this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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Television

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

I don't keep up with current shows but here are my favorites from the last 20 years or so, not exactly about "normal" people but they aren't rich:

Raising Hope
Firefly
Battlestar Galactica
Trailer Park Boys
Malcolm in the Middle
The Middle
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The New Girl

Tbh there really are a shit ton more TV shows about normal people than about rich people. Not sure how you are even having trouble finding them. And of course there are always game shows.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

Raising Hope was great, especially the first couple seasons.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

The wonder years?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

If we redistributed all excess wealth perpetually they wouldn't exist anymore and we would stop treating them like kings and gods.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Then we'd find another way to identify the top of the social heirarchy and watch shows about them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

It would be about the smart people who forward the human race and they would get credit for it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 28 minutes ago

Lol. That would be such a boring TV show.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago

Skills issue.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago

Bob <3 (hearts) Abishola

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Detectorists

Northern Exposure

Abbott Elementary

All Creatures Great and Small

Black Books

Bored to Death

Bridget & Eamon

The Cafe

Cheers

The Cleaner

The IT Crowd

King of the Hill

Letterkenny

Peep Show

Shameless

Spaced

Tacoma FD

Taxi

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

Watch Andor, if you wanna see ordinary people fight the power

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Normal people can’t afford it like the rich can and shows about losers are depressing.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Normal people are boring. I want to watch TV shows about wizards.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

But not the kkk wizards. And if so, be Rick and Morty chopping them into little pieces like the trash they are.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

I'd be down to watch a dark comedy about kkk wizards.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

lmfao

"why doesn't my compliance drivel feature class consciousness"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Right. Like, first of all, stop watching tv.

Second of all, there is tons of TV about normal people. Like, most of it.

Third, yes, the rich and powerful are overrepresented on tv. Why? Because people like to watch that shit. They know what their own lives are like, and they are boring - people want to watch a show that is interesting. Being rich and/or powerful is an easy way to make a story compelling, and gives writers an obvious way to make up ludicrous plot points.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Bob's Burgers breathes class consciousness. There's an episode where the kids are forced to volunteer through school, and the rich landlord makes no secret that he's exploiting their free child labor to clean up his beach. The concept of collective bargaining is played with when the kids decide they don't want to do that work for free. That episode also includes the lesson that the rich will absolutely use you and screw you over to further their own desires.

The rich landlord is frequently shown dicking around as if the people around him are playthings. In another episode, his tenants decide to hold a rent strike. The landlord uses classic divide and conquer strategy to turn the other tenants against Bob, the leader of the strike, via a water balloon contest (it makes sense in context.)

That's not even touching the realistic struggles that Bob, Linda, and their family have to live with day-to-day. Despite characters sometimes being, well, completely wackadoo, it's probably the most relatable animated show I know of.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago

Well put and I agree, for that same reason I really didn’t like the movie though. Its message is basically summed up as “you can commit murder but only if you’re rich enough.”

The brothers should have drowned in that submarine is all I’m sayin

[–] [email protected] 10 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The biggest reason I dropped Succession during first season. I have no interest in watching some rich fucks and on top of that there is not one likable character in that show.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

You missed the point of the show, they are all unlikable for a reason, and contrary to what you might think, none of them come out on top the way they wanted to. It's a great show that highlights their petty, callous, empty little lives

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

I get it, but look at it this way, most of those shows do not show the rich and powerful in a flattering light E.g. Succession. So you could interpret it as Hollywood trying to shatter the glitz and glamor persona that the rich have always enjoyed.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

They have to show rich people because it's what most people aspire to be.

If they show working class people, then they end up telling on themselves. Homer Simpson was able to pay for a house, three kids and two cars all while being the sole income. All the working class sitcoms of the 90's seem unrealistic because the characters all work dead end jobs but can still afford those nice TV houses.

It looks unrealistic anymore because we're out here having to grind so hard just to keep a roof over our heads. Nevermind paying for kids! People won't watch something that doesn't reflect their life in some way. At least with the rich people on tv, you can project yourself into that life and not be reminded that you are more broke than the characters of Roseanne and you're working harder.

Obviously this isn't a defense, it's just one read on why they don't show "normal" people.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Shameless was a great show (the US version). It was very much a show about the working class.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Do yourself a favour and watch Son of a Critch..

[–] [email protected] 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Such content already exists.

There's a Streisand Effect that occurs when writing about what you don't want instead of lifting up what you do want.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

The cool irony of this thread complaining about it is that it’s promoting tons of great shows many of us would have not known.

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