Thoughts on the TLC show

Quote from wanderingwillow : Won't be watching. EC is a detriment to the couponing way of life, anyone who appears on it is an idiot.

+1, won't give them any views, show is terrible. Maybe if they ran another BF special, but that's it. The show is a joke.

I don't have cable .. but I sure love WBBell's recaps. Gotta make sure to go to the bathroom before I start reading

No way in HELL I would ever go on that show! I don't care what they offered....TLC doesn't have enough money to make an a$$ out of me.....

Quote from CzarCzar : I suspect people won't be too happy with me. I violated store policy, manufacturer policy & used coupons that I didn't know were fake. The goal for my episode was $500 cash back at WalMart. Did I achieve my goal?! Find out December 10th.

WalMart? That one will be a first on EC..

Quote from sdNewby : I don't have cable .. but I sure love WBBell's recaps. Gotta make sure to go to the bathroom before I start reading

wear tena.

Quote from ladycat : LOL I would watch that episode!!

Purvatory is a funny word.

And TLC & EC sux

Well, I could have only hoped that this show was gone for good, but no! Despite no publicity, not even a press release from TLC announcing the new season, here is our favorite show back to torture us with more nonsense. What fake drama awaits us? What kinds of crazy things wil people do? What kinds of questionable coupons will be used? What strange new cliches will we have this season? I can only imagine. Let's jump right in! And today we have an Extreme Disclaimer, a Fabulously Pretty Stockpile, Severe Anxiety, going to Freak Out, Fun to be Frugal, a "little bit OCD", lol, a problem, going to cry, PIGGLY WIGGLY, all in the season kickoff tonight …. and off we go!

We open on a couple chatting about how they are going to set up their camera and tripod, all in hopes of taking the perfect portrait. And are they photographing their wonderful offspring, or perhaps themselves? No, you silly fools, they are making a portrait of their Extreme Stack of Stuff! Here is Rudy, from Georgia, and in her world it is Fun to be Frugal. And here is Rudy with her husband Chase, tossing things around at the Piggly Wiggly. We learn that Rudy wants to memorialize every shopping trip, so we go through the above-outlined portrait procedure after EVERY TRIP. Umm.. Rudy tells us that most people have photo albums of their family vacations, or even of just their family, but Rudy has photo albums full of her stockpile shots. Oh, wait, now I see that these are not just photos, she has actually scrapbooked these photos into like works of art. Wow. And now we see the Fabulously Pretty stockpile. Chase comments that he started wondering if Rudy might be a little crazy, when she brought home 300 dog collars, but they don't have a dog. Rudy then tells us that she buys certain items just because she likes how they look in the stockpile, and she uses them to fill in the gaps. Rudy must have precisely 35 containers of Gain Dish Detergent in the stockpile because that everything must be in place and lined up. Moving on, Chase and Rudy are going to renew their vows, and Rudy plans to buy all the reception food for $20. She has 300 BBQ sauce coupons, and so she plans to give those out as reception gifts. Break already!

After an Extremely long commercial break (4 minutes!), it occurs to me that we haven't heard from Mr. Narrator thus yet. I hope they didn't get rid of him, that would be a shame, and we would also have no one available to tell us the latest findings from the Extreme Couponing Research Department. Did you know that 47% of all households get BBQ sauce for free after coupon at least once a year? That's because I just made that up!! Sorry, I was having factoid withdrawal and I had to do something. Budget cuts affect everything, y'know. But did you like how I tied that into the theme? Yeah, I am good. Anyhoo, back to Chase and Rudy, and we're pulling up to the Piggly Wiggly, where we are hoping to get $700 worth of stuff for $20. We go to the BBQ sauce shelf, where they put about 80 into the basket, but then they find another place where cases are stacked up. Rudy will only get the cases, because she likes things organized, stacked up, and she orders Chase to put the 80 back on the shelf. Chase comments that he thinks Rudy might be a little bit OCD. Really? Actually, Chase has been inserting all of these wry little comments into this whole affair which are kinda funny, so at least he is a good sport about the fact that his wife is completely nutty. Now, we are buying the ever popular Yak and Cheese, and Chase asks Rudy if she is buying these solely to look good in her stockpile. To my amazement, Rudy says YES, she actually buys items of different colors and shapes, to make the stockpile look good. Instead of debating this, Chase tells the camera what may be the best line ever - "In our house, you've got to know your role, and shut your hole". LOL!! Free Chase!

Now it's time to check out, and Rudy tells the poor Piggly Wiggly lady that she is doing 87 transactions (!!) and I am so not even going to try to summarize this. Lots of beeping, Scanning is Boring, Random Disinterested People,. The Piggly Wiggly lady tells us in this awesome Suthern Accent that Rudy's totalk was $776 and she spent only $19.20. Random clapping from some random people, who were probably paid off in BBQ sauce. And now we're at the reception, all is lovely, and Rudy thinks it was a big hit.

