The Closest Thing We Have To A 99 Percent Movement Comedy

October 25, 2011 1:53 PM

Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress on why CBS's new show 2 Broke Girls is the closest thing we have to a 99% Movement Comedy.
posted by reenum (69 comments total)

Having watched all of the "2 Broke Girls" except for the one where they broke into Carolyn's house, I think it's only a matter of time before the two main characters make fun of OWS people.
posted by drezdn at 2:06 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I haven't seen this, and it looks awful.

However, lately, I've been digging Raising Hope, which depicts a "lower, lower, lower middle class" family, and somehow manages to mesh with current comedic trends without making any of its characters inherently despicable.

_{But, seriously. Although The Office and Arrested Development were brilliant, I'm really getting tired of the "These people are all dreadful, ah ha ha, even the good guys, ah ha ha!" trope.}


And, yeah... the cast of Raising Hope probably still aren't a good portrait of working-class America. However, at least they're not living in a furniture store, with a completely insane version of rent control, or eating out every night.

The unrealistically-large-apartment trope even extends to BBC shows, where the producers are not under the same kind of pressure from sponsors to depict their characters in lavish accomodations.
posted by schmod at 2:07 PM on October 25, 2011 [13 favorites]

I see what you did there, schmod.
posted by pinky at 2:10 PM on October 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Shorter Rosenberg: I'm willing to overlook the incredible racism of the show because it is entertaining in the way it appeals to my economic sensibilities.

:-/
posted by darkstar at 2:10 PM on October 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

However, at least they're not living in a furniture store

I used to live above a furniture store. It was a ridiculously crowded used furniture store where you couldn't get to anything because you had to climb over everything else to get to it. How does that fit into TV Tropes?
posted by madcaptenor at 2:11 PM on October 25, 2011

I don't dislike this show as much as most -- and having seen the episode she discusses, find many of Rosenberg's problems with the jokes she mentions in the opening paragraph to be an almost ignorant misreading of them. (Saying that the privileged white girl obviously didn't date a non-white girl isn't a great joke -- though Kat Dennings delivery, like a lot on the show, almost saves it -- but it's absolutely not a joke against interracial relationships and I can't understand how anyone who could read it that way would be able to turn on network television for more than five seconds without having an absolute fit given how many other things that are actually offensive would greet you.)

So yeah, 2 Broke Girls is not good as its two leads deserve but its not as bad as its promo looks. But if this is the best we can get for sitcom representation of the 'current situation', I'll be in my time machine going back to watch Roseanne, thank you very much.

Seriously, the episode where Roseanne et al are still working in the plastic fork factory and the new boss comes in and tries to break her. I caught it on re-runs earlier this year, and though it may not be Norma Rae, it's pretty fucking real and cutting in regards to blue collar employment and personal dignity (or the lack thereof).
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:14 PM on October 25, 2011 [21 favorites]

:-/

I'm not sure why this is so awful. Trying to find art -- in the sense that sitcoms would qualify under, bear with me -- that is completely unobjectionable is a lost cause (or, at the very least, the fruits of the labor would not be worth the trouble.)

The show is kind of occasionally racist. Is that a good thing? No, of course not. Is it the The Black and White Minstrel Show? No. We've made a lot greater allowance for the likes of Pound, Wagner, Riefenstahl, Polanski and Griffith based on the quality of their work. Ignoring a sitcom that actually Makes a Point because other parts of it are written poorly is willful ignorance.

I have never seen this show.
posted by griphus at 2:17 PM on October 25, 2011

madcaptenor: read the TVTropes article. Basically, it means their place doesn't look realistically lived in.
posted by desjardins at 2:18 PM on October 25, 2011

desjardins: "madcaptenor: read the TVTropes article. Basically, it means their place doesn't look realistically lived in."

See also: Modern Family.
posted by schmod at 2:21 PM on October 25, 2011

Two Broke Girls is a terrible show. It's offensive and it's not funny. I've watched every episode because I am convinced that there's a good show buried inside it that will one day come out. I'm obviously deluded.
posted by rdr at 2:21 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Does one of them drink her pepsi with milk?
posted by bonehead at 2:22 PM on October 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

Who the hell in Brooklyn works in a diner, lives on the ground floor of a brownstone, and has a big enough backyard for a horse?

Seriously, is this a thing? Is this even possible?

Also, I like the way this show doubles down by having not one, but two funny immigrant characters.

