Why are sitcom interiors so often unrealistic?

To make room for the cameras, baby!

Such as when the family huddles around the dining room table, but leave one side, the camera side, unseated.

I don't think anyone cares.

Bewitched always looked like there was an informal room to the left of the main entrance as you enter, but it was never shown.

Then they inserted a second staircase in the kitchen to the second floor for some reason that I never understood.

Because the comedy is in the situation, not in a realistic depiction of everyday life.

And it's always too damn bright. It's like they live in a tanning booth.

This is a great question for people with autism.

R4, that little den was never shown?

I seem to think it was?

On Bewitched, there was a room to the left of the entrance. But the door to it was down the hall. Second staircase happened when they rebuilt the kitchen set due to a fire. It never worked right and it had to be built in forced perspective to make it fit. No explanation as to why they thought they needed it.

R4, staircase in the kitchen was a common feature in older houses. It would be a bit old-fashioned in a house such as the one on Bewitched, but it was done.

And the couch faces a wall (the audience).

TV on a cart in the middle of the room.

The living room and kitchen are always separated by walls. No open concept homes allowed.

The doorbells always sound the same - the two tones, the second one lower in pitch. And the phones always had that office desk phone ring.

The most notorious was the Brady Bunch house. Of course, it had to accommodate all those kids as per the script but that ginormous staircase leading to a huge upstairs did not fit with the exterior look of the house, which was a basic split level with a vaulted roof.

And all New York apartments are huge, as well. Think about how big the Friends apartment was (even WITH it being supposedly rent controlled) or Jerry Seinfeld's place. Even HIS place would be at least two to three thousand dollars, probably even in the 90's when the show aired. He was a nightclub comic and would have had a hard time swinging that rent. But, again, the characters all needed a place to act, a place to be.

I'm the 4th wall.

The "Frasier" apartment/condo was enormous, and yet the hallway leading to the bedrooms made no sense -- it was tiny, and none of the bedrooms had the great view of Seattle or Elliott Bay, especially Frasier's "master bedroom," which was smaller than the master bath.

Mary Tyler Moore's apartment could house a dirigible.

I liked MTM's and Rhoda's apartments on the MTM show. Did they ever show Phyllis' apartment?

TV sitcom home floor plans :

You people think too much.

Can't remember, but Phyllis got a spin-off show, so undoubtedly then we saw it.

I had an eat in kitchen AND a breakfast bar in MY apartment. What's unrealistic about that?

I always liked the second apartment they let Mary move into in the last couple of seasons. It was more like a real apartment whereas the first place was just a studio and didn't even appear to have a bathroom.

Phyllis' apartment on the first floor of the house was shown at least one time. Phyllis also had a studio on the second level below Mary's place, and it was shown at least one time also. But to refer to OP's query, attempts were made within reasonable means to reconcile the interiors on the MTM Show with the shape of the real house used for exteriors.

If you want to get picky, however, there needed to be another level to it for Rhoda's attic/turret apartment to truly be above Mary.

[quote] staircase in the kitchen was a common feature in older houses. It would be a bit old-fashioned in a house such as the one on Bewitched, but it was done.

It absolutely was not a common feature in older houses. You just pulled that out of your ass.,

There was a tv show called Dear John starring Judd Hirsch which had a bar the characters hung out in. The bar was a block away from where I lived. I remember how hilarious it was to see the crew's rendering of the bar interior.. It was huge, with two dining areas and a giant bar. In real life, it was a typically cramped NYC space. Also typical of NYC, the bar didn't last long. It was never used as a bar again. I think it's going to be torn down soon and replaced with a highrise.

R21 is the sort of boy who doesn't think enough. He's responsible for the present state of the world in which we live. Politicians, tv and movie producers, marketing and account execs, focus groups, media moguls, product designers, and manufacturers of consumer goods all love R21 . No reason to employ critical thinking or to focus on the details, baby. Just keep drawing your big picture with those jumbo crayon strokes. Primary colors only, please.

And....on topic, my favorite classic tv home interiors include The Munster's mansion, Tony & Jeannie's house, and the apartments in the Mary Tyler Moore show. All of them seemed to match their exteriors.

The all-time best TV interior: Grace Brothers

[quote]It absolutely was not a common feature in older houses. You just pulled that out of your ass.

