For weeks now, I've been fairly addicted to the U.K. series, Supernanny. Basically, the premise is simple: rotten child(ren) get "supernanny" Jo Frost to pay them a visit for about three weeks, camera crew in tow. She works her magic, rotten child(ren) come out of the entire shebang smelling like roses, the parents are happy and the audience is relieved.

I say "relieved" because to me, it's unfathomable that anyone can watch monstrous children tear the household apart and not feel significantly frustrated; their eventual "transformation" is the final closure to the hour-long teeth-clenching, fist-balling episode documenting appalling behavior.

And to the Asian, where the rod is absolutely not spared, that extra disciplinary option often leads to more frustration on the viewer's part, because you're left thinking, "Why don't you just smack the little bugger?"

This perverse, self-inflicted frustration is the reason why the series has become so big. Just when I thought each formulaic and predictable episode was still enjoyable enough each week, watching it tonight with my mum brought that to new heights.

"Why doesn't somebody cane him?" she asked in despair, when the child ran about the house, screaming his lungs off. "Don't give him any juice!" she pleaded with the TV, when the mother was trying to placate the screaming child with cranberry juice.

"Aiyah, these young mothers and their new age parenting," she sighed. Finally, when the child screamed bloody murder and threw out a couple of vulgarities at his parents, she gasped in horror.

Watching the show together, I reach a whole new level of perverse joy seeing MY mother get frustrated with these appalling children. It's also a good hint to your parents that you're The Best Child Anybody Should Ask For, because they're inevitably going to think back about how much better you were, compared to Possessed Child on TV (though what kind of comparison is that?) and double — no, triple — their gratitude for how great you've made their lives.

Nothing beats looking good, and if you can't change the past, you can most certainly rock bottom their standards of comparison.