# Most popular professions for the fictional treatment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555 "2009-09-10T14:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/1 "2009-09-10T14:29:00Z")
Movies, TV shows, books…what professions most often get the fictional treatment? I’m guessing the military is number one with police/law enforcement a close second and medicine in third place And just for fun what profession has been the _least_ covered? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/2 "2009-09-10T14:37:06Z")
I think the most underrepresented is probably teacher. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/3 "2009-09-10T14:40:28Z")
Based on what I read, you’re right about police/law enforcement/detectives – no military or doctors though. Next would be lawyers, journalists, and writers, followed by farm boys, magician apprentices, and wizards. Least covered – construction, factory workers, almost any blue collar job. The exception is Hap and Leonard from Joe Lansdale’s books. They’ll do just about anything for a buck. I think they even worked in a chicken plant once. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/4 "2009-09-10T14:45:25Z")
The only architect on TV I recall is Mike Brady. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/5 "2009-09-10T14:55:27Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The only architect on TV I recall is Mike Brady. Don’t forget Art Vanderlay. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/6 "2009-09-10T14:56:46Z")
Is vampire a profession? They seem to be all the rage these days. Not too many fictional funeral directors. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/7 "2009-09-10T14:57:33Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Based on what I read, you’re right about police/law enforcement/detectives – no military or doctors though. Doctors are pretty big in TV shows. Politicians also. Writers are popular in books. Assumedly because it allows authors to write about themselves or what they know. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/8 "2009-09-10T15:04:47Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The only architect on TV I recall is Mike Brady. Ted Moseby. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/9 "2009-09-10T15:40:24Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Ted Moseby. I think you mean: Ted Moseby…_architect._ I dont’ recall too many movies, tv shows, or books about engineers. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/10 "2009-09-10T15:44:51Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I think you mean: > Ted Moseby…_architect._ > > I dont’ recall too many movies, tv shows, or books about engineers. Or urban planners. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/11 "2009-09-10T16:25:38Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > Is vampire a profession? They seem to be all the rage these days. > > Not too many fictional funeral directors. Digger, on “Life of Riley”? And Herman Munster’s boss! ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/12 "2009-09-10T16:30:50Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > … > And just for fun what profession has been the _least_ covered? 😉 Chicken sexer. Can’t recall a single book, movie or TV series that had a character who sexed chickens. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/13 "2009-09-10T16:39:45Z")
TV dramas lean toward doctors, lawyers, and cops (and other law enforcement workers) because they allow for a wide range of dramatic situations. TV comedies have a much wider range, simply because you don’t have to have exciting adventures every week. Architects are currently fashionable in movies these days. They are white collar and substantial. They’ve probably taken the place of ad executives, which were a mainstay in the 50s and 60s. Teachers are well represented in movies (if not on TV) as a source for “inspirational” films like **Mr. Holland’s Opus, Dangerous Minds, Up the Down Staircase, Stand and Deliver, To Sir with Love, Music of the Heart** , etc. Even TV has had things like **Boston Public, Room 222** and **Welcome Back Kotter**. Movies use the same big professions as TV, as well as adding criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/14 "2009-09-10T17:09:57Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I think you mean: > Ted Moseby…_architect._ > > I dont’ recall too many movies, tv shows, or books about engineers. “Uncle Bill” from \*Family Affair \*was a civil engineer, and Fred MacMurray’s character from \*My Three Sons \*was an aerospace engineer. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/15 "2009-09-10T17:50:38Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > “Uncle Bill” from \*Family Affair \*was a civil engineer, and Fred MacMurray’s character from \*My Three Sons \*was an aerospace engineer. The husband on _Medium_ is an Electrical Engineer, or at least I’m pretty sure he is (Wikipedia says “Engineer”, and he’s always working with circuitry). But three, or even a dozen, examples out of 50 years of television is pretty sparse. Engineers in general are very much disliked by both Hollywood and the general public (and Star Trek does not count; we’re talking about real Engineers). ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/16 "2009-09-10T17:53:42Z")
Very popular: Private detectives. Not popular: Sanitation worker. Trashmen just aren’t glamorous. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/17 "2009-09-10T17:54:19Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Digger, on “Life of Riley”? > > And Herman Munster’s boss! Funeral directing was pretty much the entire premise for _Six Feet Under_. One does not, however, see a great many telephone sanitizers. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/18 "2009-09-10T18:01:45Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Very popular: Private detectives. > > Not popular: Sanitation worker. Trashmen just aren’t glamorous. Well, there was the Emilio Estevez/Charlie Sheen movie “Men at Work” (I loved that when I was a kid) and the television show Roc, in which the main character was a garbageman. I guess Oscar the Grouch doesn’t qualify, though. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/19 "2009-09-10T18:06:45Z")
Librarians get no love from TV shows and just a little from movies (and the movies featuring librarians suck! Party Girl, I’m looking at you). Even books turn their nose up at featuring librarians as characters unless they’re memoirs written by librarians! But I’ve got a librarian TV show pilot all plotted out, Hollywood, call me! ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555/20 "2009-09-10T18:12:38Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Librarians get no love from TV shows and just a little from movies (and the movies featuring librarians suck! Party Girl, I’m looking at you). Even books turn their nose up at featuring librarians as characters unless they’re memoirs written by librarians! > > But I’ve got a librarian TV show pilot all plotted out, Hollywood, call me! I recently read an anthology of library and librarian-related short stories. Granted, the link was tenuous in some cases, but it was there. I was going to cite Marian the Librarian from the Music Man as a positive portrayal of a librarian, but I guess that’s more played for laughs than anything else. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-professions-for-the-fictional-treatment/509555.md?page=2)