Still, it's nice to see Garrett Morris getting work.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:23 PM on October 25, 2011

I sense there's a bit too much thought and projection being laid upon a modestly good show. I'm hoping S02 will be better. I disagree with MCMikeNamara about Kat Denning's comic delivery : I believe, like the show, there's great potential there, but at the moment I find her speed of line delivery and lack of pauses to be a detraction. They don't have to be slammed out to be zingers. But yeah, there's some choppy writing filled with unnecessary cliche and prejudice in the background.
6/10 Could do (much) better. This is not the vessel through which to filter modern economic realities.
posted by peacay at 2:24 PM on October 25, 2011

Seriously, is this a thing? Is this even possible?

With enough roommates willing to live in what is not legally an actual room, anything is possible, my friend.
posted by griphus at 2:26 PM on October 25, 2011

I want to be really impressed by this commentary on the show, ( I went to senior prom with it's author) but I sincerely doubt it's the zeitgeist AR makes it out to be. It seems to me that a show called "2 Broke Girls" starring women in their twenties would necessarily appear relevant to the Occupy Wall St. demonstrations. That doesn't mean it's got an agenda or a deep political message. Seems like a concise title that explains the premise of a show, like "Two and a Half Men" or "The New Girl."
posted by Lisitasan at 2:27 PM on October 25, 2011

I get a daily email of TV Business news, and it appears that EVERY sitcom* currently under development this year features characters that are unemployed, broke or 'downsizing' their lifestyles. It may not have been the 'zeitgeist' when it was created, but it soon will be.

*or about 99% of them
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:31 PM on October 25, 2011 [7 favorites]

I get a daily email of TV Business news, and it appears that EVERY sitcom* currently under development this year features characters that are unemployed, broke or 'downsizing' their lifestyles.

Apparently people who have money to spend want to watch sitcoms about people who don't.

I suppose that shouldn't be surprising really.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:43 PM on October 25, 2011

I tried watching a couple of episodes. I thought it was a weird performance piece where all the jokes are racist or about slipping in horse dung.
posted by hyperizer at 2:49 PM on October 25, 2011

madcaptenor: read the TVTropes article. Basically, it means their place doesn't look realistically lived in.

Sort of related, my mom pointed this out to me once they moved down to Naples, FL. A lot of the homes of the more wealthy there have that look and feeling. They are well designed and look pretty, but they look like sets. After that i can only look at sitcoms and feel that about most of them. The few that i don't feel that about are with characters that are more into design than other things, ie Fraiser. Most though look to made up with 'kookie' things just for decoration, ie Big Bang Theory.
posted by usagizero at 2:51 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm wondering how they eat and breathe and other science facts.
posted by dr_dank at 2:54 PM on October 25, 2011 [20 favorites]

I'm not going to defend the reality of 2 Broke Girls -- or any TV apartment/house situation* -- but for all its flaws, the show did have a throwaway line about how the Kat Dennings character is illegally living in the apartment. You can apparently squat in some places in Brooklyn with a horse and no one will notice. No wonder all the kids want to live there.
(And as much as I hate hipster bashing, the episode where they sold horse rides to hipsters rang pretty fucking true from my experience, even if I have gone to a dance party** in a laundromat)


* Except to say that my problem with the Modern Family houses aren't that they don't look like typical family homes but that I actually know families who live in homes like that -- just as big and nice and unlived in looking -- and to that show's benefit, they make it clear that it is a show about a really well off older man with a second wife and his really well off kids and their partners in situations where each of the families has a stay-at-home partner AND at least two of them have spoken/shown us that they also have a housecleaner...if anything that's reality white there... well off people breeding more well off people!)


** Not really, but I have gone to a cocktail party at one. And a play. Jesus Christ, I really was/am the guy lots of you mock once upon a time/now
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:57 PM on October 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Holy shit... I meant "reality right there" not "reality white there" -- but if there was ever a more appropriate typo, I've yet to make it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:58 PM on October 25, 2011 [10 favorites]

It's just a show, dr_dank. Relax.
posted by The Bellman at 2:59 PM on October 25, 2011

But if it manages to make financial responsibility, earning your own money, and paying off your debt seem more admirable than being the 1 percent...

So the way this show "engages" with the economic problems of the working class is by telling them that they can fix them with a healthy dose of personal responsibility? Apparently these right-wing tropes are so pervasive, even Think Progress is repeating them.
posted by AlsoMike at 3:09 PM on October 25, 2011 [7 favorites]

Who the hell in Brooklyn works in a diner, lives on the ground floor of a brownstone, and has a big enough backyard for a horse?

