• Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    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.

  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

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

    • blarghly@lemmy.world
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      16 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.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      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.

      • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world
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        11 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

  • egrets@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Atlanta, Black Mirror, Severance, Silo, The Terror: Infamy, Slow Horses, The Bear, Black Bird, Baby Reindeer, Station Eleven, Russian Doll. Most of what I’ve seen recently that was produced in the last few years has been primarily about people who are not wealthy or privileged.

  • Neverbeaten@lemmy.world
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    13 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

  • Cossty@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    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.

    • BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world
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      14 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

      • Cossty@lemmy.world
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        20 minutes ago

        I know they are unlikable for a reason. I just don’t feel a need to watch a show about petty, callous empty little lives of rich idiots.

  • OldSoulHippie [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    17 hours ago

    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.

    • 01011@monero.town
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      11 hours ago

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

  • LavaPlanet@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    I read some article the other day, how they had noticed a heavy attempt, by Hollywood, to glamorise and humanise ultra rich, like Yellowstone. Is that so we just sit back and shut up and let the billionaires be. Fk that.

    • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      Same way that tv shows glorify cops who break the rules and disregard suspects rights. It’s so that we cheer for cops who break the rules and excuse them for “doing what you need to do to catch the bad guy”.