I loved Somebody Somewhere, I really miss that show!
I was just talking with my critique partner about the literary dimension of this discussion. Characters who don't have any financial struggles but are still presented as relatable and middle or even working class seem to be more common. Or maybe I'm just noticing more of them!
I couldn’t agree more. I’m showing my youth but my friends and I noticed this when the show ICarly came out. Early 2000s kids shows were real middle class kids figuring out life. Drake and Josh were two kids that had jobs and had to figure out how to come up with money to do something outlandish, but it had some realism. ICarly had that first tech wave idea that maybe everyone is secretly rich, living in huge apartments, and getting sushi after school. If obviously was tongue in cheek but I can’t think of anything since that will show a kid wearing clothes that their mom grabbed off the rack from Marshall’s.
This is one reason I watch a lot of European and British shows these days. Plus, you can actually tell the actors apart, since they don’t all have eerily similar perfect faces.
YES! I was actually going to mention the show Such Brave Girls in this bc I love it so much and it's a hilarious working class show but I decided to stick to US TV bc that's where the issue is... totally agree British / European shows don't fall as much into this trap!
This really resonates. Started watching that new show Sirens yesterday and it’s set on I believe Nantucket and while the disrupting character (Meghann Fahy) is not rich, the story revolves around the wealthy. I feel like the show is trying to criticize wealth but it’s not sticking the landing for me yet, and after two episodes I’m like, why should I care?
Jillian - SO spot on. I literally started watching Sirens after finishing the first draft of this essay and granted the cast and cult-y vibes pulled in pretty quickly but I almost added it in here because EXACTLY. Love you, thanks for reading!! x
I watched the whole thing and I don’t feel like the show really stuck the landing. One of the things that frustrated me is that the show seems to think that $10,000 is enough money to take care of someone with dementia when it’s really not.
This is so spot on. Reruns of The Middle are on at the same time I'm usually making dinner and I often find myself thinking of how refreshing it is to see a show where the parents discuss and are worried about money or can't afford certain things. It's funny how you mentioned that you wish money was in everything. I am currently at the Sydney Writers' Festival and went to a session with Rumaan Alam and he said something similar and how his latest novel is a ghost story, except the ghost is money.
Oh woww, I haven't read his latest but this makes me want to! And thank you so much for the note! It really is noticeable and refreshing now when you see a show talking about it!
First of all, congratulations on Nothing Serious which I just finished. Impressive. Re: wealth. When your fictional character has to have problems and stakes, making them poor is an easy way but not the only way. (BTW congrats on making yours rich AND poor at the same time.) I read something about "Pleasure Studies" which lists the following as aspects of a text that will ping the pleasure neurons: Beauty, Money & Wealth, Status & Power, Sex & Touch, Competition, and Danger. This was from an article by Leigh Stein, quoting Jennifer Lynn Barnes. You did pretty well on this rubric!
I think TV writers are wasting opportunities for cute middle-class-girl clothing and possessions but I barely watch anything so what do I know.
By the way, I am also writing a successful woman engineer (in another industry) and I have made her psuedo-poor by having had her husband take half her pension in the divorce, as well as being just a bit too spendy. Cue workplace struggles.
Thank you so much for reading NOTHING SERIOUS! Yeah, her financial struggles and path were based on my own so that part was pretty personal. Super interesting about "Pleasure Studies," and totally agree we're missing opportunities. Excited your writing about a successful woman engineer!!
Exactly the same has been happening in movies for a long time. In many, no one even mentions what they do for a living, unless they’re wedding planners or fashion designers. Work is rarely the point or even a concern.
I wanted to mention, though, that this is primarily an American curiosity. British television and film is still making entertainment, not just about the middle class, but about borderline poor families and working-class struggles. Other European countries are also making this kind of content. Go on Britbox and you’ll find an endless stream of them!
As a Brit and longtime US resident, I often find myself seeking out more realistic dramas and comedies. There is something deadening about seeing hyper-wealthy characters obsess over trivialities when so many real people are struggling. There is nothing remotely real about the Real Housewives!
Yes! Completely agree about it being an American phenomenon. I see way more working / middle class plots in European television. A new show i LOVE, for example, is Such Brave Girls (British). VERY deadening to see wealthy characters struggling over ridiculous stuff! xx
The show runners of almost every show you list are extremely wealthy and they are in charge of the vision of their shows and taught to "write what you know". That's why.
Thanks for writing about this trend. With famous actors getting cosmetic work done, they can only play rich people and have the audience believe it. I always wonder if that’s why we’re getting more rich people projects. I also have always said that the movie RV starring Robin Williams is about the death of the middle class.
