At home with a new baby. Fatigued by chronic lack of sleep, and perhaps still in pain from a difficult delivery. Nursing happens every two hours, perhaps lasts an hour - in between, the baby falls asleep in your arms and wakes the second you try to detach: it needs that warmth from your body. Alone, unable to move easily, and with no-one to talk to for the largest part of the day, you reach for the remote.
What better than The Wright Stuff? An easy-on-the eye, easy-on-the-ear current affairs and debate show, filled with lively celebrity guests and an audience both in the studio and by phone from home, all willing to engage in any topic from all angles.
Well, not exactly. That's the end of the fairytale. A regular feature of the show is the stereotyping of "stay-at-home mums" - the moniker preferred by dominant culture: note the passive, ambitionless aftertaste. Today, for example, a statistic on how much time these creatures spend on the internet vs housework. Another day, with a knowing glare into the camera, its presenter makes a jibe to the stay-at-home mum who is, audaciously, watching the show with her feet up and a cup of tea.
How dare she sit down? Even have the presence of mind to enjoy that moment with a hot drink. Imagine!
Perhaps we shouldn't really expect more than lowest common denominator from a presenter who used to write for The Sun and The Daily Mirror. When challenged in his views, Matthew Wright rarely condescends to allow his interlocutor a platform. This is his show. He opens up debates within limited dominant paradigms, and refuses to entertain or engage in debate beyond those borders. If the panel don't know that the first time they appear, and actually possess the ability for original thought, you see the realisation dawn on them as he corrals them into the Wright Stuff "Yes Sir, no Sir" dynamic.
But as mothers caring full-time for their children are a significant portion of the show's demographic, how could it legitimately persist in its obsession with attacking them? I believe it says something about the powerlessness this demographic feel against this type of dominant stereotyping so prevalent in our mass media. As viewers, we should demand more.
But how could the show be improved? With a product as clearly structured as this daytime talkshow is, seeking fundamental change would be an exercise in futility. The obvious solution? Switch over or off. That would get them talking at Channel Five.