TV characters whose life is a fantasy camp.

[Justin_Bailey]

@mozchron

Ross was a professor of paleontology, and based on his age he would have been Assistant or (maybe) Associate professor. In no way would he be “highly paid”, especially in New York.

Ross was a professor in the later seasons. In the early seasons, he’s a highly paid researcher. They even did a whole episode around how successful Monica, Chandler and Ross were…

By showing the rest of the gang unable to afford Hootie and the Blowfish tickets.

[AWB]

@Shagnasty

@AWB

Spencer and Carly Shay, of “iCarly”.

His job: artist/sculpter, which are usually full-size versions of what we all made in kindergarten art class. He somehow gets thousands of dollars for his creations.

Her hobby: hosting a web show. Has more electronics that many small TV stations.

They live in a 3-floor apartment in a Seattle high-rise.

Yeah. This would happen.

Spencer is a dork though and doesn’t appreciate anything he has. Even the girl scouts pick on him and his idol made-fun of his sculptures and then faked it to make him feel better. Carly’s life does sound like a fantasy. Things only go slightly wrong for her and it is only for part of an episode when it does. There is something sinister about that show however. One parent is completely MIA in the proud tradition of other fucked up shows like the Brady Bunch and Andy Griffith.

However, it is more disturbing that the father is supposedly still alive but leaves his kids to go do something…something in the military like a naval submarine officer who can can never come back home. Good cover story Spencer (he really kidnapped Carly as a baby and then robbed a bank to get the money raise her as his own). You will notice that best friends Freddie and Sam also have missing parents although Sam has an identical twin sister named Melanie who she was separated from when they were young and hardly ever sees or even mentions at all. Like I said…that is some screwed up stuff. Carly will figure it out sooner or later and then everything will come crashing down once and for all.

Freddie’s mother appears quite frequently. I don’t know about his father, but with as psychotic as she is, my guess is that he divorced her / ran away.

Sam’s mom hasn’t been shown on-screen, but has been hinted at being a rather white-trash, sleep-around type (as much as that can be suggested on Nickelodeon). And her twin sister is Sam’s polar opposite: clean, polite, smart, attends a private school on a scholarship.

SpongeBob Squarepants may be a better choice. Things go wrong all the time but he doesn’t have parents either and he is a stoner and everything makes him happy.

Well, SpongeBob isn’t a child, even though he acts it at times. His parents do show up from time to time.

[AWB]

Another fantasy story: “Pokemon” (all its incarnations)

A 10-year-old travels the world with a late-teen/early-20s man and various scantily-clad young girls. He has several pet pokemon, whom he regularly has fight others’ pet pokemons. No blood is shown, but it’s often implied that they’re injured, some to the point that they have to go to a hospital (staffed with clone nurses).

Didn’t Michael Vick get in trouble for this sort of thing (animal fighting, that is)?

[An_Arky]

All those people on C-SPAN…

[BrotherCadfael]

@BrotherCadfael

And I have sort of a totally inappropriate crush on Sam. :eek:

I see that Jennette is 18 now, so I don’t feel quite so pervy.

I just saw her country music video, and she’s both gorgeous and charming. Looks sort of like she could be the younger sister of Angela on Bones.