# TV Characters Who Actually Live Within Their Means **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087 "2006-11-04T14:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/41 "2006-11-05T04:00:48Z")
[QUOTE=Ludy] The **Banks** Family in \*\* Fresh Prince of Bel-Air \*\* lived according to their very wealthy means. I even think that DJ Jazzy Jeff’s pad was a dump. Not that I watched that show or anything… [/QUOTE] I would think that Scrooge McDuck falls into this category as well. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/42 "2006-11-05T04:02:41Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] …or if they’d be beyond the means of a JAG O-3 [/QUOTE] Nit: A Navy Captain is an O-6 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/43 "2006-11-05T04:17:15Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] Nit: A Navy Captain is an O-6 [/QUOTE] True, but a Navy Lieutenant is an O-3. He had the apartment, corvette, and Boeing Steerman at the beginning of the series, when he was still a Lieutenant. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/44 "2006-11-05T05:01:04Z")
**A Family Affair** – Bill Davis, a successful engineering consultant, seemed to have sufficient chops to afford his nicely furnished Manhattan apartment, Mr. French, and Cissy’s hairbands. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/45 "2006-11-05T05:29:45Z")
On **Gilmore Girls** , Luke lives _well_ below his means. Lorelai, though, probably doesn’t. Even if she’s been established for years, I find it hard to believe that a single mother with a decent, but not particularly impressive job would be able to buy the house she does and eat out every meal. The writers figured out a good solution, though. Just give everyone else lots and lots of money. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/46 "2006-11-05T05:44:41Z")
On **Grey’s Anatomy** , one of the McDoctors (McDreamy?) lives in a mobile home, at least in the first season (the only one I’ve seen), which I think is probably well within his means. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/47 "2006-11-05T05:52:07Z")
On CSI, Sara Sidle’s apartment looks like a studio - you can see part of what looks like a bed in the living room in an episode, but at the end of last season they showed her and Grissom in what looked like a woman’s bedroom - maybe she moved or they moved in together (since the TPTB seemed to have made their hinted-at relationship cannon now). They’ve showed Grissom’s townhouse before - he is hitting 50 and doesn’t seem to have had anyone but himself to spend money on for most of his life and he works 24/7. ---
**Author:** ![JacksonRoykirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JacksonRoykirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacksonRoykirk)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/48 "2006-11-05T06:47:41Z")
The Beverly Hillbillies certainly lived within their means. Maybe a bit spartanly since they really didn’t have the concept of extreme wealth and preferred to live as simply as they could, wearing the same clothes, driving the same old truck, and with Granny still making lye soap and moonshine. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/49 "2006-11-05T07:45:45Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] \*\*Only Carla’s house, though modest and bought for a steal because it was haunted/at the end of a runway, seems out of line for her wages and tips. [/QUOTE] Maybe she got some kind of support from one or more of the childrens’ fathers? ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/50 "2006-11-05T09:11:33Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] **Mama’s Family** , Thelma owned a 3 (later 2) pre-WWII house in a small town in the South. Carl probally had a pension and Vint and Naomi lived in her basement (& later moved into an RV in her driveway). [/QUOTE] I just wanted to say…I don’t know you, but I love you a little bit for knowing so much about Mama’s Family. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/51 "2006-11-05T13:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=Aesiron] In what episode was that established? He was much more devoted to baseball, cooking, and maybe even model building than he was African art and I don’t remember his collection ever being mentioned as particularly noteworthy. [/QUOTE] At the beginning of the 3rd season (The Search, pt. 1); Sisko brings his collection from Earth because the space station is beginning to feel like home. I don’t think we hear much about it afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/52 "2006-11-05T13:27:52Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] **I Love Lucy** , Ricky was a successful band manager (did he own the Tropicana 😕 ), the Mertzs owned an apartment building (Ethel could probally afford much nicer clothes and furniture if Fred wasn’t such a tightwad). [/QUOTE] One of the things I liked about **I Love Lucy** was that Ethel would be seen in the same dresses over and over (I especially remember that one with the broad rick-rack trim around the top), like a woman in her situation would wear, rather than a new outfit every week. