and chest of drawers that my parents bought for me when I was little that my daughter has now. I also have a gorgeous picture in a beautiful Italian brass frame. It used to have matching sconces…one time when we moved, they just disappeared.
But the picture is gorgeous nonetheless. Mother always called it “Praying Daniel” but I’m not sure about that, I just know I like it. 
I’m not sure if you ever saw the movie 27 Dresses. The one sister cutting up their mother’s wedding dress and using ‘pieces’ on her monstrosity of a dress… That’s just painful.
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 10:28 am.
Chopped is on the Food Network and it’s about 4 chefs. They get these baskets of food and whatever is in there they have to cook with it. It’s a lot of fun and I watch it all the time. It’s fun to hear these chefs saying how great they are and how they’re going to win and then to watch their faces when they open the baskets and see what they have to cook with.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:59 am.
I know! And, they can pick the strangest things to put in there!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:07 pm.
LOL That sounds hysterical!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:25 pm.
Half the fun is seeing the shirt and tie they put on Ted Allen, the host. Whoever picks them out must be color blind!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:10 pm.
I never would have thought I would be watching the “Food and Cooking” shows.. But fromt the first time I heard “BAM” on Emirle Lagasse’s show I was hooked. Then it I saw Bobby Flay and it just grew from there.. And the thing is, I don’t really like to cook, but they make it look so easy.
But the real shows I like are the decorating shows on HGTV. I like to see what is hot in homes decorating and I love this show called Property Virgins, to see what people like in a home..
I like how these decorators can transform a place by just using a few ideas and WHAM you have a great new room..
What I would really love to see on TV is a channel devoted to Romance and books.. I don’t think we have one here in Canada and if so it is not offered to us by my service provider..Now that would be a channel I would tune into all the time..
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:31 pm.
We don’t have a channel like that in the U.S. either. We have Lifetime, and they sometimes run a lot of romance movies, but not often.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:01 pm.
Hmm.. TV has been huge in my life, I got hooked as a kid, took a long break in college, got hooked again after and just watch a little now. We dumped cable a couple years back to save $ because we hardly used it, but I do miss some channels/shows. I LOVE food network, so many good cooking ideas, Alton Brown explaining why recipes work in Good Eats or just good ideas from loads of cooks. The travel, discovery, TLC, and HGTV set of channels were awesome too. I love What not to Wear because they made everyone look good just with clothes, hair, and makeup.. no need for anything drastic, just something you can do yourself if you want. Now I get my travel, cooking and crafty programs from PBS they’ve got some pretty awesome stuff even if it’s not always as fancy as the cable channels programs. I do like some of the programs like House and Once upon a time as well, but don’t watch at all consistently because I prefer to use my free time to read
.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:56 pm.
Sometimes I feel like that’s all I do: read, watch TV, watch movies. I write. I eat. I sleep. But I really read and watch TV and watch movies.
Between the time I last posted, hmm, two hours ago, I read a Tess Gerritsen novel. LOL I just absorb stories in all their formats.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:03 pm.
Hoarders has not made as big an impact on me because I see that as an extreme condition, boardering on mental illness. It just makes me sick to watch it.
The show that got me moving on “clutter control” was Clean House with Neicy Nash. That show was more the normal as far as cluttered, disfunctional living. I can see myself in that show. I have too much stuff and often buy more because I can’t find the thing I need in my cluttered closets, cupboards and garage. I have been in this house for almost 40 years and have held on to too much stuff. I have been slowly getting rid of “stuff” and have Purple Heart on speed dial. (They pick up from my front porch).
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:11 pm.
Oh, I loved that show! I adore Niecy in anything she does.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:04 pm.
I watch a lot of different tv shows but can’t say they changed my life, its just intertainment. I think books change my life more because they take me away for a while. I kind of hoard them.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:14 pm.
Anything entertaining takes me away for awhile. I must be a secret escape artist!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:05 pm.
I haven’t watched TV in years. I used to, when I was a kid, but I stopped watching it around the beginning of high school and never started again. When I mean that I don’t watch TV, I mean I never even turn it on unless I am watching a movie.