First, sincere congrats on your novel and pitching it. I’m not super dialed in but everything I hear from folks in TV, supposedly it’s ridiculously hard to sell anything right now.
There does seem to be an increasing focus on wealthy characters and arenas. And it’s been trending this way for a while. I remember hearing a story when Modern Family premiered that in an early version of the dev/pilot the 3 families had different economic status and ABC made them change it so they were all financially well off. Idea being audiences don’t want to see people struggling financially.
Something like Your Friends & Neighbors provided the wish fulfillment of the affluent plus the fantasy of stealing from the rich.
Oh that's really interesting about Modern Family and makes sense given what ends up getting made! Yeah, and hey, I loved Your Friends and Neighbors but it's insane that these stories are the only new shows getting made. Thanks for the note and for reading!
I think it’s interesting you start off citing The Cosby Show because that show, somewhat famously, featured a quite affluent family. Bill Cosby did not want the show to be about black people struggling. Cliff and Claire Huxtable were a doctor and a lawyer, respectively. The Huxtables, pointedly, did not come from
money but they were rich.
Roseanne was viewed as breakthrough at the time in part because the family worried about money. Most late 80s family sitcoms featured upper middle class lifestyles that were very secure. Sometimes, inexplicably so, like Family Ties where the patriarch of a family of three worked at a PBS station. The mother was an architect but stayed home for portions of the series.
Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss, Silver Spoon - all featured secure middle, class families.
Money being a concern for families really is the exception not the rule.
Hollywood also consistently upscales its characters, giving them homes and possessions they'd never be able to afford if they were who the script says they are. I'm thinking of a certain Apple show where the main characters are a community college professor and a therapist who have what looks to be a 2 million dollar home.
I loved Somebody Somewhere, I really miss that show!
I was just talking with my critique partner about the literary dimension of this discussion. Characters who don't have any financial struggles but are still presented as relatable and middle or even working class seem to be more common. Or maybe I'm just noticing more of them!
Yes, I completely know what you mean about the lack of actual struggle! And oh my gosh yes, I LOVED Somebody Somewhere!
It was so underrated! Genuinely such good character writing, a true sense of place, and so funny.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m showing my youth but my friends and I noticed this when the show ICarly came out. Early 2000s kids shows were real middle class kids figuring out life. Drake and Josh were two kids that had jobs and had to figure out how to come up with money to do something outlandish, but it had some realism. ICarly had that first tech wave idea that maybe everyone is secretly rich, living in huge apartments, and getting sushi after school. If obviously was tongue in cheek but I can’t think of anything since that will show a kid wearing clothes that their mom grabbed off the rack from Marshall’s.
Oh my gosh sushi after school! Wow hah, yes EXACTLY - more Marshall's please!
This is one reason I watch a lot of European and British shows these days. Plus, you can actually tell the actors apart, since they don’t all have eerily similar perfect faces.
YES! I was actually going to mention the show Such Brave Girls in this bc I love it so much and it's a hilarious working class show but I decided to stick to US TV bc that's where the issue is... totally agree British / European shows don't fall as much into this trap!
This really resonates. Started watching that new show Sirens yesterday and it’s set on I believe Nantucket and while the disrupting character (Meghann Fahy) is not rich, the story revolves around the wealthy. I feel like the show is trying to criticize wealth but it’s not sticking the landing for me yet, and after two episodes I’m like, why should I care?
Jillian - SO spot on. I literally started watching Sirens after finishing the first draft of this essay and granted the cast and cult-y vibes pulled in pretty quickly but I almost added it in here because EXACTLY. Love you, thanks for reading!! x
I watched the whole thing and I don’t feel like the show really stuck the landing. One of the things that frustrated me is that the show seems to think that $10,000 is enough money to take care of someone with dementia when it’s really not.
omg i noted that part as well!
This is so spot on. Reruns of The Middle are on at the same time I'm usually making dinner and I often find myself thinking of how refreshing it is to see a show where the parents discuss and are worried about money or can't afford certain things. It's funny how you mentioned that you wish money was in everything. I am currently at the Sydney Writers' Festival and went to a session with Rumaan Alam and he said something similar and how his latest novel is a ghost story, except the ghost is money.
Oh woww, I haven't read his latest but this makes me want to! And thank you so much for the note! It really is noticeable and refreshing now when you see a show talking about it!