I am not that original poster but I have been in a bazillion older homes (built probably in the first or second decade of the 20th century) that had stairs that led from the upstairs down into the kitchen. Yessir. Those kinds of homes were very common, indeed. Many would come down and then there would be a landing with stairs that split off into both the living room OR the kitchen, too, sort of a "split the baby" staircase to the second floor. Which meant you could get to the kitchen by simply walking from the living room up a few steps, then across the stair landing and down a few steps into the kitchen. OR you could access the kitchen from the dining room.

This was also quite common in BIGGER, more stately homes so that the maid come use the back stairs. Sometimes the maid's quarters were on a higher floor, sometimes even the attic or a third floor.

R21, you can't think too much. In your case, this is obviously true.

R4 There was an informal room to the left in the Bewitched house. they showed it once, Darren used it was a home office.

The Bat Cave is a stretch.

LMAO

Many are quite normal.

There's a big difference between single camera sitcoms (e.g., Brady Bunch, The Middle, Modern Family) and multiple (three or four) camera sitcoms (e.g., I Love Lucy, MTM, most of Norman Lear's shows) which usually film or tape in front of a studio audience.

The staircase that appeared in the kitchen in the final seasons of BEWITCHED was the result of a fire on the set that destroyed the old kitchen set. The cast traveled to Salem, Mass. for several episodes while the kitchen was re-built.

The staircase was impossible to fit into the house as it was established. It would have run right through Darren's office. Only the first few stairs were real. The rest were an unconvincing backdrop. Presumably they added the stairs to get more use of out of the kitchen set, providing a new way to get characters in and out of it without always having to rely on the path through the dining room.

The home office/den was shown many times over the years on Bewitched not just once. It's pictured here on the left.

There is a museum of miniatures on Rt. 50 in Orlando, FL that has a wonderful scale model of Grace Brothers department store. It's about 4 blocks west of I-4. Check it out if you're on your way to or from Disney World.

Frasier's apartment never made sense until I saw I saw the floor plan. Now, it does make some sense. Love that apartment.

In Roseanne's house, how did you get down to the basement? Was there a stairwell in the back entranceway near the washer and dryer, or did you have to go outside to access the basement entrance?

r30 just as an FYI many bigger houses in the area of USC in LA have that "split baby" style staircase.

R26, I have lived in two houses that had such staircases; one built in the 1930s and one built in the 1940s. It is even more common in earlier houses. They are often referred to as a "servant's" staircase, but the truth is that the main staircase was often carpet with an expensive carpet for show and was rarely used. The heavy traffic went down the uncarpeted back stairs. Many of my older friends remember being punished for using the front stairs.

The problem is that the back staircase is often demolished to put in another bathroom or powder room.

My Grandmother's house in Connecticut had the back "servent's" stairwell and the front decorative stairwell. It was built between 1880 and 1920, I'd guess. It has those old electric light switches. There were always two "button" switches adjacent to each other, one for "off" and one for "on". It also had a dirt cellar. She rented rooms, like "Ma Bailey" in alternate-life "it's a wonderful life". Male boarders only, no guests after 9, and no female guests, ever. It probably had 20 or so rooms.

My folks had an 11 room house with the "split" stairwell. Probably built between 1900 and 1940. A large part of that house was entrances and hallways. There were six entrances, and six first floor hallways, though not grouped 1:1. I loved that house!

The Golden Girls house was never consistent or correct.

The first rule of sitcoms is don't have two actor do what can be done with only one actor. This is why similar characters are written off.

Second rule is don't sweat the details.

I like how big the Family Ties house must've been with five bedrooms upstairs.

Or how in the first year on the Partridge Family, Chris and Danny shared a room, then later on Danny had his own room.

The most realistic NY apartment was Welcome Back Kotter.

My folk's house also had a large front porch, a side porch, and small back porch, plus, a deck on top of the large front porch. If you count the entrance to the deck as an entrance, then there were seven entrances, not six

Just bragging, now. Ahh, and nostalgic!

That doesn't say much for NY R44. The entire set of WBK was depressing, drab and reeked of crowded, low wage, urban decay.

I thought Joey and Chandler's apartment on Friends wasn't completely unrealistic. The layout is pretty common in New York apartments, though the bedrooms were larger than normal.

What gets me is the doors on set that are never used, like the door at the bottom of the stairs on Roseanne.