I did watch Buffy, though, but on DVD, after the series was over. Same with Firefly. I love both, but I never watched them when they were on the air. The last TV show that I remember watching when it was on the air that I really enjoyed was Lois & Clark.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:15 pm.
I can’t even process this information!
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:06 pm.
Sorry that I traumatized you.
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:04 am.
I watch the the cooking shows it really has improved my cooking:)
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:49 pm.
I think you’re in good company there! People love those shows.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:06 pm.
I got a good chuckle from your post. Thank you.
I completely agree with you about Hoarding: Buried Alive. Though my husband just can’t be in the room while it’s on. He says it makes him feel ill and sad at the same time. I guess I know how he feels. It IS quite sad that some people live like that, but it also makes me SOOO thankful that I DON’T.
Personally, I enjoy sitcoms… I’m big on shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Office, and Red Dwarf. I like shows that take me out of real life and give me a laugh. I don’t like criminal shows or detective shows (although I DO enjoy the mystery of them)… nothing too serious, depressing, or violent. I want my evenings of TV watching to be filled with something uplifting, not something that will give me nightmares.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:05 pm.
Oh, and I LOVE Hell’s Kitchen. Gordon Ramsay gets the thumbs up in my book. I simply adore him.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:06 pm.
I’m so glad I made you laugh! It was meant to be a very tongue-in-cheek blog, although true! Soooo true.
I am totally with you on the uplifting thing. I want to feel HAPPY as often as possible.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:08 pm.
My favorite shows that were taken off the air were Touched by an Angel (I have 1/2 the series on dvd) and Highway to Heaven with Michael Landon. I used to watch Little House on the Prairie all time as a kid and they touched on the family values that are totally missing in this era. Now a days we also don’t have cable due to financial shortages-and them repeating the same movies over adnausium. We do get the ion network and I do sometimes watch Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, or Cold Case but most of my time is taken up by either working or reading. I know my life could probably use a show like clutter control because he have paths we walk in the house, but not to the extreme of hoarders.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:14 pm.
Number One Son used to call Little House on the Prairie “the mommy and daddy show.” That still makes me smile. It was one of the few shows I’d let him watch as a tiny tike. That and Thundercats. Which I still miss!
THUNDERCATS, ROAR!!! Best gift I ever got him were Thundercat PJs for his little four year old self.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:10 pm.
I’ve only seen Hoarders a couple of times – and never a full episode. It gives me anxiety because my mom is the 180 to a hoarder. You’d never have known that 9 people lived in our house. Unfortunately, I’ve a sister who’s a hoarder. I think it’s because for many, many years her husband had a very time holding a job because of his personality(always right no matter what). I try not to visit their apartment because it gives me anxiety. My skin crawls, and I want to take a shower.
Shows that changed my life – What Not to Wear. I’ve always had a personal style, but Stacy and Clinton helped me refine it. There are a slew of HGTV shows, like Decorating Cents and Design on a Dime, that taught me to think outside of the design box. It’s especially important since I LOVE Gustavian design. (I tell my dh that it’s my Swedish blood coming out, lol.) It’s not cheap, so I have to find ways to recreate it. One of these days I’m going to own an antique banjo clock.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:19 pm.
Hoarding is a show that just creeps under your skin and makes you feel icky all over—and then you rush around cleaning like mad. It’s a trade-off.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:11 pm.
That’s very true. I know that I’ll never hoard. My dh teases me that I recycle the mail too quickly, like the day it comes and within 10 minutes of it arriving. I just can’t have that clutter around. Of course, I’ve had to dig thru the recycling to pull out papers because something got stuck in the wrong pile, but that’s extremely rare.
I’m working my daughter not hoarding stuffed animals or plushes as she likes to call them. At 8 I figure she has a few more years before they’re gone. I tried “adopting” them out to poor kids, who she’s worried about not having houses. She just doesn’t care that they don’t have stuffed animals, lol.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:25 pm.
I always feel like you can keep one—one special toddler outfit, one special stuffed animal, one book series that you read to them before you tucked them in bed. That seems fair, doesn’t it? It’s having 78 of something (of every single something) that’s a problem.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:42 pm.
