# Fictional television characters living way above or below their means **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705 "2009-02-06T15:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [February 9, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/101 "2009-02-09T15:15:34Z")
Friends’s Chandler has wealthy parents. His mother is a romance novelist and his father has a Vegas act as a female impersonator. I image the guilt his parents feel after the way they screwed up their only child’s life kept them supporting Chandler and his friends for years. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/102 "2009-02-09T15:17:21Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > This may be waaayy off track, but isn’t Frasier somehow supposed to have happened after Cheers - where Frasier did have a successful practise prior to his divorce to the harridan from hell? (sorry if this is off base, I don’t watch Frasier that often) Yes, and he and Lilith (who I think is one of the best sitcom characters ever and I regret she wasn’t a full-time character on _Frasier_) lived in a very nice house in Boston. It’s unclear what money he brought into the marriage (his own mother had been established as a psychiatrist, so I could buy that she was wealthy and died shortly after her sole appearance in season three, giving Frasier a considerable inheritance before Lilith was introduced) but Lilith herself was a successful writer and the circumstances of their divorce, with her cheating on Frasier and then abandoning him and Frederick, might have made the settlement skew heavily in his favour. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/103 "2009-02-09T19:52:31Z")
The housing in “The L Word” bugs the crap out of me. Tina and Bette in a meticulous Craftsman in LA? Could work, though they seem to be in and out of full-time employment. Jenny Schechter (sp) before she sold her screenplay could in no way afford that huge house with Shane and miscellaneous-roommate-who-propels-the-plot-that-week. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/104 "2009-02-09T20:21:48Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > Some examples: > > Howard Wolowitz on _Big Bang Theory_ is a mechanical engineer who has worked on space probes, but apparently lives with his mother. Roommates Sheldon and Leonard are physicists who apparently need roommates to afford the rent. They also don’t have very good vehicles. Howard has a scooter, Leonard has a crappy old sedan and Sheldon either mooches rides or has to take the bus. Granted, he doesn’t drive very well, but I guess he has never heard of a taxi. This is unrealistic because why? Academic science pays like crap unless you work as a consultant on the side or patent something big. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/105 "2009-02-09T20:30:43Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Didn’t that car belong to Robin Masters and Magnum just had the use of it? Yeah, the license was “ROBIN 1”. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/106 "2009-02-09T20:48:11Z")
> [@JR\_Brown](#): > > This is unrealistic because why? Academic science pays like crap unless you work as a consultant on the side or patent something big. Remember, there are acadamians who are very scared to face “the real world.” Sheldon & Leonard have the most bizarre yet believable co-dependant relationship I have ever seen portrayed on TV. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/107 "2009-02-09T21:53:39Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > I never remember Poirot or Holmes mentioning pay. I always assumed there was a rich client inbetween the police work, or a rich line in expenses. I agree with you on Holmes. He never got paid (perhaps Mycroft slipped him something from the government till, and he was always pulling Watson away from a patient. But Poirot had a secretary who was very good at going after debts owed her boss. The one I was most fascinated with was Palidin of “Have Gun Will Travel.” Clearly he was independently wealthy, but I kept waiting for him to get kicked out of the Hotel Carlton or possibly the bottom falling out of the silver market and the Lone Ranger having to live with Tonto’s folks. I somehow always thought a big-time band leader like Ricky Ricardo would live a bit better than he and Lucy did. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/108 "2009-02-09T22:02:37Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > I agree with you on Holmes. He never got paid (perhaps Mycroft slipped him something from the government till, and he was always pulling Watson away from a patient. Are you feverish? 😉 Holmes got paid regularly? While it was true he was in it for the challenge more than the money, he still wanted the money; money was what made it possible for him to do the interesting cases. He clearly gets paid in the adventures of the Priory School, and in the Bohemian Affair, and implicitly in most other cases. The Red-Headed League is the one case where he most clearly doesn’t get a penny from his ostensible client, but I suspect he wrangled a reward from the bank before leading the police to the robbers. I mean, even back then coke was expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/109 "2009-02-09T22:05:55Z")
> [@Obsidian](#): > > I assumed Ignacio and his wife bought that place decades ago. It would have been much cheaper back then, so the payments are low if not already paid off. My parents half million dollar house cost $40K in the 70’s. I think their mortgage payment wasn’t more than a few hundred bucks. Plus, Mrs. Suarez was the wife of a very rich man in Mexico, so it’s possible she had some nice jewelry to hock or managed to get her hands on some cash before they left. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/110 "2009-02-09T23:10:28Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > I somehow always thought a big-time band leader like Ricky Ricardo would live a bit better than he and Lucy did. For most of the series he was the leader of the house band at a nightclub. I’m not sure how much that would have paid, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t necessarily be a huge amount. But it was established that, at least in Lucy’s view, Ricky was something of a penny-pincher. Toward the end of the series he bought the club he worked in as well as a nice big house with some land in the suburbs, so I guess being frugal paid off. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/111 "2009-02-10T23:42:50Z")
