Hoarding: Buried Alive

29 March 2010

Hot on the heels of the popularity of A&E TV’s Hoarders documentary TV series (the network’s top-rated show), the cable network TLC is producing its own documentary series on hoarding, called Hoarding: Buried Alive.

The two shows have marked similarities. Each features a pair of real-life individuals who hoard (to varying degrees). Each sends in experts (usually a therapist and a professional organizer) to help the hoarder. Each treats the clients with respect. Each shows before and afters and each emphasizes the psychology behind the disorder.

And each is riveting television, as far as I’m concerned. The big difference between the two shows is that A&E’s Hoarders brings in a crew consisting of a therapist, organizer (or organizing team) and junk haulers and works for about three days to clear the home. I know from talking to the producers that they require the clients to be facing some sort of crisis. As I’ve blogged here before, that’s my biggest complaint about the show. The fact that the client is facing eviction, losing custody of child, or some other crisis means that he or she may not be ready to make a change. That might make for good TV, but I find it heart wrenching to watch.

TLC’s Hoarding: Buried Alive, by contrast, allows the client to work with the professionals over time. TV cameras capture the initial meetings. Then they go away and come back weeks later to tape the progress. To me, this creates a much more realistic impression of the decluttering process in working in severely cluttered situations. And even with weeks to work with the professionals, the show has shown that progress can be glacial.

One thing I love about both shows is that feature fantastic professional organizers who ask great questions and give a realistic impression of what working with a PO can be like. (To see some examples, check out my friend Geralin Thomas’s YouTube page, which features snippets of her work on Hoarders.)

I enjoy watching both shows and am glad that TLC’s series started just as the A&E series ended the first-run shows of the second season. I still get my weekly fix!

Tagged with: geralin thomas, hoarding, hoarding: buried alive, television

Comments

I am watching buried alive for the first time. The ‘organizer’ is incredible!!!! She is firm, patient, respectful and looking to meet the hoarder right where they are. The therapist seems real neat too. Hoping the best for participants; it’s a constant struggle to keep control of clutter let alone fight the disorder…….

lblack June 18, 2010 08:52 PM

Wow, I am late to this party, but I’ve been bingewatching both shows, and I have to say that I prefer “Buried Alive.” It just seems less exploitative
than “Hoarders,” which seems to place more value on shocking its viewers than giving a realistic
picture of just how long and difficult the process of
cleanup can be in a hoarding situation. I also find
Matt Paxton to be very disrespectful, both in the way
he speaks to clients,and the way he talks about them online, or on camera. He is not a psychologist, or a professional organizer, and really shouldn’t be
dealing with these people at a clinical level. He has
a cleaning service, and should stick to that only.
“Hoarders” also tends to choose situations where
the hoarder is past being able to live on their own-
someone who is saving feces in jars should be in an
assisted living situation, not expected to live like a
normal person-“Hoarders” tends to choose clients who are clearly very ill and it is cruel to put them on public display that way.

D May 13, 2020 02:17 PM

I’m late to the party too! And just started watching both shows too, and I have to agree with the above comment 100%. Just chiming in

Shelly May 16, 2020 09:13 PM

I think that I need your help! I take that back…,I need your help!!

Nancy October 10, 2020 10:28 PM

Watching Hoarders ( A&E) and my heart goes out to “most” of them. Hoarders (TLC) is next. Thank you, because almost 13 years later your breakdown is helpful.
I too thought 2 or 3 days was nuts.

Pamela January 25, 2023 04:55 PM

Hello! I’m Janine Adams — a certified professional organizer based in St. Louis, and the creator of Peace of Mind Organizing®.

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