80s & 90s sitcoms. Middle class families from those shows would today be priced out of their houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TV housing has never reflected financial reality. It’s no more realistic than Elsa’s ice castle.

Next thing we know, these kids are going to be surprised that the actors playing teenagers on those shows were all in their 20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle class TV families from the 80s/90s would be recategorized as UMC families in 2021. Families Ties, Who’s the Boss, Growing Pains, My So Called Life, Life Goes On, Wonder Years etc.

Roseanne & Married with Children are exceptions.

Exactly, it was all intended to be aspirational. Roseanne, Married with Children and later Malcom in the Middle were explicit critiques against the trope of the ideal sitcom family. Instead, presenting a family that more resembled the audience, one that we could directly relate to.

[Anonymous]

The Wonder Years is supposed to take place in Silver Spring.
They were solidly middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle class TV families from the 80s/90s would be recategorized as UMC families in 2021. Families Ties, Who’s the Boss, Growing Pains, My So Called Life, Life Goes On, Wonder Years etc.

Roseanne & Married with Children are exceptions.

But they were not presented to us as UMC in the 1980s and 1990s.

[Anonymous]

My parents bought their first house in the mid 80s. This was in the Midwest so the prices were reasonable but the interest on their mortgage was 13%. So their house was not as nice as they would have wanted. Some of these TV houses were still aspirational to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but I’m told I’m entitled for wanting a nice home with my good salary.

Boy, do I have stories. You have no idea.

[Anonymous]

You forgot Full House!!

[Anonymous]

I recently rewatched Family Ties and their kitchen was pretty damn nice for a middle class family in the 80s — but their fridge looked so tiny!

The house from The Middle was completely realistic and not particularly aspirational (maybe if you can’t afford any house at all?), but it was set in a small Indiana town and the show is from the 2000s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but I’m told I’m entitled for wanting a nice home with my good salary.

You can have it. You just can’t have it where you want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle class TV families from the 80s/90s would be recategorized as UMC families in 2021. Families Ties, Who’s the Boss, Growing Pains, My So Called Life, Life Goes On, Wonder Years etc.

Roseanne & Married with Children are exceptions.

But they were not presented to us as UMC in the 1980s and 1990s.

Wasn’t the mom on who’s the boss running a company? And growing pains-was the dad a dr?
I think they were definitely UMC families. No idea about the other shows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but I’m told I’m entitled for wanting a nice home with my good salary.

You can have it. You just can’t have it where you want it.

NP. The one thing that it took me so time to adjust to once I started earning relatively decent income is that basically everyone in this area makes about the same salary or within the same band.

If you want to live in a "nice" house in a nice area, you need to break out above that band. Right now I think its about the top of the GS-15 scale, so like $180k. It sounds crazy but dual income families making $325k are a dime a dozen around here.

But, if you can break out even a little bit above that scale you can too move into a nicer house. So the goal would be a $200k job. Even an amount as low as $20k per year makes a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TV housing has never reflected financial reality. It’s no more realistic than Elsa’s ice castle.

Seriously. How many struggling young writers/architects/etc on TV live in fabulous apartments in NY? Sex and the City was realistic? Remember the movie Broadcast News? I know the person who actually lived the house they used to film Holly Hunter’s place, and they made a LOT more money than her character would have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle class TV families from the 80s/90s would be recategorized as UMC families in 2021. Families Ties, Who’s the Boss, Growing Pains, My So Called Life, Life Goes On, Wonder Years etc.

Roseanne & Married with Children are exceptions.

But they were not presented to us as UMC in the 1980s and 1990s.

Wasn’t the mom on who’s the boss running a company? And growing pains-was the dad a dr?
I think they were definitely UMC families. No idea about the other shows.

Yup, they were all UMC professionals or business owners. The Growing Pains dad was a psychiatrist. Family Ties mom was an architect. Mom on Who's the Boss was a corporate executive. My So Called Life mom owned a printing company. Etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TV housing has never reflected financial reality. It’s no more realistic than Elsa’s ice castle.

Seriously. How many struggling young writers/architects/etc on TV live in fabulous apartments in NY? Sex and the City was realistic? Remember the movie Broadcast News? I know the person who actually lived the house they used to film Holly Hunter’s place, and they made a LOT more money than her character would have.

How about the NYC apartment in Friends? And the characters were working in service jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle class TV families from the 80s/90s would be recategorized as UMC families in 2021. Families Ties, Who’s the Boss, Growing Pains, My So Called Life, Life Goes On, Wonder Years etc.

Roseanne & Married with Children are exceptions.

But they were not presented to us as UMC in the 1980s and 1990s.

Were your parents doctors, lawyers, architects, small business owners, etc?

I think when you were younger you did not catch the distinction. You just saw them as families like yours. But they weren't.