Extreme Couponing

With two shopping trips in each half-hour, TLC's latest hit is so fast-paced--and such giddy consumerism--that it's fairly irresistible. Also educational.

This TLC series has hit a cultural nerve, partly because it offers practical, price-cutting tips in an era in which people are jittery about inflation. Also because it's bonkers. [26 May 2011, p.46]

If you loved the successful couponing special they aired in December, you'll be thrilled with the premiere of the bizarrely watchable Extreme Couponing, a series in which people hoard not just coupons but the stuff they needlessly and endlessly buy with them.

There's less of voyeuristic queasiness here than in those other shows [Hoarders and Intervention]. Anyway, who doesn't love rooting for the little gal (yes, the couponers are all female in the show's first two episodes) in a quest to outwit the corporate food industry?

Moving forward, less time should be devoted to planning and logistics--this is suspenseless television--and more to motivations. There's a "Hoarders" in here, dying to be redeemed.

It's strange how a show meant to generate excitement and promote thriftiness can leave one with a sense of remorse and shame.