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/53 "2006-11-05T17:12:38Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’m not buying it: Buffy’s house on **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**. I mean, not only does it suffer from the Brady topography syndrome (would someone please point out the three large bedrooms, long hallway and bathroom the size of the Plaza _which are all upstairs_ from this [exterior shot](http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season3/vidcaps/46_07.jpg)?) but there’s no way Buffy’s mom as a single mother could have afforded that place on her gallery management job. [/QUOTE] Nitpick - I believe that she actually owned that gallery, though I’m not sure that improves her potential day-to-day financial position. Did they ever clarify what happened to the gallery after she died? Did Buffy sell it to cover some expenses? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/54 "2006-11-05T18:48:14Z")
The characters whose homes we saw on _WKRP in Cincinnati_ seemed to live within their means. If Jennifer really was the best-paid employee at the station, then her apartment suited her income. True, it was an elegant apartment, and the living/dining area was a good size, but the kitchen was small. We never see the bedroom, but we hear about it (not _them_), so I’d assume Jennifer has a one-bedroom apartment. Nicer than average, perhaps, but still–a one-bedroom apartment. We saw Johnny Fever’s place once or twice. It was a bachelor apartment; Johnny slept on a pullout couch. Les Nessman lived either next to or above his landlady–maybe he rented the top floor of a house? The few times we saw it, it didn’t seem to be much; certainly not what you’d expect the five-time winner of the Buckeye News Hawk Award to have. Herb Tarlek and his family lived in a fairly average middle-class house. Remember their stint on the show _Real Families_? Herb was a poor salesman, but he was good enough to keep his job. So he must have sold enough advertising to afford the mortgage on such a house. But he still couldn’t afford a Cordoba. Mama Carlson lived in a large house with a servant. But she was also the head of Carlson Industries, and we are led to understand that Carlson Industries controls a number of businesses and investments that would allow Mama Carlson to afford such a place. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/55 "2006-11-05T19:23:35Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] One of the things I liked about **I Love Lucy** was that Ethel would be seen in the same dresses over and over (I especially remember that one with the broad rick-rack trim around the top), like a woman in her situation would wear, rather than a new outfit every week. [/QUOTE] I read an interview with Lucille Ball recently where she talks about that very thing. She wanted to be like a lot of the housewives who watched her show, without the new clothes all the time. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/56 "2006-11-05T22:43:24Z")
The brothers in _Supernatural_ wear the same things over and over, too. Some wonderfully crazed fan (bless her heart) has devised pie charts calculating the frequency and probability of each of their garments being worn, and she’s calculated how much it must cost them to do their laundry and how often they need to do it. Yeah, yikes. But they live out of their car, and they pay for all their cheap motels, gas, meals, and occasional clothing purchase (for disguises, not wardrobe additions) by hustling pool and perpetrating credit card scams. Surely, somewhere, some other crazed fan has calculated how much they need to rake in via fraudulent means to be able to afford their lifestyle… ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/57 "2006-11-05T23:55:24Z")
[QUOTE=RachelChristine] I read an interview with Lucille Ball recently where she talks about that very thing. She wanted to be like a lot of the housewives who watched her show, without the new clothes all the time. [/QUOTE] I don’t think she gave that interview recently. She died in 1989. ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/58 "2006-11-06T01:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=ltfire] I don’t think she gave that interview recently. She died in 1989. [/QUOTE] I think she read it recently. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/59 "2006-11-06T01:11:43Z")
[QUOTE=teemingONE] I think she read it recently. [/QUOTE] Dead people can’t _read_, either. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087/60 "2006-11-06T02:16:10Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] At the beginning of the 3rd season (The Search, pt. 1); Sisko brings his collection from Earth because the space station is beginning to feel like home. I don’t think we hear much about it afterwards. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I knew that much. What I was questioning was his collection’s noteworthiness when it was maybe mentioned three times in the entire series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-actually-live-within-their-means/379087.md?page=4)