• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 1, 2019

Prepare to be disgusted.

A&E is bringing back “Hoarders” and then introducing a new reality series that will follow the adventures of a Canadian chiropodist.

Intrigued? Of course you are! For many, the day-to-day life of a foot doctor has long been a subject for widespread curiosity. So naturally, A&E will seek to exploit this under-served audience segment with this new series called “The Toe Bro.”

Let's face it: The age of reality shows about various medical specialties is upon us -- plastic surgeons on “Botched” on E!, bariatric surgeons on “My 600-lb Life” and “Family By the Ton” on TLC, the dermatologist known as “Dr. Pimple Popper” also on TLC, and now this chiropodist. What's next? Ophthalmologists? Orthodontists? Ornithologists? (I know, this last one is not a medical specialty; I just needed another “O” word here.)

The guess here is that “The Toe Bro” will traffic in the more visually extreme forms of foot and toe conditions -- the kind that “read” clearly when filmed for TV, and perhaps more crucially, when shown in queasy close-ups in promo spots for upcoming episodes.

In this way, “The Toe Bro” seems to have been created based on the “Dr. Pimple Popper” formula. Even the title seems to strive for a degree of cleverness reflected in the “Dr. Pimple Popper” title (itself inspired by an old episode of “Seinfeld”).

On “Dr. Pimple Popper,” Dr. PP (aka Dr. Sandra Lee of Upland, California) is not seen popping ordinary pimples. Instead, she is concerned with wildly conspicuous growths sprouting from the skin of her patients.

To some laypeople, these conditions might seem grotesque and difficult to look at. And yet to others, these conditions and their sufferers are the basis for a TV show produced for the purposes of their entertainment. Go figure.

In fact, the phrase “cringe-worthy” is even applied in some of A&E's promotional copy for “The Toe Bro.” So, who is this bro of toe? He is Jonathan Tomines (yes, it would seem that “toe” is the first syllable of this toe doctor's name). He is a chiropodist practicing his foot doctoring in Mississauga, Ontario (pop. 721,600).

His Canadian location might explain the use of the word “chiropodist.” As closely as I can determine from a Google search that was typically vague and inconclusive, various countries still refer to podiatrists as chiropodists. One thing I could not quite figure out: Whether podiatrists or chiropodists are indeed medical doctors.

Whatever they are, or whatever Dr. Toe Bro is, his show will have him treating “a range of shocking foot problems,” according to A&E. In practice since 2012, when he took over his father’s practice, Dr. Toe Bro has “helped over 5,000 foot patients,” says the network. They did not clarify, however, whether the 5,000 patients translates into 10,000 individual feet.

“There is nothing he won't clip, slice, or scoop until suffering is a thing of the past. These oddly satisfying and cringe-worthy procedures, combined with Jonathan's friendly bed-side manner, leave patients with newfound confidence and viewers fascinated by his achievements,” A&E says.

Well, whether we will be fascinated or actually repelled by Dr. Tomines’ scooping and slicing remains to be seen. “Hoarders” returns next Tuesday (March 5) followed by the premiere of “The Toe Bro.”

Various versions of “Hoarders” have been on TV off and on since 2009. This show, which spawned a copycat on rival TLC called “Hoarding: Buried Alive,” looks at people who are so averse to throwing anything away that they live atop piles of years-old refuse in homes under the threat of condemnation from fed-up local authorities (and neighbors).

A&E's new flight of “Hoarders” episodes will consist of five, two-hour episodes -- twice the length of typical “Hoarders” episodes up until now.

Two-hour episodes might also be a burgeoning trend in basic cable reality content. “My 600-lb Life” on TLC is almost always two hours -- which makes sense because the weight-loss stories seen on the show take a year or more to film.

Like “Hoarders,” the makers of “My 600-lb Life” have a lot to work with.