I don't think it is the amount of alcohol consumed that makes an alcoholic - it is the need. Shows like that are misleading because they want to be sensational, so they show the amount drunk, but truth is you can be an alcoholic on a drink a day.

My first husband was an alcoholic who always pointed out he never drank that much (less than five beers on an average day, more on the weekends, then about once or twice a month a really spectacular bender).

I miss him a lot, actually, but the drinking and the denial plus the behaviors, including a DUI, that would crop up at times could not be lived with after some time. In retrospect, I am very glad we never went through with our plan to adopt a child. It would have been enormously unfair to him/her.