# Any sitcoms in which the protagonists end up in a lower economic class at the end? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168 "2016-05-19T15:41:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/41 "2016-05-21T03:06:24Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Would Archie Bunker be in a lower class owning a bar instead of working as a longshoreman…or whatever blue collar job he had? He worked on a loading dock. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/42 "2016-05-21T03:23:28Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Would Archie Bunker be in a lower class owning a bar instead of working as a longshoreman…or whatever blue collar job he had? A bar owner, as a businessman, would definitely be viewed as better off than a laborer, even if the bar wasn’t doing too well. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/43 "2016-05-21T16:15:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > A bar owner, as a businessman, would definitely be viewed as better off than a laborer, even if the bar wasn’t doing too well. From what I remember he got Edith to approve cashing out his pension to buy the bar “because the mob has the money and I’d have to retire in Sicily to get it”.As to whether a bar owner is better off than a loading dock worker, it’s debatable. Archie never moved up to a deluxe apartment on the east side. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/44 "2016-05-21T17:23:35Z")
House and Wilson are no longer employed in the final episode. Wilson is dying and House has faked his own death, which might make it difficult to go back being a doctor later on. ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/45 "2016-05-22T02:11:22Z")
On the Torkelsons, they are never well off, but they lose their house (and two kids) in the retooled second season, titled Almost Home. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/46 "2016-05-22T16:38:46Z")
I don’t remember exactly what Niles Crane was up to when _Frasier_ ended, but even if he was still a Psychiatrist with a successful private practice, as I believe he was throughout the series, he wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the same standard of living as he did when he was married to Maris during the first couple of seasons. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/47 "2016-05-22T16:40:10Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/48 "2016-05-22T16:51:08Z")
I’ve been re-watching Frasier a bit lately. Niles does indeed seem to be less wealthy in the later part of the series. He often dresses in more casual clothing, but that might be more because of Daphne’s influence than because of a smaller clothing budget. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/49 "2016-05-22T17:09:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > As to whether a bar owner is better off than a loading dock worker, it’s debatable. Archie never moved up to a deluxe apartment on the east side. I agree that a bar owner wouldn’t necessarily have a better income than a loading dock worker, especially if he had been in a union. Archie also was probably not a great businessman. However, a bar owner would at least have more prestige in the neighborhood and with his friends than a laborer. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/50 "2016-05-22T23:46:58Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > He did end up getting the bar back for a dollar when he helped catching Rebecca’s boss, Robin. Eventually becoming partners with Rebecca, after she burns down the bar, and offers her life savings to help rebuild it. So it could be argued that he ended up no better or worse than he was when he started the show. Sam can only scrounge up 85 cents to buy back Cheers. “Hey, guys! I low-balled him!” Also, I don’t think Sam and Rebecca were partners in Cheers. Her offering Sam her life savings was a set up to a joke about it being just enough to cover a pizza. The bar had insurance, but Sam has to sell his Corvette to cover the deductible. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/51 "2016-05-22T23:59:47Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > From what I remember he got Edith to approve cashing out his pension to buy the bar “because the mob has the money and I’d have to retire in Sicily to get it”. Archie pays for the bar by forging Edith’s signature to mortgage their house. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/52 "2016-05-23T00:36:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I agree that a bar owner wouldn’t necessarily have a better income than a loading dock worker, especially if he had been in a union. Archie also was probably not a great businessman. However, a bar owner would at least have more prestige in the neighborhood and with his friends than a laborer. Archie wasn’t a laborer when he bought the bar, he was a dispatcher. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/53 "2016-05-23T00:47:02Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > If you accept that **Roseanne** actually was just a book she had been writing, that Dan had actually died and nobody won the lottery, then I think the Connors count. Of course, that also means accepting that the show had a sort of straight-line progression from beginning to end. you know years ago people said you found that out except for dan dying all ready in one of the first 3 seasons because they thought it was gonna get cancelled so that’s how it was gonna end did they just retool it because everyone forgot or not noticed it ? ---
**Author:** ![HarryTheHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@HarryTheHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HarryTheHat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/54 "2016-05-31T09:12:14Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > That doesn’t sound very conducive to comedy, does it? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168/55 "2016-05-31T09:48:31Z")
[Alan Partridge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Partridge) began Series 1 with a BBC chat show but ended up living in a motel, and then a caravan. His career definitely dropped down a tier between series. Still, there is a question as to whether changing from presenting midnight to dawn on regional radio to mid-mornings on a regional digital radio station is a move up, down or sideways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-sitcoms-in-which-the-protagonists-end-up-in-a-lower-economic-class-at-the-end/755168.md?page=2)