intervention

so i don't know how many of you have seen the A&E show called 'intervention.' it's one of my favorites, and all 7 seasons are available to watch instantly on netflix which frequently results in me watching it for hours on end. it's sort of addicting (ironic, right?).

anyway, even if you haven't seen it, you can probably guess the plot: a person who is addicted to something (drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, etc.) has agreed to be in a documentary about their addiction and then, after learning about their life/addiction, their family holds an intervention and asks them to get help (usually 90 days of rehab). the last few minutes of the show are about whether rehab was successful, whether they relapsed, how they're doing now, etc.

i can't really explain why i love the show so much, since so much of it totally grosses me out. i hate episodes where people take intravenous drugs (AHHH NEEDLES!!! GROSS!!!), the episodes about eating disorders (OMG, SERIOUSLY, JUST EAT SOMETHING!!!!), and episodes where vomiting occurs (AHHH VOMIT!!! GROSS!!!). i have to cover my eyes for parts of pretty much every episode, or mute it if someone's puking... *shudders* near the end of every episode i try to guess whether or not the person is going to be successful in their recovery, and i almost always guess that the person's going to do just fine. granger makes fun of me because i'm so optimistic, although he ALWAYS assumes that everyone is going to relapse, which is a little too pessimistic in my opinion... anyway, reality lies somewhere in the middle. sometimes people make amazing recoveries; sometimes it's like they didn't go to rehab at all.

sometime, the show drops a bombshell on you. you spend 45 minutes learning about this person's life, hearing what they and their family has to say about their addiction, starting to care about whether they make it or not, and then BAM, in the last 10 seconds of the show you find out they died. and the way they tell you? black screen, white text saying "oh yeah, by the way, stephanie is dead. oh what's that lying on the floor there? your heart? sorry about that." roll credits. wtf, intervention?!?! why do you make me care about the people on your show and then surprise me with such depressing news right at the end of your show??? sheesh.

but i do enjoy the show, and it also makes me extremely grateful that i and everyone i love have been lucky enough to avoid these sorts of problems. i mean, my brother and sister do have diabetes, which is so totally LAME, but fortunately they are incredibly dedicated to taking good care of themselves and have mostly been able to live normal lives doing what they love to do! if they, or anyone i love for that matter, had to deal with a drug addiction, i'm not sure i could take it.

if you haven't seen intervention, i recommend it. just don't blame me if A&E rips your heart out as you watch it...