Why do sitcom families all have the same house?

Vix, you have entirely too much free time!

:smiley:

I know this is a hijack, but you must not watch Malcolm in the Middle. That’s the most realistic-looking house in TV, bless their cotton socks.

You must have missed the first-season finale of Happy Days where the original house blew up due to a faulty furnace, and the elder son Chuck died in the flames while rushing the other family members out. The traumatized Cunningham survivors bought a new lot, had the house rebuilt, and never mentioned Chuck because his memory was too painful.

Unfortunately, the new lot they bought was facing the street from the other side of the original, so the contractors had to reverse the blueprints to make it work.

:wink:

My grandparedts used to have a house that was set up exactly like the All In The Family house.

The Brady Bunch’s downstairs was huge, with a large living room, dining room, Mike’s studio and the kitchen. Yet the upstairs was very cramped, with only two bedrooms for six children.

On Full House, the architect must have taken some hints from Dr. Who. The outside of the house was very small, but the interior was huge.

Why shouldn’t they all have the same house? They only live in it a half an hour every week.

Add Webster and Roc to the traditional list.

Does it matter that some of the houses in the OP are flipped? Some go left to right, others go right to left.

My two go door-right to kitchen-left.

And it makes it a lot harder for the camera to move between the rooms. :smiley:

The Simpsons house is also setup much more like your basic, modern “colonial”-type house. You walk in, and you’re in the “foyer”, with a staircase going upstairs. To the left is the living room, and theres a door in the north wall of the living room going to the kitchen/dining room. The bathroom is off of the kitchen, to the right, (maybe theres also an entrance in the foyer? huh.). Upstairs, you have a hallway plus the bedrooms, and a pull-down attic staircase in the ceiling. Come to think of it, I have no idea what is off to the left of the foyer, but seeing as the front door is in the middle of the house there should be a similarly-sized wing of the house as on the left. They’ve been shown in a dining room from time to time, so I’ll assume thats over there.

You’d have to treat sitcom apartments different from sitcom houses, because “Seinfeld,” for example, had a bathroom directly upstage. “Mad About You” was a little more conventional, with a Lucy-esque kitchen on camera left. Notice, though, that they had a window/fire escape upstage center. Much like the prototypical sitcom apartment, owned by the Kramdens.

It took Frank Grimes to point out that the Simpsons live in a “palace.” It’s not just the upstairs and downstairs – the unfinished basement has been shown to be over 12 feet high, with plenty of room for an Olmec head. The Simpsons like to complain about living on a tight budget, but they’re actually very well-off.

The have the tight budget because they paid too much for their house (remember their credit IS REALLY bad!)

No, it doesn’t matter, but I think the fact that you remember Roc should be punishment enough, even if it DID matter.

What??? You mock the hand waving Oscar caliber acting of Mr. Charles S. Dutton? Heresay!

Hearsay? Or heresy.

And was (and still is), at the very least, Emmy caliber acting.

Oops. My darn legal spell check.

And the reason I said Oscar is because the only place I see him these days is on the big screen. See Rudy for his definitive arm waving.

Oh, that always annoyed me on the Golden Girls. They had four people living in the house but only had three chairs for the kitchen table! The fourth person was always either standing or sitting on a stool.

But their house layout was a little different at least. You still walked behind the couch to get to the kitchen but there weren’t any stairs, just a hallway to the bedrooms, and there wasn’t a back door, just a back entry into the garage.

After watching numerous episodes of Diff’rent Strokes on TVLand this weekend, I am convinced that that show and The Nanny used the same set for the living room area. It’s decorated differently, but I suspect it is the same set.

Now, the brownstone in which The Nanny took place is portrayed as a much larger space. The living room is the same, but they also had a formal dining room, a huge eat-in kitchen, Mr. Sheffield’s office, and at least 6 bedrooms (one each for Mr. Sheffield, Fran, Niles, Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie). I suspect that they also must have some sort of guest room, since guests often come to stay, and there is never any mention of any inconvenience.

By contrast, the penthouse in Diff’rent Strokes had a smaller kitchen, no dining room (the dining table was in the living room area), and Mr. Drummond’s unseen study. They only had 4 bedrooms–one for Mrs. Garrett, one for Kimberly, a shared bedroom for Willis and Arnold, and presumably one for Mr. Drummond. They do not have a guest room (Cousin Myrtle had to stay in Kimberly’s room).

But the central living room? Looks identical to me!

I know what you mean! Even shows with families that are supposedly slobs (Roseanne, Married With Children, Malcolm in the Middle) the houses are generally quite neat and clean.

I suspect the same thing about “Dave’s World” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.” I’m positive they used the “DW” kitchen set for “ELR”. The kitchens are identical. The back door to the left, facing the back of the set, the counter with a little wrap-around end, window over the sink, table in the same place, stove towards the back, fridge to the right, opening in the back to a laundry room, and big opening on the right to the living room. “DW” had an island and “ELR” doesn’t but there is a big space there.
Funny thing…they are both on at 11:30 pm here. “Dave’s World” on PAX and “Raymond” on UPN.
:smiley:

Heh actually when the first hanging with mr cooper began … didnt they have a joke skit where they made fun of the fact that they used the same house for the show that they used in growing pains alan thicke was in it for about a minute?