Financial porn?

Some people have soap operas. Others gorge themselves on Sunday afternoon football.

Me? I've got my debt shows.

They're all over the dial of late, from W network's Maxed Out, to Life'sSlice's Till Debt Do Us Part, these shows focus on how out-of-control people's spending habits have gotten in today's day and age, and to varying degrees they offer help, whether in outright debt relief or at least an action plan that the subjects themselves can hopefully use to get out of their habits.

I watch these shows religiously every time I catch them on the dial. Some people's attitudes toward credit cards and their obsession with acquiring materialistic crap they neither need nor can afford simply astounds me. I guess I'm a bit of a voyeur that way. But there's a steady stream of shows to give me my fix. One blogger, admitting to her obsession with keeping an eye on the pfblogosphere even though she wasn't a contributor, recently described it as being like "financial porn" for her -- a rather apt description I thought. And one that could also apply to my obsession with debt-related reality television.

There's even a big screen documentary coming out that I'm anxious to see, although as of yet there appear to be no Canadian theatrical release for Maxed Out a documentary about the predatory nature of the US credit industry.

Looks like a good one.