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

[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.

NYC used to be all renters and many rent controlled or rent stabilized. My aunt recently died at 91 in 2018. She lived in Gramercy Park. Her husband was a nyc police captain. She was a stay at home Mom. She got married at 19. Had kids right away and got her three bedroom apartment, with formal dining room and a parking spot at 23. She had it 57 years. She paid 750 a month rent when she died

I lived in NYC in a rent stabilized unit and we had some rent controlled people in building in 1996 paying $390 a month for tiny studios in Murray hill. My begin had hers 40 years.

They really slaughter rent control way back and only extremely elderly have them.

Wood Allen filmed Hannah and her sisters in Mia’s Faroh rent controlled apt.

Even Friend that is Monica”s aunts rent controlled unit. Seinfeld those are rent stabilized units. Even odd couple that is Oscars rent controlled apt.

People who were middle class often had big apartments in Manhattan

[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.

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.

I was poor/LMC growing up, depending on exactly when we’re talking about. I definitely knew the families in those shows weren’t like mine. They all seemed rich.

[Anonymous]

When I was watching The Americans, I wondered if it would have been believable for a couple who owned a travel agency in the mid-80s to live their lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

The median new how has only increased in size since the 1980s. Back then it was probably about 1500 sf, and now it’s over 2500 sf. So somebody is living in these houses, and by definition, they’re middle class.

Don’t make too much of the fact that the suburban TV houses were filmed in suburbs of Southern California. It’s not representative.

But I loved that you included ALF.

[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.

Angela was a wealthy corporate type living in CT. Her house was perfect for her and made sense.

The Family Ties craftsman was modest and made sense.

The Growing Pains house was fairly average and appropriate for a doctor and tv person.

I want to know how much the Cosby’s house was? Two white collar careers, but in NY...$$$$.

I always love the SF house in Too Close for Comfort. Dad was a cartoonist. SAHM. Adult daughters were priced out of the market and lived in the basement rental. And, Monroe rented a room above the kitchen.

Loved the Bewitched house!

Always felt disappointed by the Silver Spoons house.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t Full House take place in SF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t Full House take place in SF?

yes!

SF is SO different from Full House's days...

[Anonymous]

Houses were much cheaper back then. My parents could afford our house on one government worker salary. Now, the same neighborhood, no way one government worker could afford the house. Would have to be dual salaries. The cost of housing has way outpaced salary increases in most metropolitan areas in the US.

[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.

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.

Yes. They were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

$500K or more combined HHI is a dime a dozen here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or an apartment. That's what we did. We live in a 1200 sq ft apartment in the city. Two bedrooms, just one kid (not enough space for more!). It works for us -- city amenities, reasonable mortgage, home is in great shape and upgraded. If we wanted the kind of sitcom house you're talking about, we'd have to move to a suburb, probably not close in, and likely it would need a lot of updates.

I do think that one way to deal with our very real housing crisis in the country is to get more people okay with living in multi-family buildings, and also to build more multi-family housing that is actually for families. Our home was absolutely designed for a single person or a childless couple (like 90% of new condos). The assumption outside of NYC is that people with kids will live in a SFH. But it's not necessary. Families live in apartments all over the world and in most of the world, it's not considered a mark of poverty or like you are offering your kids less. One reason we have chosen to stay in the city is that we feel it offers our kid more opportunities than we could reach in a more distant suburb. Yes, we'd have a yard. But going to the park to play isn't that bad, and we also have lots of [free] museums, classes in almost anything you'd want within walking or a short ride on public transport. Plus tons of diversity of every kind so our kid is exposed to lots of different kinds of people, which s an education in and of itself.

I also remember lots of 80s shows in apartments and grew up assuming this was a normal way to live. My Two Dads, Perfect Strangers, and reruns of Laverne & Shirley and Mary Tyler Moore. Apartments can be a great place to raise a family.

Don’t forget “One Day at a Time”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Yes. They were.

I was UMC (CFO and SAHM, one of those DC privates that no one on DCUM stops talking about) and no one I was friends with had a live-in housekeeper like Angela did.

[Anonymous]

Blossom's father was an unemployed musician.

[Anonymous]

Family Matters father was a cop. No way can he have a $1 million dollar home.

[Anonymous]

It's really sad.