# What TV/movie/other fictional character live most beyond their incomes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105 "2010-08-31T06:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/61 "2010-09-01T21:06:50Z")
Heh, you just beat me to the Buffy leather inventory. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/62 "2010-09-01T21:08:35Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > > [@scifisam2009](#): > > > > the opposite is true for Buffy: she wears lots of different outfits, but they don’t look expensive at all > > Buffy would go broke on leather alone: > > Several leather jackets, in styles that are definitely not vintage > Half a dozen pairs of leather pants > A few leather skirts, including an ankle-length one that must have cost a mint > “Stylish yet affordable boots” by the dozens. > > Maybe mom or dad bought her a jacket or two but I don’t think they’d spring for the skin-tight red leather pants! I see her as the kind of person who’d be very good at getting bargains in the sales. In any case, that lot wouldn’t add up to much money at all. I know loads of poor people who manage to dress well. (Though TBH I don’t remember her having so much leather, I’ll take your word for it). ---
**Author:** ![El\_Nene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@El\_Nene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Nene)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/63 "2010-09-01T21:45:00Z")
Sterling Archer, code name Duchess. So much so that he had to embezzle 50k from his employer, a spy agency, to finance his trips to Whore Island. He would’ve gone to jail, or more likely been scolded by his mother, if he hadn’t been able to pin it on the mole he thought he’d made up. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/64 "2010-09-01T23:14:04Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > On Buffy, Angel ran a busy club. He did? I can’t remember any reference to Angel working or having an income at all. He was certainly free to go gallivanting around the sewers with Buffy enough. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/65 "2010-09-02T02:00:06Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > \ > > The Winchesters on _Supernatural_ have no legit income at all, and I don’t think anyone has ever even given them cash to thank them for helping them out with a demon/ghost/monster problem, so _any_ lifestyle is outside of their means. It’s probably a good thing for them that they support themselves with credit card fraud, though, since driving around the country constantly in a 1967 Impala has got to cost an absolute fortune just in gas. They do _a lot_ of credit card fraud. 🙂 Actually, when you think about their situations, Dean would have zero debt and no expenses beyond food, gas, and ammo. Sam might have student loans, but I would guess he’s blowing them off. He also might have worked his way through college, back when he was legit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/66 "2010-09-02T02:21:43Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > **The Brady Bunch**. Dad was an architect in the 70s and raised a big family in LA, presumably Laurel Canyon, with a live-in maid. **The Partridge Family** lived across the street. Laurel Canyon? Really? The actual house is in Sherman Oaks, and I can’t recall any reference to Laurel Cyn. Plus the topography of the area surrounding the Brady house is absolutely not a canyon, not that that would prevent the show from saying that it was. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/67 "2010-09-02T02:30:32Z")
The actual Brady house is only a split-level, making it all the more confusing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/68 "2010-09-02T02:37:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > They do _a lot_ of credit card fraud. 🙂 > > Actually, when you think about their situations, Dean would have zero debt and no expenses beyond food, gas, and ammo. Sam might have student loans, but I would guess he’s blowing them off. He also might have worked his way through college, back when he was legit. Well, they also have to pay for all of those kooky motel rooms. And a million layers of flannel. Sam had a full ride to college. I don’t think he would have many/any loans because if you don’t have a credit history (which most college-age people don’t) you need your parents to cosign your loans. And not only is there no way John would have cosigned, he probably would have made Sam’s application _worse_. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/69 "2010-09-02T02:38:30Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > > [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > > > On Buffy, Angel ran a busy club. > > He did? I can’t remember any reference to Angel working or having an income at all. He was certainly free to go gallivanting around the sewers with Buffy enough. He lived above the Bronze - I certainly never got the impression that he owned it. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/70 "2010-09-02T02:44:16Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > > [@Kyla](#): > > > > He did? I can’t remember any reference to Angel working or having an income at all. He was certainly free to go gallivanting around the sewers with Buffy enough. > > He lived above the Bronze - I certainly never got the impression that he owned it. I thought Angel lived in an underground lair somewhere. (Until the third season, when he lived in that mansion place.) I never thought he lived above the Bronze - which looked like a warehouse, and not something that had a place for a second story. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/71 "2010-09-02T02:53:45Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > > [@Krokodil](#): > > > > **The Brady Bunch**. Dad was an architect in the 70s and raised a big family in LA, presumably Laurel Canyon, with a live-in maid. **The Partridge Family** lived across the street. > > Laurel Canyon? Really? The actual house is in Sherman Oaks, and I can’t recall any reference to Laurel Cyn. Plus the topography of the area surrounding the Brady house is absolutely not a canyon, not that that would prevent the show from saying that it was. The actual house in in Studio City, between Tujunga and Vineland just north of Ventura Blvd. (11222 Dilling St) In 1973 it was sold for 61,000 according to [Zillow.com](http://Zillow.com). ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/72 "2010-09-02T03:03:31Z")
