Do You Really “Tune-Out” When You “Tune-In”?

Have you ever noticed how different the same type of show can be depending on which channel you’re watching?

The other night I was glued to my T.V. watching “Hoarders” on A&E. I can’t help it—I had to watch. It’s like a car wreck (and also gives me major incentive to clean which needed to be done after the holidays). So I’m watching this woman who is clearly mentally instable, attempt to clean out her “double-wide” so that she can live in it (apparently she has relegated herself to a “single-wide” trailer on the edge of her property because of all the garbage she keeps hoarding in the “double-wide”).

The fact that the woman goes back and forth between trailers keeps me glued to my couch in my condo in suburban Washington D.C.. It’s sick, really. And the folks at A&E know this—which is why the show runs all night on Monday nights (yes, I think there’s even a special marathon of “Hoaders” if you haven’t gotten your fill…).

So I’m staring at my T.V., absolutely disgusted and start to feel guilty that I’m mocking this woman from the comfort of my couch which, essentially, is just wrong. As I start to feel guilty,I decided to turn the channel and look for more “upbeat” programming and landed on the Style network. What do I start watching? “Clean House.”

I Need a Change of Programming

See a pattern here folks?

I did.

And it really struck how “Clean House” is basically the same show as “Hoarders”—with people just as nasty as the trailer-trash on A&E, but they live in Suburbia and their mess is their “dirty little secret.” And to top it off—they get a total home make-over. Now, instead of resisting the urge to clean my condo—I feel the urge to redecorate!

All of a sudden, I find myself upbeat! I’m ready to move furniture around! I’m ready to run out to Home Depot and start painting…

It floored me how two different angles on basically the same T.V. show can have such a different impact on your psyche. Call it the tricks of the T.V.—but when was the last time you really thought about what you watched and how it made you feel afterwards?

And to think I turn to the T.V. most nights to relax. Maybe it’s time to simply tune into the Nature Channel—where’s Marty Stouffer when you need him?!