They did however show that the door on the left wall in The Big Bang Theory is a closet... and they used the door to the right of the kitchen on Two and a Half Men at least once.

Does anyone remember when the Happy Days set changed with no explanation (and the oldest Cunningham kid disappeared)?

Split/back staircases.

Always found it interesting Samantha's house on Bewitched got a back staircase when the kitchen was redesigned/set rebuilt. My thoughts were "where does it go?"

"Such as when the family huddles around the dining room table, but leave one side, the camera side, unseated."

I always thought this was funny on I Love Lucy. They would squeeze tightly together when they were playing cards or eating, leaving an open chair in case, what, Mrs. Trumbull showed up unexpectedly and felt bad for putting someone out?

"It was more like a real apartment whereas the first place was just a studio and didn't even appear to have a bathroom."

Mary's bathroom was in the closet.

I always thought it was funny that Mary had a sunken living room. Who has a sunken living on the second or third floor?

On Golden Girls the table only had 3 chairs. The odd time that the four girls were at the table together one of them was sitting on a high stool behind Dorothy. I guess they never ate dinner together at that table!

I always loved the sunny scenes outside the windows (which were done just using paintings behind the windows).

What about on Good Times? In their kitchen, they had a door which was never opened. Was it a closet, a fire escape door, or a portal out of the ghetto?

I liked how on the Dick Dyke Show where ever they would sing (if it wasn't a stage) everyone would be in BACK watching Rob, Laura, Buddy and Sally's behind side.

I have had studios in Chicago similar to Mary that they have huge walk in closets and the bathroom is in there. In fact, the walk in closet is large enough for a twin bed.

I agree the tiny flat on Welcome Back Kotter was realistic.

Mary Tyler Moore's building had to have at least four floors. There was Mary's flat, Rhoda above her, there was a big flat below her, (The one Ted was going to move into) and the one Phyllis had.

Contrary to popular opinion, Phyllis was not Mary's landlord. She only managed the building to save on rent.

Remember when the architect was sketching the building and he tells Mary and Rhoda that he wasn't aware there was a floor above Mary's flat.

And Rhoda says "There isn't, but I live there anyway."

Sitcom interiors are unrealistic because they don't show people kicking nuts under the fridge.

How many apartments are in Ethel's Building. The building is Ethel's not Fred's.

In the beginning we see Mrs Trumbull lives above Lucy and Ethel lives right below her. So that is three flats.

Then we find Lucy switches with the lady downstairs to get a bigger apartment.

So now Lucy is on the same floor as Ethel. So that is at least four apartments.

Then we see a few times there is another apartment on that same floor that is vacant. (Example: The George Reeves Superman episode). So that is a fifth apartment.

Then in the episode where Lucy and Ethel argue over a washing machine, the Ricardos sold the Mertzes, we see them on a balcony in back. The washing machine falls over the ledge, so the floor the Ricardos are on must be at least the 2nd floor, indicating more apartments below.

How many apartments are in Ethel's Building. The building is Ethel's not Fred's.

In the beginning we see Mrs Trumbull lives above Lucy and Ethel lives right below her. So that is three flats.

Then we find Lucy switches with the lady downstairs to get a bigger apartment.

So now Lucy is on the same floor as Ethel. So that is at least four apartments.

Then we see a few times there is another apartment on that same floor that is vacant. (Example: The George Reeves Superman episode). So that is a fifth apartment.

Then in the episode where Lucy and Ethel argue over a washing machine, the Ricardos sold the Mertzes, we see them on a balcony in back. The washing machine falls over the ledge, so the floor the Ricardos are on must be at least the 2nd floor, indicating more apartments below.

How many apartments are in Ethel's Building. The building is Ethel's not Fred's.

In the beginning we see Mrs Trumbull lives above Lucy and Ethel lives right below her. So that is three flats.

Then we find Lucy switches with the lady downstairs to get a bigger apartment.

So now Lucy is on the same floor as Ethel. So that is at least four apartments.

Then we see a few times there is another apartment on that same floor that is vacant. (Example: The George Reeves Superman episode). So that is a fifth apartment.

Then in the episode where Lucy and Ethel argue over a washing machine, the Ricardos sold the Mertzes, we see them on a balcony in back. The washing machine falls over the ledge, so the floor the Ricardos are on must be at least the 2nd floor, indicating more apartments below.

Full House is my all time fave rave show. I love their house too.

