Where have Working Class Sitcoms Gone?

The class divide in the United States is an issue not overlooked by the average American family, but seemingly invisible on television. Today, there is a rapid growing population of families classified as the working-poor. US Today reports, "Record numbers of Americans remain poor..the Census Bureau reported that 15% of Americans, 46.2 million people, live below the poverty line" (Florida).

 With these numbers increasing yearly, it would seem as though television would alter its content to appeal to the masses. However, this has not been the case. "Yet a whole area of television remains uniquely uninterested in the working class, and it’s an area where many of its finest examples from the past are about the working class: TV sitcoms, a genre where blue-collar representation is currently minimal" (VanDerWerff). Despite the success as shows such as Two broke Girls, networks continue to make shows about the upper-class dream, where the question of money is generally ignored. "Certainly there have been plenty of comedies over the decades where all involved always had whatever they needed, but sitcom history is also littered with the flipside, series like The Honeymooners, All In The Family, and Roseanne, where it was never clear whether the family would make it to the next paycheck" (VanDerWerff).

This under representation of the working class is not something confined to today's television shows, in a study done by Richard Butsch, he found that, "this pattern is persistent over four decades of television, in 262 domestic situation comedies, such as I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, All in the Family, and The Simpsons. In only 11 % of the series were heads of house portrayed as working class, that is, holding occupations as blue-collar, clerical, or 

unskilled or semiskilled service workers. Blue-collar families were most underrepresented: only 4% (11 series) compared with 45% of American families in 1970" (Butsch 101). Though there was a constant lack of representation, sitcoms from older generations seemed to depict the working-class far more accurately than television series today.

All in the Family cast

Works Cited

Butsch, Richard. "Why Television Keeps Re-Creating the Male Working-Class Buffon." Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 3rd ed. N.p.: Sage, n.d. 101-07. Web.

Florida, Richard. "Column: A Class-ridden America." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

VanDerWerff, Todd. "Where Are All the Blue Collar Sitcoms?" AV Club Live. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

ROSEANNE

1988-1997

Roseanne is the story of the Connor family, an Illinois working-class family struggling to stay together. The household was dominated by Roseanne, the lead character, who was married to Dan and had three children, Becky, Darlene, and D.J. Later in the series life, Roseanne has a fourth child named Jerry.The sitcom is one of the first to show a working-class family where both the husband and wife work outside the home to bring in income. The show displayed real life situations such as economic struggle, teen pregnancy, alcohol abuse, race, obesity, and much more (IMdb). "There have been plenty of comedies over the decades where all involved always had whatever they needed, but sitcom history is also littered with the flipside, series like The Honeymooners, All In The Family, and Roseanne, where it was never clear whether the family would make it to the next paycheck" (VadDerWerff). 

The house is far from glamorous, with a simple living room and kitchen. The lighting is somewhat dark and dreary with the cast hardly seen wearing fancy clothing.

Unlike other shows depicting the working-class, what sets Roseanne a part is that the wife holds a number of jobs to help with the economic situation of the family. Throughout the seasons she was employed at "a plastic factory, a fast-food restaurant, a receptionist, a bar tender, a telephone salesperson, and in a beauty parlor" all while her husband tried to keep his bike shop afloat (Lee 92). This is one of the only shows where the families monetary situation actually worsens up until the family wins the lottery at the end of the series.

Roseanne is the last great and honest depiction of the working-class seen in sitcoms.

The clip below is a clip of Dan and Roseanne expressing their disdain toward paying bills with Dan's $500.00 advance check. It brings to reality what little ependable money they have.

Roseanne also challenged politics and the idea of who should get tax breaks in America, a topic that is not widely explored in sitcoms.

Works Cited
Lee, Janet. "Subversion in Sitcoms: Roseanne as Inspirtation for Feminist Resistance." Subversive Sitcoms, n.d. Web.

IMDb. "Roseanne." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

VanDerWeerff, Todd. "Where Are All the Blue Collar Sitcoms?" AV Club Live. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

TWO BROKE GIRLS

2011- Present

The series follows two young women living in Brooklyn, New York, Max and Caroline, struggling to gather enough money to make ends meet and to one day open up a cupcake business together. Max waits tables at night, which is where she met Caroline, who was previously rich but lost it all when her father ran into legal trouble (IMDb).

