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I just re-watched this one because I'm familiar with the town. Two personal observations. First, the editors were careful to show shots of only the most rundown, raggedy-*ss parts of town, except the outside of the city office building. You'd never know from watching this show that Altus isn't some godforsaken near-ghostown crossroads spot. It's a town of about 20,000 with an Air Force Base, decent motels, nice homes, a state college, and so forth. I bet the town fathers (and mothers) who saw this episode were mortified. Or indignant. Second, Kelly mispronounced the town's name throughout. It's not "Ahl-tus," it's "Al-tus." Short "a" sound, not an "ah" sound. About the show, it was interesting that an Altus cop would care about solving a "so cold it's frozen" case involving a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. I'm glad to see that. It's good that Kelly and Yolanda and their team helped solve the case. The bully-boy abusive husband did it, which I think everybody suspected, but it took work and a little luck to build the case. Of course, when they finally caught him and he knew he was cornered, he changed from big bad bully who kept everybody in line by fear, to a whimpering self-justifying little rat. OK, maybe that was harsh. By which I mean, it's an insult to rats everywhere. I hope the daughters get some counseling and have some good strong people in their lives who care for them. Because they've been dealt a bad hand in life.

Editor's Note: Discuss Renovation Realities Here! OK, here we can chat about the show generally, not limited to a specific episode. I'm pasting below what I originally posted in the Small Talk topic: Oh, man, I miss the DIY Channel. Eighteen months ago I cut out cable TV. It's saved me a ton of money even after I pay to keep up with my handful of must-see cable shows via Hulu, Amazon streaming, iTunes, and Netflix. It's been hard to find many of the DIY shows, though. Renovation Realities is now on Amazon, and I sometimes tune into an old episode just for the Schadenfreude. I'll have to check in here for the latest misadventures. I've called shenanigans on some episodes in the past, as being just too stupid not to be staged. But I'd hate to think that all of them were phony. I can't remember his name, but I think my all time most hated guy in this series was the obnoxious guy with the equally unlikable wife who set out to build/replace a deck in his backyard. He expressed contempt for the local building codes, his neighbors, and I think the world in general. Because he of course was so infinitely superior to all of them. I think he lassoed a friend in to helping him, then treated the friend abominably. I was just astonished that he had any friends. My grasp of the rest of the details of that mess has failed me. I just remember how easy he was to hate. EDITED to add: I've now found that at diynetwork.com they have full episodes of RR available to stream, for free. I haven't explored it all but it looks like most of not all of the shows are there. If I find the one with the obnoxious guy I'll add the episode info to identify him.

TLC has announced several new shows, including this one: I wonder if Jim Boob is seething at a Duggar who's outside his "headship" getting airtime and bucks from TLC. Edited for clarity.

I'm beginning to understand the system around here. I think. The "Small Talk" topic here is for "off topic" stuff, like introducing ourselves, and not intended for general show discussion. So, I'm starting this "General Discussion" topic as the place where we can have the kind of general show discussion that doesn't focus on a specific episode. I'll kick it off by what's pretty much a cut and paste of my show-related comments the other day in the "Small Talk" topic, updated up a bit: I'm glad they are presently shooting episodes for a Season 4 of this show! Best thing the ID Channel's offered in recent years, IMO. In the months until Season 4 airs (I think it starts in October), I'll be following the show's official facebook page, "Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda" - for current info, photos, and comments by Kenda. Just FYI to avoid confusion: there's also a fan page on fb called "Lt. Joe Kenda: Homicide Hunter," which I stumbled on before I found the official show page. I also follow the facebook page of Carl Marino - the actor who plays Kenda in the dramatizations. I just re-watched a few episodes - the joy of owning the series on Amazon streaming or iTunes. Somehow, more than other shows on ID these days, this show often leaves me mourning the senseless violence that wiped out the lives of the victims. Maybe someone can put their finger on why that is. Maybe it's the way Joe talks about the victims.

This episode covered a case that probably garnered more publicity than most of Kenda's cases: the murder of Dianne Hood by Jennifer Reali. It was revealed that despite his wholesome Christian married man/father image, Dianne's husband Brian was having a hot and heavy affair with Jennifer Reali, the wife of a military officer. Hood convinced Jennifer that killing Dianne was less of a sin than divorce would be. He also told her that Dianne was very sick with lupus - a gross exaggeration. Dianne had been diagnosed with lupus but was doing very well on medication and her doctor had recently said she could expect to live a normal life. Jennifer Reali, I became convinced after watching this episode, is a manipulative person who grossly underestimated the competence and intelligence of the police. As a murderer, she was clever in some respects including the disguise she wore. And she was stupendously stupid in others. Especially her choice of weapon: a very unusual, valuable, antique gun that was part of her husband's collection. I think she was used to manipulating people, including her husband, to get what she wanted. And then she came up against the cops, including Kenda, and she wasn't in control of events anymore. I was also convinced that Brian Hood was a twisted manipulator who set up his lover to kill his wife. I thought it was unfair that he was convicted of a lesser offense than Jennifer. I'm not sure if this was addressed in the episode: Colorado governor Bill Ritter commuted Reali's sentence in 2011, to make her eligible for parole at about the same as Brian Hood. Both had parole hearings during 2011; the parole board denied parole in both cases. I believe each of them will next be eligible for a parole hearing in 2016. Story here: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_18474060. BTW, Brian Hood escaped from prison in 1997 and was recaptured a few days later. Back to the episode. I savor Kenda's narration. As they locate the owner of the killer's clothing and the murder weapon: "Not only are we in the right ballpark, we're in the right two seats." After hearing from the crime lab that Jennifer's husband's gun was the murder weapon, "I told my men, 'Cancel her dinner plans.' And I arrested her for murder." When Brian's friends whom he'd tried to enlist to kill his wife decided they should call the police and talk about it: "Good. Our lines are always open." Summing up the crime: "Human nature at its worst. From people who had no reason to behave that way."

Not to be confused - although of course it often is - with the TLC show Hoarding: Buried Alive, A&E's Hoarders featured the talented clean-up guy Matt Paxton, a rotation of therapists, and a tight time schedule. The hoarders ranged from a few redeemable doofuses to horrific abusive nutjobs. The later seasons tended to feature less of the merely disgusting and more of the scary/horrific. From pickles to "I had plans for that rock!" there was so much material for discussion and snark. This is the show that gave us "sailcats." It got a little strange at the end, including Matt's sleepovers in the horrific hoards. It may be out of production now but it's not at all forgotten. Let's talk among ourselves.