I’d argue there’s not a single relatable thing in any of these sitcoms and the moment they stopped pretending to be and were about us watching the misery of four of five rich yuppies suffer, sitcoms had a resurgence.
Seinfeld went this way after Larry David departed, but Arrested Development was the first.
I had this realization recently. I don’t watch much tv anyways, but whenever someone recommend a show to me it’s just rich people doing rich people things.
I guess it’s a nice dream to have? I just can’t unsee it now.
Bob’s burgers is a decent alternative, struggling restaurant and kids playing with garbage most the time.
I have oatmeal, an apple, and some kind of protein almost every morning. Just feels nice.
They lived across the hall from each other. It actually made sense in this case.
Good point. But, I don’t even have breakfast with people in my own house. Just don’t have time and different schedules.
Would have to be “perfectly” aligned with one another to pull this off in different apartments.
These were supposed to be young people with very laid back schedules. That’s what the vibe of the show was about. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a shortage of groups of young adults with moderately wealthy parents living in this sort of bohemian setting now and there certainly wasn’t one in the 90s.
But yeah, it isn’t universal and it can come across badly in sine cases
How about the notion that one can afford to live in NYC while working at a coffee shop with only one roommate
The apartment was rent controlled, and legally leased by Monica’s dead grandmother. Monica was committing fraud.
Hey - I don’t like the tone I used to read that comment young man. Fuck them landlords.
But Joey and Chandler could afford to live across the hall from them which was never explained.
sigh
Chandler had a good job, working in data science, which was still mysterious and paid well in the 90s. And Joey likely got unemployment between acting jobs.
That’s not an absurdity, and if it looks like one then it’s the world that’s wrong.
Also that a group of underemployed 20-somethings can afford huge, well-furnished apartments in Manhattan.
I always notice all the useless junk people own in sitcoms. Like look at all that shit in the background of the screenshot.
I mean, it looks mostly like kitchen implements, cutlery, cooking stuff. Not really useless junk. I have 8 cupboards of similar stuff in my kitchen.
Take a photo of any room in your house. Not to post on the Internet, just to look at with fresh eyes. You will almost certainly see a bunch of useless clutter.
I have one room. Can fit everything i own into three rubbermaid bins. Most of what I own is clothes or food. And I don’t even have enough pants to last a week.
In terms of stuff other than clothes and food. A laptop and an air fryer.
I believe in Friends, it’s justified as Monika pretending that her grandmother is living there so she still gets her rent controlled tenancy agreement. I thought I remembered that there was an episode where she and the custodian were having a fight so he threatened to reveal the grandma isn’t alive anymore so that Monika would have renegotiate the agreement (and it was resolved so he didn’t do that.)
As for Joey and Chandler’s apartment, no clue how that one happened lol
IIRC Chandler was the only one with a substantial job. He worked in IT and then as a data scientist. There was a running joke that he couldn’t explain his job in a way that his dense friends could understand.
Well theirs is a rather small apartment, but I also think there as in implication that one of them has been there for quite a few years.
And you are right it’s both mentioned and an explicit plot point that Rachel and Monica are in a rent controlled apartment after Monicas Nana, not sure what OC is on about
You’re recalling correctly. Joey has to agree to be the building manager’s dance partner in order to keep him from snitching. My wife watches Friends on repeat so it’s burned into my memory from proximity.
As for Joey and Chandler, Chandler has a well paying job that nobody can quite explain as a running gag. He’s not a “transpondster”, at a minimum.