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The Watch List
Disenchantment. At the last podcast episode, I had just started the show. Well, in the time since, I have finished that show. I just finished the third season, just came out. So yeah, all the way done. This show got some pretty harsh criticism when it came out. A lot of people were comparing it to Futurama. I didn’t really think that was fair. It’s trying to do a pretty different thing and I think it’s mostly successful. I really like Abbi Jacobson in the lead role and I love her voice work, she’s so great. I love the Bean character what they do with the Bean character in the growth.
I hope it’s gets a fourth season. The finale in the third season, no spoilers on TV, I Say, don’t worry. But the finale definitely writes them into a four season. It is not very satisfying as a third season finale. I hope we get to keep going with that story, I’d watch it. It’s a fun animated show. I’m a big fan.Then there was Evil Lives Here, which I’ve already talked about on the pod and I’ve written about it, but I’m just still watching it. Just still enjoying it, I’m on Season 3. They start going into different types of criminals, not just like murderers, and how their families were impacted and it becomes a very interesting look at forgiveness, and why people choose to forgive and what people can forgive. That I think is what so moving about it and what moves it like I’ve said beyond the typical true crime. Oh my gosh, look at how shocking this is narrative that you see so often. So hey, Evil Lives Here, if you haven’t started it yet, check it out. I think I’m going to have someone come on the show and talk about it at some point.
Then there was WandaVision, Episode 3 is what I have seen, but I think when we’re listening to this, will be watching Episode 4. I love this third episode, it finally kind of really — I thought, since the interest of the overall mystery, I like the sitcom format that they’ve been using. Some people have been kind of frustrated with the slowness of it. But I think here and this I know was the last critics were given. So I think moving forward, we’re all kind of like, “What’s going to happen?” I’m excited to see it happen. I think it’s fun to watch it unfold. I like that it’s a weekly show. I think we get so used to binging and getting all the answers right away and I love that they’re making us wait.
After that Euphoria, which did have a new episode. I love these little bottle episodes they’re doing. I think they’re so beautiful and so moving. This one is Jule’s episode. So good. Hunter Schafer’s performance is what does it. Hunter also wrote part of the episode, she talked about that in them and how it helped with her mental health and was just such a process. I think the personal touches are just so clear and the move — I don’t really know where to start, because for me, it doesn’t really feel like an episode of Euphoria. It’s just this beautiful sort of personal bottle episode piece that is like poetry kind of. I like Euphoria, I love the show, I love teen dramas. To me, it’s a genre unto itself. If you’re into it, its whatever, but I like it. I used to watch Degrassi and all that stuff and I don’t think Euphoria is that different. When you look at the narrative in the story that it’s trying to share and its overall point, it really isn’t that different from a Degrassi or Skins. Right? The kids are having a hard time, it’s just that story with an HBO budget. That’s really the only difference between Euphoria and those shows.
I love Skins, I love Degrassi, I like Euphoria and Euphoria has the better performances. Like I said, the HBO budget. But these bottle episodes at least separated from that sort of overall team drama narrative and allow for these beautiful performances by Hunter Schafer and Zendaya to be seen and I love them. Even if you don’t watch Euphoria, I think these two episodes are worth just sitting down with. They’re more like short films.Up next is TheUnicorn, which did have a new episode. You know I just love a family sitcom and TheUnicorn had new episodes so I’m talking about it. I like that show, it’s a cute ensemble. My man is on it, Walton. He’s doing his thing, he’s funny. Anyway, I miss Single Parents, but we have The Unicorn.
Hoarders vs. Hoarding: Buried Alive (I can’t believe this is basically an essay):
Last on the list is Hoarding: Buried Alive, which has been airing new episodes on TLC. I was talking to a friend about the difference between Hoarding: Buried Alive and Hoarders, which is the A&E show. I believe has been on far longer but they’ve both been on for pretty long. But I think people get them confused and like my friend got them confused and so I just — being someone who loves hoarders, I just wanted to set the record straight. I just want to set the record; I just want to because I love these shows. I have been watching Hoarders for like a decade. I started watching it like in high school, probably as soon as it premiered, I was like. “Holy shit. this is my shit. I need to watch this show.” I don’t know why it clicks with me, but there is something about it, where I — like it is the comforts. I love cheering the people on. I like seeing them work through their progress. I like the update episodes. There’s just something about hoarders and the help that they give that I like as a reality show. I’ve been watching both of these shows for as long as they been on.
Let me just explain the differences. Hoarders is on A&E. They typically work with the hoarder for multiple days, it depends on the size if the hoard. They send in an organizer and a therapist to assess the hoard and what is going to be needed. They typically will also take on kind of bigger projects, like they’ll whole properties on hoarders. So they do a lot of that type of stuff. Like they’ll remove trucks on hoarders, like they’ll bring in specialty crews if that’s necessary. Because they really take the time over multiple days to like help these people, and like set up a team for them. They also have like family involvement where they interview the family and like everyone in the family like talks about the rules of what’s going to happen. The hoarder is the one who sets the rules of like, “Hey, we’re going to do this, this and this. And like if I say no to this, it doesn’t happen.” Like the family members can’t just start throwing things away.
