Why We're Obsessed With Hoarders

The world is fascinated with "hoarders," thanks to the A&E cult hit of the same name. Like A&E's surprisingly effective Intervention, Hoarders aims to—and in many cases does—change the behavior of its subjects. But in addition to shedding light on the phenomenon, the show somehow manages to convince its audience to clean out their own homes. After you've watched "such jaw-dropping spectacles as a man whose studio apartment overflows with garbage and excrement in seemingly equal amounts," it's hard not to clean out your own closet, writes Tess Lynch on Salon.

"Part of the allure of the show is the relationship between the strangeness of hoarding and the familiarity of it," and the show's timing couldn't be better. "In the midst of a recession and a mortgage crisis, Hoarders may actually be changing the way the way we think about our own relationship to stuff." When she was done screening last night's third-season premiere, Lynch made plans to clean her whole house: "It was time."
(More hoarders stories.)