[quote=“Kyla, post:70, topic:552105”] > [@Zsofia](#): > > I thought Angel lived in an underground lair somewhere. (Until the third season, when he lived in that mansion place.) I never thought he lived above the Bronze - which looked like a warehouse, and not something that had a place for a second story. This is correct. It was the underground lair deal where he and Buffy first had sex. I can’t remember where it is exactly, but Angel and Buffy are somehow able to get to it while fleeing from the Judge and Spike and Drusilla’s cronies through the sewers. Angel neither owned nor lived above the Bronze. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/73 "2010-09-02T03:31:17Z")
Conversely, TV doctors are always broke, always moaning about how much they pay in student loans, and the only one I’ve ever seen living in a house instead of an apartment is Lisa Cuddy from House, and even then she’s the head of the hospital. Everybody else lives in one bedroom shitholes except for the one season where House and Wilson were roommates, where they had a two bedroom shithole. One point that hasn’t come up yet is the idea of inheritance. I think it’s quite possible many of these TV families just inherited a parent’s house and probably have lower expenses than people today, although it’s strangely convenient that the house has exactly the number of bedrooms to provide everybody with their own room. I think judging their expenses by the quality of their house is not the only way to measure if someone is living beyond their means. Also, in many places, cheap houses are available. It’s not surprising to find a 3-5 bedroom home for under 50k, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/74 "2010-09-02T03:40:05Z")
I would nominate the A-Team. They use an amazing amount of ammunition, gasoline, tools, etc. and every week the amount of gold on Mr. T’s neck would increase. They also spend an amazing amount of money keeping Mr. T tranquilized. Logically, they would also need to feed 4 grown men. Having escaped from prison, they wouldn’t have access to any money they had saved previously. Also, in all the episodes I remember, they never collected the fee for helping out poor Farmer John. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/75 "2010-09-02T05:52:53Z")
Adrian Monk lives far beyond his probable income, especially since he has to pay for a full-time personal assistant. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/76 "2010-09-02T06:08:16Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I would nominate the A-Team. They use an amazing amount of ammunition, gasoline, tools, etc. and every week the amount of gold on Mr. T’s neck would increase. They also spend an amazing amount of money keeping Mr. T tranquilized. Logically, they would also need to feed 4 grown men. Having escaped from prison, they wouldn’t have access to any money they had saved previously. Also, in all the episodes I remember, they never collected the fee for helping out poor Farmer John. The A-team saved money by having Murdock stay in a mental hospital. Also in the last season they were subsidized by the goverment by working for Robert Vaughn. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/77 "2010-09-02T07:14:09Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > > [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > > > Dexter is very much a non-consumer. I don’t think he’d spend much beyond the bare necessities. > > Plus donuts for the gang at the station. Plus all that plastic sheeting. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/78 "2010-09-02T09:21:44Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > In _The Departed_, Det. Sullivan buys a condo that in no way could be realistically afforded on a city cop’s salary, unless he’s been receiving extra funding from Frank Costello (which is neither mentioned nor implied). Even with the salary from his psychiatrist girlfriend, she’s still drawing a city worker’s income. I don’t remember explicit mention of Costello paying Sullivan as an adult, but it’s a given, IMO. Their first encounter involves Costello giving Sullivan grocery money as kid, for one thing. More importantly, why would Sullivan rat for free? I assumed he could afford the fancy apartment because he had illicit money coming to him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/79 "2010-09-02T09:59:49Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > The actual house in in Studio City, between Tujunga and Vineland just north of Ventura Blvd. (11222 Dilling St) In 1973 it was sold for 61,000 according to [Zillow.com](http://Zillow.com). Thanks **Antinor01** - ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105/80 "2010-09-02T12:41:34Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > I don’t remember explicit mention of Costello paying Sullivan as an adult, but it’s a given, IMO. Their first encounter involves Costello giving Sullivan grocery money as kid, for one thing. More importantly, why would Sullivan rat for free? I assumed he could afford the fancy apartment because he had illicit money coming to him. I always figured Sullivan’s loyalty to Costello came from the fact that Costello was a father figure to him and put him through school. Come to think of it, if Sullivan was, in fact, receiving payment from Costello, why didn’t Madolyn (Sullivan’s girlfriend) ever question how they were able to afford such a nice place? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-movie-other-fictional-character-live-most-beyond-their-incomes/552105.md?page=5)