I think obviously, like I said, they bring in an organizer and a doctor, but it’s always like they have a rotation of doctors, so you get used to kind of how your favorite organizer or doctor operates. Like you know, a Dr. David Tolin is going to operate differently than Robin. A lot of times who they send will tell you how difficult the job is going to be. Like Dr. David Tolin takes on the really harsh cases, because he’s kind of a hard ass. He puts his foot down. He is my favorite obviously, that’s why I keep saying him, Dr. David Tolin because he’s my favorite. That’s like the difference, that’s Hoarders on A&E. That one I love.
At the end of the episodes, usually, I would say most of the time at the end of Hoarders, like the house is significantly cleaner, improved. Like whole floors are done, properties are done, whole houses. Hoarders has like the more extreme cases. If you remember the episode of the person who have like rats living on their walls and stuff, that was Hoarders. Hoarding: Buried Alive, HVA I will call it is on TLC. They only work with the order for one day. They just kind of bring in a giant dumpster for a day. It’s really not even clear I believe if it’s like an organizer, or a doctor or I think it’s like someone who specializes just like in hoarding and organizational skills. But they just bring in one person. Really, it’s led by the family. On Hoarders, it’s all about the doctor and organizer understanding the hoarder. Like they actually did this thing for a while were they would have the doctor sleep in the hoard for like a night, which I don’t really — it was good TV I guess, but it was really to get like the therapist in the person’s mind and like get them to relate.,
On HBA, they just like let the family members go in first with no prep or warning. Like on Hoarders, there like, “Okay. So you know your dad’s been having a hard time, so like I want you to prep yourself. We’ve been in the house, we stayed here, here’s what it’s like.” On HBA, they’re just like, “Go in there and shame them.” And you just see these people go in and they’re like, “Oh my God, this is so shocking” and the person is just like, “I was so embarrassed.” It’s more shocking than sort of helpful sometimes, I think. Then like I said, they only work for a day. They don’t really like set rules where it’s like the hoarder says, “This stay. This goes.” Like family members on HBA are allowed to do just start throwing things out. A lot of times on the show, progress stalls because the hoarder is like, “Hey, I never said that should be thrown out” and family members just started like throwing everything in a room out. “I never agreed to that.” It makes for great television because they start arguing and stuff, but it’s not really progress.
As hoarder says, it’s very important that the hoarder make the choices because they have to know how to sustain, and grow and everything. It’s very important that they do it, but HBA is just like, “Who cares? We’re here for a day. We have a dumpster.” At the end of the episodes, usually on HBA, most of the time they have like a room done. It doesn’t always seem like they are as successful, probably because most of the time is spent like arguing. They don’t tend to take on like bigger projects. I think one HBA episode they did like a hotel, a woman-owned but like barely finished it. But it really this is more about examining the hoard and the impact on the family than sort of long-term care. Hoarders usually at the and offers like an update of like an after a month so and so continued to spend their aftercare funds and has maintained the house. That’s like great. Hoarding: Buried Alive doesn’t really do that, it’s just kind of like, yeah. So at the end, all they had done was the living room and the kids kind of just kept living in this hoard, moving on.
That’s the difference between Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive. I’m glad I could explain that to you for five minutes for like no reason other than I’m like super interested in both those shows. But I do think at some point, I want to write about them and try to research the success rate between them, because I feel like Hoarders would be more successful long-term. But you know, I want to do that research. Let’s see the percentage of relapses on both sides and see what shows more beneficial. That interest me. I’ll probably do it someday right here on this newsletter.
That’s the watchlist. That’s all I got for you. Let’s get into this amazing interview with Nicole Byer and Shaun Robinson.
Interview
This transcript is too long for Substack, but you can access it on Patreon for free! Or just listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts! Or just enjoy this part:
Nicole Byer: Yeah. You throw romance in it, you’re truly blind. Sometimes you’re dickmatized and although — I don’t know if anyone on this show is actually dickmatized.
Ashley Ray: There’s a few. There are few times where I’m like, you can tell with Libby.
Nicole: Maybe with Andrei. Yes. Andrei, he’s very, very hot.
Ashley: Very tall guy, yeah.
Nicole: And he is so good in his Instagram.
Shaun Robinson: Hold up. What is that word again?
Nicole: What? Dickmatized?
Ashley: Dickmatized?
Nicole: When you’re just enchanted and hypnotized by the dick, that you’re like, “This dick is attached to a terrible person. But like for that 45 minutes, wow.” Sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes even less—
Ashley: Yeah, it’s like, for this time, I can look past your mess —
Shaun: That’s hysterical!