I don't know the designated program time for TLC's show "My Strange Addiction," but its marathons battle "Hoarders" and "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" for "Most Serendipitous/Highly-Depressing Six Hours of Programming Catered to the Extremely Hungover." Too dehydrated to change the channel, we watch as Bertha appeases her OCD demons by drinking nail polish and Jamie scratches the itch in her brain by jamming scissors in her ear. Others eat rocks, chew on their dead husband's ashes or bathe in gallons of bleach. And after consuming 12 episodes and a half liter of delivery lo mein, It's never clear what I've learned.
Every behavior featured is a risky and polarizing one, and it's heartbreaking to watch it dictate this human's life. Marriages dissolve. They lose custody of their children. (The protagonists of this show are almost entirely women, but the new season features Nate who is addicted to having sex with his car.) Bankruptcy is frequent. Families don't know how to intervene.
There's a loose arch to each episode where a doctor says that it is, in fact, bad to continue on this course, but primarily the program acts to show publicly the very private ways people attempt to gain control in their lives. Now "My Strange Addiction" is looking for Dallas' stories.
If you can't stop eating scabs, hoard jars of other people's nail clippings or compulsively act out in another fashion that is ruining your interpersonal relationships, TLC wants to know. There's a casting call in effect; the ad doesn't imply payment for participation but does state that you'll receive "professional assistance" for your addiction or compulsion. Whether or not that means a licensed camera man will focus on your best side or that you'll gain access to counseling remains to be seen. Email 'em here.
