So I know it’s Shark Week, so I’m starting this week’s entries at the wrong end of the animal kingdom. And yes, I did watch a little bit of shark footage (Air Jaws!) last night on Discovery, but the Heidi Fleiss: Prostitutes to Parrots reality special on Animal Planet is what really caught my attention. I’m not sure if this special will lead to a spin-off series, but this is a series that I would watch.

Unlike some viewers, I wasn’t surprised about the parrots or the fact that Fleiss is a “crazy bird lady”. I watched the cycle of Celebrity Rehab where Fleiss participated a few years ago, and the parrots were a big part of her plan for recovery even then. She’d tacked up pictures of all of her birds behind her bed in a strange sort of rehab shrine, and her devotion to the animals in the midst of her addiction was one of the most interesting parts of that cycle.

This show isn’t really about Heidi Fleiss; it isn’t about parrots. This show’s existence alone proves how much we love to watch someone fall. One of the most successful business women ever (even though her business happened to be illegal) was transformed (really, broken down) through her experience as a prisoner and an addict into someone who is eccentric, obsessive, and awkward.

BUT behind all of her strange behavior, Fleiss has finally learned compassion and love. She never knew how to care before in her role as a madam, but, now as an almost-recluse (only leaving her Pahrump house to empty change from her Dirty Laundry Laundromat or check in on the manager at her dog hotel), she does. These birds provide her salvation. These birds are the only thing keeping her sane (ish), sober, and happy. My concern would be that viewers are ONLY focusing on how Fleiss has fallen from greatness and glamour and created this bizarro life. I worry that viewers don’t see the inspiring potential behind her shaky, bird-chewed exterior.