We're back, and here is Gia, who says she is the Long Island Coupon Queen. She says that without coupons, she'd probably die. She spends over 50 hours a week on couponing. Gia's mom Maria thinks it might be a "little obsession". Off we go to the beach, where Gia's family dig a sort of protective bunker in the sand, to protect the coupons from the wind. Gia sits in the bunker and clips coupons while her family has fun in the water. Sounds great to me! We see her stockpile room, and every time she enters, she has a sigh of relief. Here come some more people into the house, and Gia says her family is the biggest and loudest you'll ever meet. They have a weekly dinner, which is nice, and Gia is hosting the dinner tonight. She aims to prove that she can do this dinner for 25% of what they normally spend. Gia's brother has helpfully offered to notify Gia whether or not her dinner "sucks". Thanks, bro! So now Gia is bribing her mother with candy bars, if she will help with the 6 hour shopping tip. Maria agrees, of course, who wouldn't? So now we are pulling up to "Key Food", and right away we have some kind of kooky music, then Gia says that shopping with mom is like a "3-ring circus". And Maria has a can of something perched on her head, which she nods right into the basket! And another break!

Gia's going to make Chicken Parm, and grabs a bunch of chicken. Next we're going to buy 40 2-liters of soda, and Gia is actually making her poor mom shove this cart full of sodas around the store. Now Gia is going to buy 10 packs of strawberries at $2.00, for which she has a mysterious coupon for $5.00 off, and she says the overage will pay for the chicken. Now it's "The Moment of Truth", aka the checkout. Scanning is Boring™, annoying running commentary by Gia, and she warns us that if her total is even one CENT over $100, she is going to freak out. She will FREAK OUT, I say! More annoying commentary from Gia, unhelpful commentary from mom, lol, and her final total is $758. And Do You Have Any Coupons Today?™, and scanning is still boring, and Gia says she wanted to cry as soon as she saw the last coupon scan! Her total was $118, and Gia says that even though she saved over $600 on this stuff, she feels like she failed, and again with the wanting to cry, and a very morose trip out to the car. THen, after loading the bagged items into her car, Gia discovers $28 in unredeemed coupons that had apparently fallen out of the binder. Gia mopes even more at this discovery, I'm wondering why doesn't she just take 'em in the store and do a return/rebuy, especially since the coupons were for cat food, but we don't do that. Now it's dinnertime, where Helpful Brother loves the sauce, and he's amazed that Gia paid only $118 for all the stuff. Gia says that couponing has given her peace of mind and allowed them to get out of debt. And it all sounds lovely to me.

we need to hire samuel l. jackson to read your recaps.

Quote from WBBell : Next we're going to buy 40 2-liters of soda, and Gia is actually making her poor mom shove this cart full of sodas around the store.

where's the common sense there? just get it last.

you WBBell

According to this story they know that the people on the show are using fake coupons and they don't care to comment about it.

http://www.kpho.com/story/2011284...pular-show

Quote from WBBell : Well, I could have only hoped that this show was gone for good, but no!

Ah, how I love a good WBBell EC recap.

Quote from AhorrarDinero : According to this story they know that the people on the show are using fake coupons and they don't care to comment about it. http://www.kpho.com/story/2011284...pular-show

Wasn't this in the Extreme Couponing: All-Stars??

Quote : Last spring, in Vegas, a shopper loaded up 200 bottles of Tide laundry detergent. Procter and Gamble said it was another fake.

Quote from AhorrarDinero : According to this story they know that the people on the show are using fake coupons and they don't care to comment about it. http://www.kpho.com/story/20112842/az-counterfeit-coupon-operation-may-have-tie-to-popular-show

Oh gosh.. Bud Miller getting interviewed again.. I am sure he is in heaven with all the drama... So, P&G and Georgia Pacific have both confirmed that the Quilted Northern coupons and Tide coupons were fraudulent.. I wonder if they will go after the show and/or participants who committed fraud while being filmed??

Quote from PresarioXp : Wasn't this in the Extreme Couponing: All-Stars?? Quote : Last spring, in Vegas, a shopper loaded up 200 bottles of Tide laundry detergent. Procter and Gamble said it was another fake.

Hmmmmm, not sure if it was the All Stars, but I did see part of that episode... and the fake Tide were allegedly copies of real Tide coupons which had been distributed to people who purchased washing machines and such from a major retailer.. I forgot which one.. I can NOT believe that someone would allow themselves to be filmed while doing that.. but people do CRAZY things these days, especially for 15 minutes of fame...