First of all, congratulations on Nothing Serious which I just finished. Impressive. Re: wealth. When your fictional character has to have problems and stakes, making them poor is an easy way but not the only way. (BTW congrats on making yours rich AND poor at the same time.) I read something about "Pleasure Studies" which lists the following as aspects of a text that will ping the pleasure neurons: Beauty, Money & Wealth, Status & Power, Sex & Touch, Competition, and Danger. This was from an article by Leigh Stein, quoting Jennifer Lynn Barnes. You did pretty well on this rubric!
I think TV writers are wasting opportunities for cute middle-class-girl clothing and possessions but I barely watch anything so what do I know.
By the way, I am also writing a successful woman engineer (in another industry) and I have made her psuedo-poor by having had her husband take half her pension in the divorce, as well as being just a bit too spendy. Cue workplace struggles.
Thank you so much for reading NOTHING SERIOUS! Yeah, her financial struggles and path were based on my own so that part was pretty personal. Super interesting about "Pleasure Studies," and totally agree we're missing opportunities. Excited your writing about a successful woman engineer!!
This was so good and smart and got at something that had been bothering me that I didn’t realize was bothering me.
Thank you so much!!
Exactly the same has been happening in movies for a long time. In many, no one even mentions what they do for a living, unless they’re wedding planners or fashion designers. Work is rarely the point or even a concern.
I wanted to mention, though, that this is primarily an American curiosity. British television and film is still making entertainment, not just about the middle class, but about borderline poor families and working-class struggles. Other European countries are also making this kind of content. Go on Britbox and you’ll find an endless stream of them!
As a Brit and longtime US resident, I often find myself seeking out more realistic dramas and comedies. There is something deadening about seeing hyper-wealthy characters obsess over trivialities when so many real people are struggling. There is nothing remotely real about the Real Housewives!
Yes! Completely agree about it being an American phenomenon. I see way more working / middle class plots in European television. A new show i LOVE, for example, is Such Brave Girls (British). VERY deadening to see wealthy characters struggling over ridiculous stuff! xx
The show runners of almost every show you list are extremely wealthy and they are in charge of the vision of their shows and taught to "write what you know". That's why.
Thanks for writing about this trend. With famous actors getting cosmetic work done, they can only play rich people and have the audience believe it. I always wonder if that’s why we’re getting more rich people projects. I also have always said that the movie RV starring Robin Williams is about the death of the middle class.
oh my gosh, YES re: faces, it's so strange! and I haven't seen RV but now I must watch!
What an excellent, thought-provoking essay. Will share, and will be thinking about this.
Thank you so much Beth! ❤️
First, sincere congrats on your novel and pitching it. I’m not super dialed in but everything I hear from folks in TV, supposedly it’s ridiculously hard to sell anything right now.
There does seem to be an increasing focus on wealthy characters and arenas. And it’s been trending this way for a while. I remember hearing a story when Modern Family premiered that in an early version of the dev/pilot the 3 families had different economic status and ABC made them change it so they were all financially well off. Idea being audiences don’t want to see people struggling financially.
Something like Your Friends & Neighbors provided the wish fulfillment of the affluent plus the fantasy of stealing from the rich.
Oh that's really interesting about Modern Family and makes sense given what ends up getting made! Yeah, and hey, I loved Your Friends and Neighbors but it's insane that these stories are the only new shows getting made. Thanks for the note and for reading!
This is such a real phenomenon - love this essay!
Thank you Annie!! <3
Just finished Girl on Girl and am obsessed. I feel like I need to read it again.
Yess, it's so good! Literally taking my breath away remembering and acknowledging all these gross and formative parts of culture.
Yes! She connects all the dots so well. What a time we lived through, and are still paying for now.
Yess exactly!
I think it’s interesting you start off citing The Cosby Show because that show, somewhat famously, featured a quite affluent family. Bill Cosby did not want the show to be about black people struggling. Cliff and Claire Huxtable were a doctor and a lawyer, respectively. The Huxtables, pointedly, did not come from
money but they were rich.
Roseanne was viewed as breakthrough at the time in part because the family worried about money. Most late 80s family sitcoms featured upper middle class lifestyles that were very secure. Sometimes, inexplicably so, like Family Ties where the patriarch of a family of three worked at a PBS station. The mother was an architect but stayed home for portions of the series.
Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss, Silver Spoon - all featured secure middle, class families.
Money being a concern for families really is the exception not the rule.
Hollywood also consistently upscales its characters, giving them homes and possessions they'd never be able to afford if they were who the script says they are. I'm thinking of a certain Apple show where the main characters are a community college professor and a therapist who have what looks to be a 2 million dollar home.