There is a new documentary called Predators, available with a Paramount+ subscription, and it’s hard not to feel uneasy while watching it. The film tells a deeper story behind the NBC hit To Catch a Predator, which originally aired as part of Dateline on the network, beginning in 2004. As I watched the documentary, I was struck by just how exploitative reality TV was getting around the same time it originally aired in the mid-to-late 2000s, with shows like Hoarders, Intervention, and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
To Catch A Predator Really Set Off A Wave
I’m not sure that To Catch A Predator is directly responsible, per se, for the wave of exploitative reality TV shows that started gaining popularity in the late ‘00s, but the timing is right. There were a slew of shows that really thrived on showing the lowest, worst moments in people’s lives. The first of the shows that I would put into this category that I started binge-watching was Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. That led me to Intervention, and (briefly) Hoarders.
While I’m as guilty as anyone else for watching (and ostensibly enjoying) the shows, I did reach a point where I felt grossed out gawking at some of the subjects in shows like this. It was especially Hoarders that really started to get to me. Here were people, most of whom had some kind of mental illness, who were being trotted out for viewer enjoyment. Like many people, I didn’t really connect what I was watching with a real person at first, and that’s where these shows started crossing a line for me.
It’s Impossible To Sympathize With The People On To Catch A Predator, But Not The Other Shows
Like the other shows I’ve mentioned, To Catch a Predator certainly showed the lowest moment in many people’s lives, but in those cases, it’s hard to have any sympathy for the perpetrators. That’s not the case with these other shows. I had nothing but sympathy for the “stars” of the other shows. These were people who were facing mental illness and addiction. And there they were, on the screen, for us to stare at on TV.
For me, it was probably 10 episodes into my first Hoarders binge when I started to feel icky about the whole thing. While there are certainly things about the production that are meant to help the people suffering in those houses covered in trash as they live in filth, what viewers are really doing is simply gawking in amazement. The argument that the show is helping people rings hollow to me. The people might be getting some help, but that isn’t why people are watching. It’s not why I was watching.
On a certain level, all reality television is somewhat exploitative, but shows like these really ramped things up to another level, one that I found myself quite uncomfortable with after a short time watching. Predators proves that these kinds of shows can still be popular (as true crime has never been more popular), and while I have a lot that I’m looking forward to on the upcoming 2026 TV schedule, stuff like this won’t be part of my watch list.