This isn't Williamsburg or Carroll Gardens. I always figured it was Bay Ridge or Sheepshead or some other out-of-the-way part of Brooklyn.

And for all the carping about "BUT WHY AREN'T THEY LIVING IN SMALL APPROPRIATELY FURNISHED APARTMENTS AND ALWAYS EATING LEFTOVERS???" do you complain like that when you go see a play? Same thing.
posted by incessant at 3:11 PM on October 25, 2011

Depends on the play. The Homecoming? Maybe. The Tempest? Probably Not.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:33 PM on October 25, 2011

2 broke girls=2 girls+1 cup
posted by hal_c_on at 3:41 PM on October 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

I feel the same way about 2 Broke Girls as I do about The Big Bang Theory: It's a show full of "those people, am I right?" jokes written and delivered by people who are so completely dissimilar to the audiences they're trying to engage, it's pathetic.

Big Bang Theory goes for several sides at the same time, giving "Nerds, am I right?" jokes equal share with "Norms, am I right?" and what should be a charitable mix of comedy instead comes off instead as a desperate attempt to suck up to as many demographics as possible. (Here's a scene where two girls talk about an awful date! Guys, am I right?) The jokes are as shallow as the characters.

2 Broke Girls starts off with "Poors," and just deteriorates from there.
posted by Spatch at 4:11 PM on October 25, 2011 [7 favorites]

incessant: "do you complain like that when you go see a play?"

Um, yes? I realize that there are certain liberties that need to be taken with set design due to the size and positioning of the audience/camera crew, but I do indeed expect costuming and furnishings to be appropriate to the time period, and the social strata of the characters.

If anything, theatre sets often tend to overemphasize the poverty of the characters supposedly living within them.

(That said, theatre productions tend to be a bit more angsty than your average television sitcom. Playwrights stopped being obsessed with royalty around the same time that the masses kicked them off of their thrones....)

Some film dramas get this right too. Speaking of royalty, The King's Speech had some fantastic set pieces, showing royalty living like royalty, but also (rightly) showed Geoffrey Rush's character's office and living quarters as being fairly ramshackle.
posted by schmod at 4:15 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think it was somebody at the AV Club who wrote that 2 Broke Girls is far more fun to think about than it is to watch.
posted by box at 4:32 PM on October 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

Flight of the Conchords was a far more accurate depiction of being poor and living in NYC, despite the characters breaking into song every couple of minutes.

Also 2 Broke Girls is another example of a show written about a demographic rather than by that demographic (or at least people who truly understand them). There's a line where Kat Dennings character in the pilot really gives it to a "hipster" for being less than genuine in his wearing of a knit hat. But she says he wears it because of Coldplay, which is such a universally known mainstream Top 40 band that it's actually baffling that anyone involved in the show could think of them as a hipster signifier (they at least referenced The Arcade Fire later in the show, but that was post-Grammy Arcade Fire). Maybe the writer even wrote something that made sense and then he got overruled because the show's target audience "wouldn't get it" but the show aims low. Really low. Kat's character wears a knit hat when it's cold though... so take that, fashion! All of her clothing is purely functional! These leather boots with heels are good in the snow!
posted by haveanicesummer at 5:03 PM on October 25, 2011 [10 favorites]

If the show you are watching about being poor and living in Brooklyn is not called "The Honeymooners" than you need to change the channel.
posted by cazoo at 5:07 PM on October 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

I dunno--Everybody Hates Chris has its moments.
posted by box at 5:15 PM on October 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

Two Broke Girls looks so bad from the ads. (As bad as the NBC show Whitney, the eponymous star of which evidently produces this one too.)

Raising Hope's my favorite comedy. It's funny and it is one of the few shows that portray people whose finances I can relate to. The Middle's another one, although not as clever.

I was turned off from even watching Modern Family for awhile because of the, well, to use a pretentious word, milieu.

I've even stopped reading the TV site TWOP as often as I used to because so many of the posters seem to be so much better off than the characters (and me) and can't relate to plots.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:16 PM on October 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

"I haven't seen this, and it looks awful."

I haven't seen this, and from her description, it sounds awful.
posted by stratastar at 6:35 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I actually tried watching this show and could not make it through five minutes. If this is the 99% movement's sitcom, the movement has already failed.

