Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
As long as theres been TV, the family has been one of its favorite go-tos.
All week long, Vulture is exploring how its been represented on our screens.
Witha few notable exceptions, family sitcoms shy away from frank talk about money.
Generally, viewers arent supposed to think too hard about the upper-middle-class lifestyles on display.
Were meant to assume these families can afford everything we see onscreen, unless were explicitly told they cant.
The Cosby Show
The original plan forThe Cosby Showwas for the Huxtables to bea blue-collar family.
To put it mildly, that didnt end up happening.
And you dont even want to imagine how much that Brooklyn Heights brownstone would go for today.
Maybe not enough for a deluxe apartment in the Manhattan sky, but not too shabby, either.
(InRoseannecanon, the company went under in the early 90s.)
(Exteriors of Main Street were shot in Skokie, Illinois.)
Its a lot, but hey, Geoffrey doesnt come cheap.
Peggy, as viewers know, never held a job for long.
7th Heaven
Can you afford to raise seven children in Southern California on a ministers salary?
The Camden familys church, which is played bythe First Christian Church of North Hollywood, seats about350 people.
Its not nothing, but a minister at a megachurch can make in the hundreds of thousands annually.
Family Ties
To quoteLFO, Michael J.
Fox was Alex P. Keaton.
But what about his parents?
Sweet, but not very helpful for our purposes today.
(Finding out exactly what systems management is was … slightly harder.)
Black-ish
Another show where wealth is a big part of the plot.
The Johnsons arent rich-ish theyre just plain rich.
Modern Family
All three of the families inModern Familyare quite well-off.
(Maybe less if Jay helped with the down payment.)
(Plus whatever unofficial compensation he receives from local Buddy Garrity types.)
Home Improvement
Heres where this game gets wonky.
The median salary for a TV or radio host is $55,000.
Plus, he eventually got a book deal!
For some reason, I suspect that airtight world-building was not at the top of theHome Improvementwriters rooms priorities.
Related
Tags:
