Downsized, Or: Middle-Class Delusions vs. Reality (TV)

Does anybody watch the show "Downsized"? It's on the We channel in the US and is probably not being broadcast in the UK. It's kinda fascinating; it's all about this family with seven kids (admittedly, that includes a set of triplets) that used to live in a McMansion in Arizona but now the parents' income is radically diminished (dad's a contractor and the Arizona housing market is pretty much a smoking crater, mom's a teacher) and they're bleeding cash. Some of the kids take it pretty well, others are super-entitled and whiny. It's kinda fascinating.

Had never heard of this until an hour ago when someone on Twitter commented that the main lesson she's taken from it is to only have one kid.

One of the things I find most interesting/infuriating about the show is how helpless the mom is (portrayed as being). As the school year ends, she's shown in a state of utter bafflement that she could actually make money tutoring kids during the summer. Like, OMG - such a thing has never occurred to her! And she refuses to give up her mind-bogglingly expensive frothy coffee drinks, even though she's spending something like $30 a week on them. Or take her youngest daughter out of her $150/month cheerleading class. (When the husband reminds her that the financial planner they met with specifically recommended dumping that, she says, "I know he said that, but I didn't think we were really going to do it.") The husband finally has to go out and buy her all the ingredients so she can make her coffee drinks at home, and a reusable plastic cup and straw to drink them from. I mean, how fucking infantilizing is that? But when he shows her all this crap, she practically lap-dances him.

I love these shows because it's so funny when the Mom or daughters spiral into a nervous breakdown over the fact that they cannot afford that designer handbag or pair of high heels.