Seriously. It is not funny.
posted by HostBryan at 6:40 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I must make a correction to my previous comment, because today's edition of the TV Biz email reports on a comedy project in development that is NOT about poor or nouveau-poor people:

NBC approved a put pilot commitment for 1600 Penn, a political-themed single-camera comedy from Twentieth Century Fox Television. The plot centers on a dysfunctional family that lives in the White House. The project hails from Book of Mormon Star Josh Gad, former speechwriter for President Obama Jon Lovett and director Jason Winer (Modern Family) who will all serve as executive producers.

Just another sign of the coming apocalypse.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:05 PM on October 25, 2011

nouveau-poor

you mean nouveau-pauvre, right?

(Apparently nouveau pauvre is an actual thing.)
posted by madcaptenor at 8:14 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've watched three episodes of Two Broke Girls, the most recent one being the last I'll bother to do so. I very much want to believe in the show, to see it as a nice satire, but it tries too hard and in the process is either overblown or diluted. The show also leans too heavily on crude sex jokes, which apparently after watching Two and a Half Men is a favorite device for at least some CBS shows. It feels as if the writers in fear of overplaying the working poverty bit want to alleviate any concerns or bad feelings over the living situation with locker room humor. Sure, they're poor, but it's okay, laugh at one character telling the other she needs to get laid!

Meh.

Arguably, Roseanne gave way to Malcom in the Middle (great series finale), which in turn more recently gave way to the Middle and Raising Hope. Two Broke Girls doesn't belong in this group of shows.
posted by Atreides at 8:26 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

But it's an awful, awful show starring two girls who look like supermodels and talk like advertising copy. Do 'cultural bloggers' have to notice that, or do they just get to slap their ready-made pre-interpretations on top of any old crap?
posted by zipadee at 8:40 PM on October 25, 2011

The plot centers on a dysfunctional family that lives in the White House.

Wasn't there already a long-running show back in the 90s called "The Clintons"?
posted by zipadee at 8:43 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've seen the first few, and I swear there has been a joke involving the word 'rape' in every episode I've seen. And I just don't think you should use that kind of language around a horse.
posted by Sparx at 8:54 PM on October 25, 2011

Two Broke Girls, One Cracked Cup?

Who the hell in Brooklyn works in a diner, lives on the ground floor of a brownstone, and has a big enough backyard for a horse?

You've been doing this schtick since Friends was showing, haven't you?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:16 PM on October 25, 2011

starring two girls who look like supermodels

Kat Dennings looks like a supermodel? News to me.
posted by incessant at 9:18 PM on October 25, 2011

I prefer to think that maybe only 80% of people are that fucking stupid.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:08 PM on October 25, 2011

Who the hell in Brooklyn works in a diner, lives on the ground floor of a brownstone, and has a big enough backyard for a horse?

You've been doing this schtick since Friends was showing, haven't you?

Friends is for youngsters. I've been doing that shtick since Breakfast At Tiffany's.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:38 PM on October 25, 2011 [6 favorites]

they make it clear that it is a show about a really well off older man with a second wife and his really well off kids and their partners in situations where each of the families has a stay-at-home partner AND at least two of them have spoken/shown us that they also have a housecleaner.

A housecleaner and a one working parent is "really well off" now?
Man, how low our expectations have gone.
posted by madajb at 12:35 AM on October 26, 2011

If one working parent and a housecleaner was ever within your reach madajb then you were probably pretty well off. The show is awful. I guess that's what people want though. I mean why else would so many be watching it?
posted by Peztopiary at 1:01 AM on October 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

"nouveau-poor"

I transcribed video for some woman pitching a reality show from two sisters called Nouveau Poor. She had me sign a scary NDA, but fuck it, if it hasn't been picked up in two years…

It was two shallow morons from Minnesota who moved to New York and seriously aspire to simply be "society girls," like, no real job, people just give you stuff because you go to the right parties and benefits… But then, Madoff stole all their money. And ZOMG, it just broke their hearts to see their grandmother actually have to do a load of laundry since they couldn't afford to send it all out. Now, instead of summering in Switzerland, they're having to spend their vacation with the poors in Vail.

Their tips for fabulous on a budget included things like instead of buying gowns for galas, just find designers who want their dresses in glossies and wear the same thing to the photoshoot and the event. It's a faux pas, but because of the long lead of magazines, no one will know that you (gasp) wore something twice!