1. They have to be open so the studio audience can see and big enough to fit the lighting and cameras etc.

2. Working class, poor, and lower middle class interiors are so small and depressing they cannot be shown on TV or in movies. There wouldn't be any comedy and the corporations that own television and film production do not want to incite class-consciousness that will lead to revolution.

How many apartments are in Ethel's Building?

R58 R59 R60

We've had sufficient.

On the episode with the lady burger, I think it was Madame X. I think there are at the very least 20 apartments.

r63

Obviously he meant Ethel's apartment house.

I always felt sorry for Alice. They have that huge living room, Mike has his private den, the kids have the family room past the kitchen. But Alice is shoved off in a room off the kitchen that most would use as a broom closet.

[quote]the lady burger

Is this anything like lady ham?

Or is it just made from beef curtains?

I could never work out how the Golden Girls house managed to fit 3 ginormous bedrooms into such a small place. Only Sophia's room was small. Rose's room was massive, but would have spilled out on to the lanai.

What's especially funny on I Love Lucy is that when they start the trip to California, they show an exterior of the building and it looks like a normal New York "family" brownstone. I lived in one of these for a few years on the Upper West Side and it had four floors. Judging by the size of the Ricardo's apartment, there could only be a max of four families living there, unless the Mertzes cut up Mrs. Trumbull's floor and made smaller apartments.

What about 'The Middle'? Is that realistic?

And when they do show affluent people are they more realistic then?

R61 I loved the house, but the layout was impossible. The 2-story living room makes it impossible for the 4 upstairs bedrooms in footprint they should. And where was Danny's bedroom supposed to be? In one episode, the fireplace in his room shared a chimney with the living room; the house want tall enough for a third floor, plus the massive attic.

I did like that they had the parking in the rear of the house, because that's realistic for row houses.

You just KNOW that Ricky was screwing Grace Foster.

If the I Love Lucy building is a dumbbell tenement, there would be four apartments per floor, if it was broken up in the usual manner. From what we see of Ethel and Fred's apartment, it does seem to be a dumbbell tenement. However, a tenement would never have a window in the LR wall as Lucy's apartment did. The windows were only on the two ends.

One thing that was ridiculous was that Mary Tyler Moore's building had a full time doorman. Possibly a 24-hour doorman. For 4 or 5 units?

The furniture on "Roseanne" was purposefully bought at Sears to get the correct working class interior.

[quote]One thing that was ridiculous was that Mary Tyler Moore's building had a full time doorman.

Are you thinking of Carlton the Doorman? That was a different show.

R78, yes, I was. What show was that?

Oh, I I found it. Carlton was the doorman on Rhoda's spin-off show.

OP, imagine trying to decorate and arranging furniture in your house so that nothing was on or against one wall in each of your rooms, but everything in each room had be focused/facing that one blank wall.

Right, R77. Apparently the wardrobe supervisor bought all of their costumes (which they re-wore throughout the seasons) at Sears, too. God I love that show.

Is the "Roseanne" house believable for that area?

It's not a pretty place, but it's got at least three bedrooms and a basement and yard space. Could a sporadically employed working-class couple have afforded that place, back in the eighties?

On another thread, we went over the apartments on "The Big Bang Theory". We concluded that the Sheldon/Leonard apartment was quite reasonable, considering the area and their probable salaries, and that even though Penny's place is smaller there's no way she could afford it on a waitress's salary.

It just seems out of character for someone like Penny to overspend on an apartment. Wouldn't a girl with her ambitions want to spend every possible cent on looking like the star she hopes to become, and to share someplace cheaper with a roomie? Because her apartment isn't big, but I like the spacious living room and hardwood floors.

The Kramden's apartment on the Honeymooners was entirely realistic.

King of Queens seemed consistent. It was one of the few that seemed aligned in different scenes.

Full House is the one that I always noticed was unrealistic. The interior is way bigger than any of the real houses it is modeled on. I still loved it though.

Full House? Didn't they add-on to the attic so Uncle J could continue to entertain his sick obsession with Michelle? And they had that one fat guy sleeping on a window seat.

r83 -- I think the Conner family could well have afforded that house, particularly since it often was mentioned that Lanford was depressed, there were few jobs, and Roseanne was torn between wanting her daughters to get out while wanting them still to be near her.

