WaPo TV Reviewer Grouses About New Show Chronicling ‘Selfish’ Coupon-clipping Moms
On the surface, TLC's “Extreme Couponing” — premiering tonight at 9:30 p.m. EDT — may look to you and me like an innocently voyeuristic look into the lives of fellow Americans who take penny-pinching to the extreme, saving at times hundreds of dollars on grocery store runs. But that's why we're not TV critics for a liberal metropolitan newspaper. Washington Post's Hank Stuever worked in a healthy share of left-wing grousing about capitalism and insisted that the coupon-clippers highlighted by the program were insufferably selfish souls. “Little piggies go to market, and clean up on Aisle 5,” the article's online headline snarked. “Repulsion may or may not be the show’s ultimate intent, but it stirs up unsettling and complex thoughts, not only about the sins of gluttony and pride, but also about the production and consumption of cheap, processed food,” Stuever insisted. “There’s also something to snack on for those of us fretting over an ever-widening wealth gap amid dwindling resources.” But who are these gluttonous people? Some of them are moms of large families: Each segment of “Extreme Couponing” culminates in a dazzling and literal money shot. Voila! A mother of seven in Spring, Tex., uses her coupons to reduce a bill of $555 to $6. How, exactly, is it gluttonous to provide for a large family in a way that saves a boatload of money? Stuever never squares that with his central thesis that so-called extreme couponers are incredibly selfish individuals: [M]y real beef, which I’m selling for half-off today, is that the subjects of “Extreme Couponing” are never seen stopping at a food bank on the way home to share some of their largess — except once, in the original “Extreme Couponing” special.
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WaPo TV Reviewer Grouses About New Show Chronicling ‘Selfish’ Coupon-clipping Moms
On the surface, TLC's “Extreme Couponing” — premiering tonight at 9:30 p.m. EDT — may look to you and me like an innocently voyeuristic look into the lives of fellow Americans who take penny-pinching to the extreme, saving at times hundreds of dollars on grocery store runs. But that's why we're not TV critics for a liberal metropolitan newspaper. Washington Post's Hank Stuever worked in a healthy share of left-wing grousing about capitalism and insisted that the coupon-clippers highlighted by the program were insufferably selfish souls. “Little piggies go to market, and clean up on Aisle 5,” the article's online headline snarked. “Repulsion may or may not be the show’s ultimate intent, but it stirs up unsettling and complex thoughts, not only about the sins of gluttony and pride, but also about the production and consumption of cheap, processed food,” Stuever insisted. “There’s also something to snack on for those of us fretting over an ever-widening wealth gap amid dwindling resources.” But who are these gluttonous people? Some of them are moms of large families: Each segment of “Extreme Couponing” culminates in a dazzling and literal money shot. Voila! A mother of seven in Spring, Tex., uses her coupons to reduce a bill of $555 to $6. How, exactly, is it gluttonous to provide for a large family in a way that saves a boatload of money? Stuever never squares that with his central thesis that so-called extreme couponers are incredibly selfish individuals: [M]y real beef, which I’m selling for half-off today, is that the subjects of “Extreme Couponing” are never seen stopping at a food bank on the way home to share some of their largess — except once, in the original “Extreme Couponing” special.
Posted by
on April 6, 2011. Filed under Politics.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
WaPo TV Reviewer Grouses About New Show Chronicling ‘Selfish’ Coupon-clipping Moms
On the surface, TLC's “Extreme Couponing” — premiering tonight at 9:30 p.m. EDT — may look to you and me like an innocently voyeuristic look into the lives of fellow Americans who take penny-pinching to the extreme, saving at times hundreds of dollars on grocery store runs. But that's why we're not TV critics for a liberal metropolitan newspaper. Washington Post's Hank Stuever worked in a healthy share of left-wing grousing about capitalism and insisted that the coupon-clippers highlighted by the program were insufferably selfish souls. “Little piggies go to market, and clean up on Aisle 5,” the article's online headline snarked. “Repulsion may or may not be the show’s ultimate intent, but it stirs up unsettling and complex thoughts, not only about the sins of gluttony and pride, but also about the production and consumption of cheap, processed food,” Stuever insisted. “There’s also something to snack on for those of us fretting over an ever-widening wealth gap amid dwindling resources.” But who are these gluttonous people? Some of them are moms of large families: Each segment of “Extreme Couponing” culminates in a dazzling and literal money shot. Voila! A mother of seven in Spring, Tex., uses her coupons to reduce a bill of $555 to $6. How, exactly, is it gluttonous to provide for a large family in a way that saves a boatload of money? Stuever never squares that with his central thesis that so-called extreme couponers are incredibly selfish individuals: [M]y real beef, which I’m selling for half-off today, is that the subjects of “Extreme Couponing” are never seen stopping at a food bank on the way home to share some of their largess — except once, in the original “Extreme Couponing” special.
