
"Hoarders" is an often painful look inside a disease that can bury its sufferer -- literally at times -- in its symptoms. Each hourlong episode profiles two people on the verge of a personal crisis, all caused by the fact that they are unable to part with even the tiniest possessions, and the cumulative effect becomes a mountain of junk and garbage overtaking their home or apartment. If they don't respond to professional help, the consequences sometimes involve eviction, kids being taken away, or even jail time.
A cancer patient must make her home habitable; a man has hundreds of unfinished projects.
A hoarder's son wants to leave home; a home-shopping addict has a mysterious illness in her home.
2500 rats drive a man out of his home; a daughter has turned her dad's home into a mess.
A woman's house is stuffed with dolls; another woman must crawl over garbage to get to her chair.