Clean This House! (A&E)

In CLEAN THIS HOUSE!, two families compete for $1000 cash and a year's supply of cleaning products and Molly Maid services by de-cluttering, re-organizing, and polishing their homes until they shine. The teams consist of parents and their kids -- armed with garbage bags and huge Dumpsters in the driveway -- who dive into the dreaded task of sorting through years' worth of possessions and cleaning places only the dust bunnies know about, all within their 24-hour time limit. The teams start by hauling most of their stuff outside to decide what they'll be keeping -- and they're often amazed to see how little they really need -- before bringing the necessities back inside. Then they turn to the dirty job of scrubbing floors, washing windows, and dusting lampshades, all of which will be inspected when host Molly Pesce weighs in on which team made the biggest overall transformation and gets to take home the grand prize.

Clean This House! may very well inspire viewers to roll up their sleeves and start sorting through the piles of stuff they've been avoiding. While the 30-minute episodes offer only a simplified look at the time-consuming process -- and some fairly "duh" organizational tips ("Put things you don't use every day in clear, plastic containers," for instance) -- tuning in will encourage you to reassess what you need and where to put it. Just be prepared for plenty of blatant plugs for Clorox, the show's cleaning brand of choice. In addition to lots of shots of the products' packaging, Pesce uses her one-on-one time with the camera for additional advertising ("What I love about this is not only does it clean really well, but it also disinfects"). Kids won't be bothered by it (thank goodness the show isn't sponsored by Mattel...), but the brand reminders quickly become tiresome for adults.