That seems more than fair. I was good about not letting any new stuffed animals come into the house, unless, she adopted out an old one. Then, my dh ruined it at Christmas by letting her pick out as many plush Pokemon characters her heart desired on ebay at reasonable prices and shipping. Ugh!!
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 1:00 am.
I miss Northern Exposure. I loved that show about a small Alaskan town filled with off-beat and kooky, lovable characters. And the scenery was amazing. It was funny, dramatic, sad- just everything I like in a show or a book.
)
This sounds weird, being that this is a show with a teen-targeted audience, but The Vampire Diaries has changed my life. The actor who plays Damon, the snarky, mean, ruthless, lonely, emotionally damaged vampire is the inspiration for one of my heroes, in one of my WIPs. Without Damon, I’m not sure if the story that I’m writing would be anywhere near the same. In fact, I’m not sure I would have started writing. He inspired me, and it all grew from that one character. So, I owe a lot to that manner-deficient, brooding, sexy blood-sucker. ( Although, my hero does NOT feed on people… literally.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:04 pm.
I LOVE Northern Exposure.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 7:09 pm.
Northern Ex was SO popular; I was kind of stunned when it went off the air. Kind of like how I feel hearing about House. What on earth??
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 4:12 pm.
Hoarders scares me. There are a couple of people in my family who have tendencies in that direction.
I can’t think of any show that has changed my life. But then again, I would hope not. If you saw my viewing habits (midnight last night: rerun of That 70s Show. Horrible. Awful. And yet…I watched) you would be appalled.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 5:55 pm.
I would have to say the Brady Bunch taught me a lesson I am forever grateful for. When I was 12 I decide to fry a couple eggs. I was home alone. Put the oil on to heat a little. Then the phone rang, (this was before cordless phones) so I went to answer it. I got caught up talking to Mom who was at work. And then I heard a “wooof” sound. I spun around and saw flames coming from the pan. I told my mom,”Oh crap!! I gotta go Mom.” and hung up. Ran over and through flour on it. Thankful it went out easy. Afterwards I tried to remember where I learned that and was shocked to discover it was the Brady Bunch.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 7:44 pm.
I think I need to put that show on Geezer’s DVR….
I don’t watch much TV at all.. I used to love the Drew Carey show and Boston Legal.. and I will admit I now watch Castle on hulu, but that is about the extent of my watching. I have watched some Big Bang episodes, pretty funny. Oh, and I have watched Scrubs (though about 6 years after it first aired. heh) I just find I am busy doing other things that figuring out times and channels for watching a show is the last thing that comes to mind.
I can’t remember any of them that have really made an impact on me.
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 7:48 pm.
What a brilliant validation for watching Hoarders, Claudia. I’ve only recently watched an episode – the cat couple and the dude who couldn’t part with his dog’s shed hair. I can see how the show can be addictive.
My grandpa, whose house was demolished fully loaded, was probably a hoarder. His 2 car garage was a black hole. I think when they tore it down, they found 3 pianos in there. As he got older (and lived elsewhere) he saved his cereal boxes and milk cartons and plastic bags of coins. Met a gerontologist who said that was a common trait in the very old (He lived to 106)
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:32 pm.
I am absolutely certain that some TV shows have changed my life, but I can’t think of any examples right off the top of my head. But TV shows are always inspiring book ideas for me. Or does that count?
Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:52 pm.
You know, Star Trek inspire a generation of geeks to create.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/advances-in-treknology/10044
I could never watch Hoarders. I would need a bath and never feel clean again.
Posted on February 6, 2012 at 4:30 pm.
All pens are not created equal. | The Goddess Blogs says:
[...] Claudia’s post the other day about Hoarders, I watched an episode and, like many, started cleaning things out. So [...]
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 4:37 am.
I can’t say that any TV show has changed my life, but I am a TV junkie, I have three DVR’s and they are constantly taping. My latest love is THE VOCE, Glee and American Idol. I am also hooked on Grim, and a new one called LOST girls, both Paranormal type series. I hate reality TV in particular the Kardashians and Hoarders, however I must confess I will watch occasionally, they are like a train wreck you know you should look away but you can’t…I’m just sayin
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 8:17 pm.