Unlike The Honeymooners, Max and Caroline's apartment does not really do justice to the living space someone would imagine "two broke girls" surviving off of waitress tips to be living in. It is well decorated, the girls each have separate rooms, and there is expensive looking furniture throughout the space. "Max and Caroline, live in a Brooklyn apartment with a yard and a spacious living room. Somewhat dingy walls and a few crooked paintings are the audience’s cues to understand this is an apartment for poor people (Forget that it’s huge)" (Grossman-Heinz.). 

Also, rather than addressing real life issues of the working-class in America, it seems as if Two Broke Girls is more about making jokes about being poor for the entertainment of those who are not poor. Max is constantly making jokes about prostitution, making it seem as if that is an option for someone in her situation. Also there are constant negative remarks made about eating generic brand food. "In one scene, Caroline asks Max if she genuinely thinks [generic] chips are good. Max shakes her head and laments, “God, we’re poor”" (Grossman-Heinz). Making jokes about living in Brooklyn is another aspect of the comedic humor of the show. They point out the constant dangers of the city and how its the only place they can afford to live. According to the New York Observer, "Brooklyn is now the second most expensive place to live in America, according to a study from the Council for Community and Economic Research that was cited in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Number one, of course, is Manhattan" (Velsey).

With this being one of the only sitcoms on television currently addressing the issue of poverty on television, it is unfortunate that the reality of the situation is lightened with superficial jokes about the working-class lifestyle. Making it seem as though eating generic brand chips and living in Brooklyn is the last thing anyone should want to do, Two Broke Girls is interpreting the working-class as something undesirable, and something an average person should not be proud of.

Works Cited

Grossman-Heinze, Dahlia. "2 Broke Girls-The Anti-Occupy Wall Street TV Show?" 2 Broke Girls—The Anti-Occupy Wall Street TV Show? Campus Progress, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

IMDb. "2 Broke Girls." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

Vesley, Kim. "The New York Observer GA_googleFillSlot( "Obs_Article_Bookend_Top_right" );." Brooklyn Is the Second Most Expensive Place to Live in the US. New York Observer, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013

THE HONEYMOONERS

1955-1956

The Honeymooners tells the tale of a Brooklyn bus driver, Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) and his wife Alice. The sitcom ran for only one season, but it has been popularly syndicated and is well known in broadcast television history. Unlike other sitcoms of the 1950s, The Honeymooners was a great contrast to other suburban, middle class based sitcoms, such as Leave it to Beaver. Ralph an Alice are trapped in working class existence. Their apartment has minimal decor, even lacking curtains on the windows. 

Most episodes focus on Ralph planning a "get rich quick" scheme, but almost always fails in his attempts to become wealthy. Also, Ralph can be seen as a working-class buffoon (Butsch 102). "Television shows usually portray working-class men as buffoons: as dumb, immature, and irresponsible, but loveable. Such characters are set against more mature and sensible wives. Ralph Kramdden, Archie Bunker, and Homer Simpson are representative of the buffoonish television working-class male. On the other hand, a typical middle-class series presents both parents as wise and working cooperatively to raise their families" (Class in America 498). Though the sitcom took place in the time of the "Baby Boom", the couple did not have children, and rarely talked about having any throughout the series. As one of the first depictions of the working class in America, The Honeymooners can be seen as the inspiration of other sitcoms following the same format, such as Roseanne (Simon).


The clip below shows Ralph getting into an altercation with Alice's upper-class mother.

Works Cited

Butsch, Richard. "Why Television Keeps Re-Creating the Male Working-Class Buffon." Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 3rd ed. N.p.: Sage, n.d. 101-07. Web.

"Class in America : An Encyclopedia." (Book, 2007) [WorldCat.org]. Ed. Robert E. Weir. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.

Simon, Ron. "THE HONEYMOONERS - The Museum of Broadcast Communications." THE HONEYMOONERS. The Museum of Broadcast Communications, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013.