I had a hard time finishing the project because every time I had to take down their quotes, I found myself seething with hate. I thought about selling myself as a guide for the truly newly poor, teaching them how to dodge creditors and pay only the most past-due notice, how to cadge free drinks at art openings and make your own stocks, but I realized that if I ever got them alone, I'd start going Robespierre without a second's hesitation.
posted by klangklangston at 1:25 AM on October 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

Finally! Other people who share my unease at the weird class assumptions of Modern Family!

madajb, it's not simply that one working parent and a housecleaner by themselves mark the families as "really well off," but they're part of an implicit baseline. Everyone has a very well-appointed oversize house (or a duplex in one case) and no household needs two incomes to better sustain the family's economic needs. Everything is immaculate unless it serves the story and expensive things are disposable. The only character who has been shown at work more than once left his job on a whim and almost immediately got a better one. One early episode focused on a character being sad because he thought he wasn't getting an iPad for his birthday. A major plot point of one recent episode was "Oh, no! The valet gave us the wrong silver Prius!" It's kind of tone deaf.
posted by psoas at 4:37 AM on October 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

I just want to nth the love of Raising Hope. The characters are just so lovable.
posted by drezdn at 5:58 AM on October 26, 2011

2 Broke Girls is another example of a show written about a demographic rather than by that demographic

Yes. I am a firm believer that one man's trash is another's treasure and different strokes for different folks. Having said that, I feel comfortable unequivocally stating if you find this show amusing, you do not understand funny. This is a CBS comedy. It is intentionally and cynically written for lunkheads. It is pitched at the same tone as the electrical hum from a misfiring generator or King of Queens. It is not funny. Kat Dennings is not a world-class deadpan comedian; she is a bad actress who cannot read lines.

As such, those who look for social import in a CBS comedy trying to rip off the zeitgeist might also look for new culinary trends at Arby's.
posted by yerfatma at 6:26 AM on October 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

A lot of the weird house/home issues sitcom characters seem to have stems from the fact that the writers have chosen something else to focus on. Modern Family is about family interactions - to make the show focused on how they earn their money, then that's a different program. I mean, Phil is a realtor and the only reference they had to the collapse of the housing market was a worried glance at the camera. Phil's not going to lose his job for the same reason Manny's not going to be killed in a car accident - doing so changes the tone of the show.

I think when you only have 22 minutes to tell a story, a lot gets left out. Community doesn't care very much anymore about their students actually attending class (except when they have a guest star), It's Always Sunny.. only cares about money when the plot demands it and even then that's usually reset.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:34 AM on October 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

those who look for social import in a CBS comedy trying to rip off the zeitgeist might also look for new culinary trends at Arby's.

Sir, I believe you have just insulted Arby's.
posted by NorthernLite at 7:01 AM on October 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

I feel comfortable unequivocally stating if you find this show amusing, you do not understand funny.

Steve Allen, I didn't know you were on metafilter!!!

I'm drinking coffee right now. Could you tell me if it's the proper coffee to drink? I like it, it tastes good, but maybe I'm doing it wrong. Maybe I don't actually know what I like? Please advise!!!

It is intentionally and cynically written for lunkheads.

Exactly ZERO people set out to write bad things for people they don't like or can't relate to. Even what you consider the most base and stupid piece of entertainment was created with the intention of doing something good.
posted by incessant at 7:42 AM on October 26, 2011

Not to be an obtuse thread-derailer, but what exactly is electrical hum from a misfiring generator? Google is not helping.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 8:42 AM on October 26, 2011

One show that hasn't been mentioned is Shameless. Its black comedy dresses over a lower-class family that has to hustle to make sure everyone can continue to eat (and maintain dysfunctional alcoholism).
posted by stratastar at 10:44 AM on October 26, 2011

The Closest Thing We Have To A 99 Percent Movement Comedy is Louie. or Walking Dead. Any which way, it's probably on cable and I can't watch it.

I work for CBS and everyday I have to walk past an enormous row of monitors showcasing the new fall lineup, and all I can think is "Oh boy, more new TV shows for white people."

I just want to nth the love of Raising Hope. The characters are just so lovable.

I don't watch it, but have seen one or two and really like most of the actors (except the lead). So I'm going to nth the love for Raising Hope just for Garret Dillahunt, who was fantastic in Deadwood and John from Cincinnati, so well deserved fortune to him!

I still really am amazed at the lack of representation of people of color in network TV.