> [@FallenAngel](#): > > Remember that Frasier had a highly successful private practice and lecturer career back in Boston. I always assumed he lived off his investment income after moving to Seattle. His show was also syndicated, which can be big bucks. Re: Sheldon on BIG BANG, it was revealed in a recent episode that he lives on 46.5% of his net after-tax income and saves the rest in a savings account and various hiding places in his house. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/112 "2009-02-11T00:36:51Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Friends mentioned something about the rent control thing in the final episode: > > Paraphrasing Chandler he said something to the effect of “This was a great place to live, and because of a loophole in rent control it was a frigging steal” > … It didn’t take 'til then. The large apartment was Monica’s grandmother’s, and through an illegal sub-let, she and whomever her roommate is get it for very, very little money. Joey in one episode had to be the (male) superintendent’s dance partner to keep him from reporting it to the authorities. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/113 "2009-02-11T02:06:07Z")
> [@JR\_Brown](#): > > This is unrealistic because why? Academic science pays like crap unless you work as a consultant on the side or patent something big. Now that Sheldon has stated on the show that his expenses require only 46.9% of his post-tax income, that means he probably isn’t paid like crap. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/114 "2009-02-11T14:47:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Are you feverish? 😉 > > Holmes got paid regularly? While it was true he was in it for the challenge more than the money, he still wanted the money; money was what made it possible for him to do the interesting cases. He clearly gets paid in the adventures of the Priory School, and in the Bohemian Affair, and implicitly in most other cases. The Red-Headed League is the one case where he most clearly doesn’t get a penny from his ostensible client, but I suspect he wrangled a reward from the bank before leading the police to the robbers. He [says](http://www.geocities.com/sherlockiana/sherlock/adv/sherlock_redh.html) that he expects the bank to pay his expenses, of which there were basically none (except his time). I assumed this was just a euphemism for his fee. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/115 "2009-02-11T15:05:05Z")
Well, JD’s comments about making about as much as waiters is probably pretty accurate for the setting of the show. Resident’s salaries don’t have nearly as much regional variation as other jobs–you make somewhere between $35-45K, no matter where you live. You can live pretty well on that if you’re in someplace with a reasonable cost of living. We were able to afford a nice house with a nice yard in a nice neighborhood between that and my $10/hour vet tech job. However, we were in Greensboro, NC. But _Scrubs_ takes place somewhere in California. At one point in the 90’s, I flipped through _Parade_’s issue on how much people make, and a grill cook in LA made $30K, about the same as my mom, the teacher with a Master’s and 25 years experience at the time. So yeah, I believe they made about as much a waiter, given where they are. If they lived in most of the rest of the country, their standard of living would be somewhat higher and having a roommate would be a personal choice, not a financial one. They still wouldn’t be living like they were _doctors_, though, unless they wanted to go back to living like students later. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/116 "2009-02-11T15:22:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > House’s street number is 221B (I know, I know). In these parts, “B” usually means a garage apartment or add-on, at best a duplex. His apartment/condo is not spacious or lavishly decorated. I think the “B” in that address has less to do with an add-on and more of an homage to the address of Sherlock Holmes, who is a partial inspiration for the medical detective. (House=Holmes). > [@ivylass](#): > > I don’t know how big Cox’s apartment is, but he told Jack one day to go play up(down?) stairs so he and Jordan could have a quickie on the couch (this was the episode where Jordan finds out she’s pregnant again.) Cox seems to be well paid. His apartment is lavishly decorated, he drinks expensive scotch, and he drives a Porsche. > [@Albrecht\_Durer](#): > > Kramer…he has sex without dating, and falls ass-backwards into money. The falling ass-backwards line is likely a reference to the “real” Kramer, Kenny Kramer. Apparently, he invented some form of disco lighting early in life and pretty much lived off the money generated from licensing his patent. > [@Pushkin](#): > > Magnum of Magnum PI upgraded from a fake Ferrari to a real one through the series (IIRC, it was a prop upgrade, but I digress) which would be explainable if he was a guest of such a rich benefactor. > ETA: My bad (should have googled first), the fakes were for stunts. Still, it would explain how a mere PI can have a top of the line European super car. Others have said it belonged to Robin Masters (Magnum was in charge of the security of his mansion and compound), but I just wanted to chime in that I have a picture of me with that car from a filming location in 1986. So cool… > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, she’s just following in the footsteps of Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane from the first Superman movie and her (to quote Mad Magazine) Taj Mahal apartment. Isn’t Lois Lane supposed to be a multiple time Pulitzer Prize winner? I imagine you get a coupla those babies, and you get to Taj it up. Bob Woodward probably doesn’t live in a shack! > [@sciurophobic](#): > > What about the family on Good Times? I don’t know the demographics for families in poverty in 1970’s Chicago, but shouldn’t a family with two working parents have been able to afford something a little better than a two-bedroom apartment in the projects? James was low skilled and the 70’s were hard; especially since I imagine blacks still made SUBSTANTIALLY less than whites performing the same work. I think this was pretty realistic. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705/117 "2009-02-12T15:53:30Z")
How does jingle writer Charlie Harper afford a house on the beach, a maid, fancy cars, broads and booze, not to mention his live-in brother who pays nothing and has his son over every weekend? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-television-characters-living-way-above-or-below-their-means/484705.md?page=5)