Posts by Tara Ariano
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Freak Show and Tell: Avian Flu, Creepy Baby Dolls, and Excessive Cosmetic Surgery
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. Doomsday Preppers (NatGeo) Who Is This Now? Bradford Frank. […]
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Freak Show and Tell: Adult Babies, Gypsy Weddings and Bizarre ERs
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. My Crazy Obsession (TLC) Who Is This Now? Stanley. […]
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One Victory at a Time: Justified Season 3, Episode 10
The Harlan sheriff’s election is resolved (for now), and Quarles continues his downward spiral in the latest episode of Justified, “Guy Walks Into a Bar.” The Shot We start out with Raylan in the Raylan version of a tizzy over the imminent pardon and release of Dickie Bennett. Raylan first attempts to block the pardon […]
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Freak Show and Tell: Hippie Bunker Builders, Love Doll Collectors, and Urine Drinkers
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. Doomsday Preppers (NatGeo) Who Is This Now? Ed and […]
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Happy Endings and the Cursed Sitcom Birthday
Last night’s episode of Happy Endings revolved around Penny’s “thirtieth” birthday, which wasn’t quite a success not only because she lies about her age, but also because Penny’s birthday is cursed. In a series of flashbacks, we see the evidence: a clown getting CPR when she was 7; the ill-advised gift of a pet going […]
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Protection: Justified Season 3, Episode 9
Quarles’s operation gets a little smaller, while the Crowders’ gets a little bigger, in this week’s episode of Justified. The Shot The episode starts with Art telling Raylan that, in the absence of any evidence that Quarles is in violation of federal law, Raylan needs to back off … which obviously means that the episode […]
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Five Things Bob’s Burgers Does Better Than The Simpsons
When Fox’s Bob’s Burgers returns for its second-season premiere this Sunday, it will directly follow the 502nd episode of The Simpsons. Given that there are now several years’ worth of college graduates who’ve never lived in a world without The Simpsons, it’s natural that the show would have started to seem somewhat careworn over the […]
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My Crazy Obsession: How Many Cabbage Patch Kids Are Too Many? 5,000, Right?
As a fan of TLC’s My Strange Addiction, I’m not entirely certain where the line is between that show and TLC’s new documentary series, My Crazy Obsession. I guess Addiction is about people who do weird things in secret, and/or that the people who love them wish they wouldn’t do, whereas everyone in Obsession is […]
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A Very Angry Man: Justified Season 3, Episode 8
People get framed for things, alliances shift, and Wynn Duffy … dyes his hair?! All this and more in “Watching the Detectives,” the latest episode of Justified. The Shot It turns out that when Quarles tracked Gary down in Oklahoma, it wasn’t just to have a nice drink: It was so he could throw Gary […]
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TLC’s Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder: Britain in Blecch
TLC certainly makes plenty of its own programming to highlight the various doings of people who occupy esoteric subcultures. But sometimes, the network reaches outside the borders of this nation and across the pond to Great Britain in order to remind us that we haven’t cornered the market on total degenerates. Hence: Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder. […]
