There was a time, maybe a decade and a half ago, when the documentary series format primarily existed as a kind of freak show. You’d tune in and watch an hour of a couple that had an unmanageable number of children, or a shut-in with a fear of buttons, or a girl who only ate hair. In retrospect, the whole thing was creepy and exploitative, and the fact that shows like these don’t exist as much any more is a sign of humanity’s ability to improve.
Or at least it was, because now there’s a show called Adults Adopting Adults, and good Lord the bad old days are here again. Adults Adopting Adults is exactly what it sounds like. There are a bunch of grownups, seemingly happy with their life, who decided to adopt other grownups for a variety of reasons. And while a universe theoretically exists in which Adults Adopting Adults is a sober look at the rationale behind such a momentous decision, this is clearly not that universe.
