A&E’s “Intervention” and “Hoarders” Return Monday, June 20th

By April MacIntyre May 20, 2011, 4:44 GMT

My two favorite shows on A&E involve people who cannot pick up their socks and have every pair they ever owned (and their relatives) stashed in their houses, and those who never met a pill they didn't want to swallow with a entire bottle of vodka.

They're back! A&E’s critically acclaimed hit series “Hoarders” and Emmy Award-winning “Intervention” return for all-new seasons with back-to-back premieres on  Monday, June 20 at 9:00PM ET/PT and 10:00PM ET/PT.

"Hoarders” returns for a fourth season with ten new episodes featuring some of the most crazy hot messes ever: One show has tens of thousands of dolls that fill nearly every room in a house; a memorabilia collection containing hundreds of mannequins modeled after the hoarder, and buckets of his actual hair; a man facing $20 million in fines for littering his property with hundreds of junked cars; and a toy collector whose massive stash of games, action figures, books and novelties has made it impossible to move through his home.

“Hoarders” captures the crazy as experts work to put each hoarder on the road to recovery but also highlights the individual’s inner challenges and triumphs.

Although cleaning marks the first step of tackling this disorder, success is not definite. For some individuals, throwing away the tiniest object is so mentally traumatizing that they will not be able to allow the cleaning process to go on…no matter how it may impact their future. It's mesmerizing.

For others, professional help and an organizer’s instruction give them the strength to let go. At the end of each episode we’ll find out who has been able to keep their hoarding behavior under control and who has fallen into the deep end of this painful disease.

Stories in the eleventh season of “Intervention,” include: a former three-time All-American Duke University baseball player whose alcoholism has cost him his career and wife; a college dropout and his young girlfriend, both addicted to heroin, are a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story that mixes romance and drug-fueled destruction; a mother with an addiction to food, turns to alcohol after gastric bypass surgery; a former rapper, athlete and private school graduate who now struggles daily with a PCP addiction; and a father of five who plays “Mr. Mom” at home and a violent drunk on the streets.

Twice nominated and in 2009 awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Reality Series, the five-time PRISM Award-winning series “Intervention” profiles people whose dependence on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior has brought them to a point of personal crisis or estranged them from their friends and loved ones.  Each episode ends with a surprise intervention that is staged by the family and friends of the addict, and which is conducted by one of four specialists:  Jeff Van Vonderen, Candy Finnigan, Rod Espudo and Donna Chavous.  Exclusive updated interviews with past subjects from the series first ten seasons are available on AETV.com/intervention.

The series has conducted 194 interventions since its premiere in March of 2005, 151 individuals are currently sober.