Hoarding: Buried Alive is an American documentary television series

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 that premiered on TLC

TLC (TV channel)

TLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...

 on March 14, 2010. The show follows hoarders

Compulsive hoarding

Compulsive hoarding is the acquisition of possessions in excess of socially normative amounts, even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary...

through their life experiences and helps them learn to manage their illness.

Overview

Hoarding: Buried Alive takes the viewer into the personal lives of hoarders, focusing on how the mental illness has affected the individual and the family members. Each episode usually looks at two different cases. It examines the history of the victim and takes time to interview family members. The show includes an extensive look at the items each person collects. Each hoarder receives treatment provided by both a therapist and a professional organizer. These professionals help them through the process of ridding their house of the hoard. By the end of the episodes, the hoarders typically have shown signs of improvement that make the viewer hopeful for their continuing success.

Season 1

Ep#	Title	Airdate
101	Welcome to My Nightmare	March 14, 2010
102	Beyond Embarrassment	March 21, 2010
103	Paralyzed by Clutter	March 28, 2010
104	Life on Fire	April 4, 2010
105	Family Secrets	April 11, 2010
106	Filling the Void	April 18, 2010
107	No One Would Choose This	April 25, 2010
108	Everything Is at Stake	May 2, 2010
109	A Million Excuses	May 9, 2010

Season 2

Season 2 was split into two equal parts causing some to mistake the second half for season 3.

Ep#	Title	Airdate
201	Homeless Man With a House	August 8, 2010
202	Robbing the Kids...	August 15, 2010
203	Prison of Garbage	August 22, 2010
204	Everything's Junk	August 29, 2010
205	Battle with Chaos	September 5, 2010
206	How Do I Get Out of This	September 12, 2010
207	The Scariest Place on Earth	September 19, 2010
208	The Mess I've Created	September 26, 2010
209	This is Where You Sleep??	October 3, 2010
210	Nowhere Near Normal	March 2, 2011
211	I Want to Cuss	March 9, 2011
212	Oh My Gosh	March 13, 2011
213	Better Get a Dumpster	March 16, 2011
214	Overwhelming Pile of Junk	March 23, 2011
215	My Biggest Embarrassment	March 30, 2011
216	It's Out of Control	April 6, 2011
217	Like a Dog in a Cage	April 13, 2011
218	It's A Freaking War Zone	April 20, 2011

Season 3

Ep#	Title	Airdate
301	Surviving On Trash	July 10, 2011
302	There Are Mice Everywhere	July 17, 2011
303	Not A Safe Place	July 24, 2011
304	A Horrible Sight	July 31, 2011
305	I Was Gonna Gag	August 14, 2011
306	Is That A Goat?	August 21, 2011
307	Stop Touching My Stuff!	August 28, 2011
308	Overtaken By Puppets	September 11, 2011
309	I Can't Breathe	September 18, 2011

Reception

Hoarding: Buried Alive is an example of a reality TV rehabilitation program, a category of show that has become extremely popular in recent years. However, the ability of these shows to effectively treat people is often questioned. Some focus on the fact that these shows do get people into some rehabilitation program. It is obviously better than them continuing their addictive behaviors and receiving no professional guidance. However, the presence of the cameras can influence the way the patients act. They may exaggerate certain emotions or fail to share essential information for fear of it coming back to haunt them once the show is aired. These additions and omissions could greatly impair their ability to recover and move forward in the process.

In addition to the information regarding the disease being provided in the show, many of these programs do provide some services to help people get in contact with organizations that can provide treatment or more information on the disease. This can help viewers get a better picture of the disorders depicted and aids towards combating the stigma that surrounds mental illness.

Hoarding paints a picture of compulsive hoarders that makes viewers sympathize with them. It helps people understand that it is an illness and not just a pack rat gone wild. When these individuals enter a rehab program the quality of their lives and the lives of their families can improve drastically. It also provides a view of the disease that is not totally bent on feeding the human appetite for horror. Instead, it focuses more on giving an accurate look at the illness. It picks cases that are not overly extreme or graphic and doesn’t dwell completely on the disturbing things that the patient has collected. It focuses on conveying the ugly truth about the illness, focusing on the way it affects both the afflicted individual and their family.