I thought that interior was one of the best ever on TV. Much of the furniture was matched, but it was 20 years old at least, covered in an ugly plaid. One chair seemed to have been bought or obtained at a different time. The handmade afghan on the couch was perfect. Sometimes there were toys or laundry on the stairs waiting to be carried up. Homework or TV remotes on the coffee table.

The kitchen had those old glass jalousie louvers in the window over the sink, the kind you open with a crank, and the window didn't open onto the yard, but onto a crappy laundry porch that looked like it had been built on by Dan.

I also remember how different it was that the characters frequently wore the same clothes in different episodes, like real people, and how infrequently you see that on any other sitcom.

"I also remember how different it was that the characters frequently wore the same clothes in different episodes, like real people, and how infrequently you see that on any other sitcom."

June Cleaver always wore the same strand of pearls when she vacuumed on Leave It To Beaver.

[quote]Why are sitcom interiors so often unrealistic?

Because we WANT unreality,glamour,fantasy, and ESCAPISM!

Most people live in drab,cramped,poorly decorated shacks...let them have just a little color and magic in their uninspired,hum drum little lives.

Television producers understand this.

Maude's house floor plan didn't really fit the exterior shot. The big front living room and dining room made sense, but the exterior had no place for the study or the den off the living room. That always bugged me. And Maude's living room had to be two-story room to show that staircase going all the way up to the second floor.

The All in the Family interior floor plan was consistent but they always seemed to have a front porch when the the exterior shot showed a house with no front porch and just a stoop.

I don't think the Norman Lear shows gave a lot of thought to set continuity.

Walls on TV sets are rarely ever white because it causes too much glare. It's difficult to light it. For one example, the Friends apartment was periwinkle/lavender. Gag!

Of course there are exceptions, but that's why costume and wardrobe rarely uses pure white. Really just about anyone on television.

Vera's apartment on Alice was realistic for a waitress. Just one room with a bunk-bed and a closet underneath the bunk.

R17, I just watched a "Frasier" where Niles closes the window in Frasier's bedroom. It faced the same direction as the balcony.

Roseanne's house was pretty accurate for the family's socioeconomic class, one of the very few instances that a TV show ever got it right.

R26, might depend on the locale. My late in-laws lived in a center-city row-home, and they had a staircase in the front room and one in the back kitchen.

The Friends apartment was absolutely ridiculous for NYC. Yes I know Monica inherited it from her grandmother, but unless her grandmother was a Standard Oil heiress is made no sense.

"I don't think the Norman Lear shows gave a lot of thought to set continuity."

The funny thing about All In The Family, Lear spent so much money filming the pilot that he didn't have enough left to shoot opening/closing credits. So he just attached a camera to a car and filmed that sweep of the block. Then he just put Archie and Edith in front of a piano and shot them singing.

I guess it worked so well he just used the same idea for Maude of the car driving along. The thing I hate about Maude is at the end when Bea Arthur opens the door. It looks so stupid.

[quote]The thing I hate about Maude is at the end when Bea Arthur opens the door. It looks so stupid.

Well, hello!

"The Friends apartment was absolutely ridiculous for NYC. Yes I know Monica inherited it from her grandmother, but unless her grandmother was a Standard Oil heiress is made no sense."

No I think that was fairly realistic. I have a friend who came to NYC in the 1960s. She got a "6 rooms river view" apartment in the West 90s when the neighborhood wasn't so good. Now she lives like a queen in a fabulous apartment. Her landlord has offered her $100,000 to move.

The thing I question about Monica's apartment is the terrace. (She does have a terrace, right?) I'm going on the assumption they live in the West Village. I've never seen terrace buildings in the older West Village buildings. I've seen them on the Upper East Side (a former boss used to have one in the East 70s). But Monica's apartment does make sense as far as space.

They're unrealistic because the interior is in a SITCOM, and sitcoms have nothing to do with reality.

Will's apartment on Will & Grace made no sense. There was an apartment door on the left when walking out of Will's apartment. But he has a powder room/bathroom and his bedroom on that side.

I did love Will's apartment, though. The kitchenette and terrace were to die for. I also liked the TV room/den with the French doors.

Why did Will and Grace live together? They were both successful professionals who made very good money, they easily could have afforded their own apartments.

"Why did Will and Grace live together?"

Because every straight woman's fantasy is to have a gay man living with her.