The Sorry State Of '2 Broke Girls': Racism and Lame Sex Jokes ... So much for the show improving on the pilot.

oh, lol, it really is produced by Whitney. i thought that was a joke. who is she?
posted by mrgrimm at 11:43 AM on October 26, 2011

The Closest Thing We Have To A 99 Percent Movement Comedy is Louie.

What? Louie lives alone in an apartment in the heart of the East Village (or Williamsburg, depending on the episode.)
posted by griphus at 12:02 PM on October 26, 2011

... which is squarely in the 99%. no?
posted by mrgrimm at 12:11 PM on October 26, 2011

No, not really. I mean, the show's absurdity is one of its selling points, so it is hard to argue about the character's life, but Louie (the character) is more than definitely a guy with serious money. Not 1% money, but he's definitely upper middle class.
posted by griphus at 12:15 PM on October 26, 2011

Not 1% money, but he's definitely upper middle class.

so ... the 99%. ;)

honestly, I think he tackles the inequities and unfairness of society better than anyone.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:39 PM on October 26, 2011

I don't know, as someone who is of the approximate class/income of the families in Modern Family, and knows plenty of others in the same boat, I think it's not unrealistic. It is possible to have a secure job like that, one working parent, housekeeper, all that. It's just not _common_. Given the ratings I'm guessing the non-representativeness of it isn't stopping too many people (the audience is unlikely to be made up entirely of people who can afford that lifestyle).

And as robocop is bleeding says, the economic situation isn't the point of the show, it's just background. And given that they are all in some way related, all being of a similar socio-economic class makes sense.
posted by wildcrdj at 6:27 PM on October 26, 2011

It's kind of tone deaf.

I suppose. Never really paid it that close attention, just figured they were supposed to be generic suburbanites.
Who knows, maybe the mom is out there running up the credit cards while dad takes out second mortgages on the homes he's selling. heh.
posted by madajb at 10:02 PM on October 26, 2011

If one working parent and a housecleaner was ever within your reach madajb then you were probably pretty well off.

Perhaps I am, then.

I'm just saying that if having only one working parent is considered well-off, then we really have done a good job of eviscerating the middle-class.
posted by madajb at 10:08 PM on October 26, 2011

The sitcom everybody should be watching (but isn't) is Happy Endings. (Of course P&R and Community can always use more eyeballs, but they get plenty of pub around here.)
posted by kmz at 12:15 AM on October 27, 2011

Never really paid it that close attention, just figured they were supposed to be generic suburbanites.

Right, I mean, get that it's aspirational and wish-fulfilment-y, but it's also a little weird still seeing them try to tack on plots like "ugh, I'm so sick of sharing a bedroom with my sister" right after we've seen the stock exterior footage of a place that clearly has more than three bedrooms. Maybe it just bugs me that all the characters seem extraordinarily complainy, like, always.

The sitcom everybody should be watching (but isn't) is Happy Endings.

This too! It's what I picture Friends should have been. (It also helps that it features one of the more delightful straight-gay friendships I've seen on TV in quite a while.)
posted by psoas at 9:37 AM on October 27, 2011

I don't know, as someone who is of the approximate class/income of the families in Modern Family, and knows plenty of others in the same boat, I think it's not unrealistic.

It's not unrealistic. See Los Altos (or Gatos) or New Canaan. :P

What's unrealistic is the bigger trend of upper (or upper-middle) class white people being overrepresented time and time again on television, and lower (or lower-middle) class being misrepresented as having much greater financial resources than they usually do.

There's also the always conflicting messages of "the best things in life are free" but "as long as we have private school and phones for every kid and can schedule an impromptu session with a therapist with no consideration of cost..." I dunno. It's usually pretty funny (though mostly wasting Justin Kirk and David Cross), but I can understand why it bugs.

The sitcom everybody should be watching (but isn't) is Happy Endings.

The writing is OK, but it's essentially a Friends/Seinfeld retread for the 2010s. The juvenile guy and maybe the woman from 24 are probably the only ones who should be in a prime-time sitcom. I watched 10 minutes last night, then switched to the latest Walking Dead (which also bugs in numerous unique ways). But I'm a fairly tough (and fair, imo) critic.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:15 AM on October 27, 2011

It's what I picture Friends should have been.

Fair enough. I've only watched one episode in its entirety. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. I figured the juvenile guy was gay, but didn't know the whole backstory. Did he ever get a kiss?
posted by mrgrimm at 10:21 AM on October 27, 2011