R104, Grace broke up with her fiance, Danny, and had no where to live when she moved out. That was the pilot. At one point she did move out but Will couldn't live with Jack and his "lover of the moment" and other eccentricities.

Grace moved across the hall to a studio (ugh, tiny doesn't BEGIN to describe it) but moved back in with Will and Jack moved across the hall.

Now apartments are fairly realistic. Mindy Project, New Girl, Modern Family, blackish, Parks and Rec, Community- all these show have/had people living in realistic abodes.

Growing up, I could never comprehend those Midwestern monstrosities that The Cleavers and Father Knows Bests lived in. The Ricardos just about mirrored my railroad apartment except there were two more bedrooms between the living room and the "front" room.

What about Brenda's apartment on Rhoda? Or the parents place in The Bronx?

Kate and Allie's flat was cool, but I never could work the layout. The living room was obviously a garden apartment. Half above ground, half below. Then K&A had their own private basement and top floor?

The huge thing only cost $800/month? I know Greenwich Village in the 80s was upcoming but it seemed huge.

"What about Brenda's apartment on Rhoda? Or the parents place in The Bronx?"

I think both of those looked realistic. Brenda's was a typical studio apartment. The parent's place seemed realistic to me. A typical living room, dining room, kitchen and two bedrooms.

What about Chez Costanza (the parents' house)--was that in the Bronx or Queens?

It seems like the house in Mike & Molly is exactly the same layout as King of Queens. In King of Queens how realistic is it that a fat, dim and poor delivery driver can A: afford that house, B: get a good looking thin wife.

And then there's the fabulous real-life TV show interior on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

I agree

r86

Except for the part of the house where Carrie's sister went and never returned.

r13

This is true

[quote]or Jerry Seinfeld's place. Even HIS place would be at least two to three thousand dollars, probably even in the 90's

Not really, Jerry's flat was small and it was upper West Side in the late 80s. Seinfeld debuted in 1989. Jerry's flat was rent controlled at $400 which is not a lot but then you had to "bribe" the supers to get it at that price.

[quote]The most realistic NY apartment was Welcome Back Kotter.

That show was so depressing to me. I was a white, middle class suburban kid in Houston and I’d never seen urban decay like that. The school, graffitied train in the credits, the slum-like apartments. What part of NY was that supposed to be?

[quote]Does anyone remember when the Happy Days set changed with no explanation

It was not explained in the show, but it was changed to better accommodate the live studio audience. Garry Marshall did this with the second season of the Odd Couple too, when it went to a live audience.

[quote]I always thought it was funny that Mary had a sunken living room. Who has a sunken living on the second or third floor?

I know of an apt like this in Chicago and it's not that the room is sunken it's the other parts are built up. The ceilings are 11 feet high, so you can build up the other areas with a false floor. I don't live in that building but my apt has 11 foot ceilings too.

R113 The hubby was supposed to be a UPS/ FedEx driver. They make good money. Plus I thought the house was a row home, nothing super impressive. R119 Totally agree about WBK having a depressing set. Barney Miller did too. Everything was dingy and dirty and dark.

RE: King of Queens - never understood the huge layout on the ground floor, but only 2 smallish bedrooms and 1 bathroom on the second floor. A house in that area of Queens (Middle Village area) would have had at least 3 bedrooms still with the 1 bathroom.

Agreed, the “Friends” apartments were entirely ridiculous in size, layout, and even as rent controlled, marginally employed chef and waitress could afford it (Chandler covered joey’s rent).

My two favorite NYC apartments from TV were the original one from “The Odd Couple” and Uncle Bill’s penthouse from “Family Affair”.

There doesn’t seem to be much logic to Lucy Ricardo’s Connecticut house either.

R122 Yes! Agree about Family Affair and The Odd Couple! I felt like those apartments were my relatives' homes. I also felt that way about the sunny and cheerful Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeannie houses.

[quote] The living room and kitchen are always separated by walls

And by doors too, as in the case of All in the Family.

Was AitF the first show to have a staircase in the middle of the living room?

[quote] What part of NY was that supposed to be?

You poor, illiterate slob.

It only shows a WELCOME TO BROOKLYN sign in the very first nanosecond of the shows opening credits.

Ah, yes, R126. Having the opening to Welcome Back, Kotter memorized is the very height of literary sophistication.

You tease him a lot, but you've got him on the spot, right R126 & R127?

[quote] Having the opening to Welcome Back Kotter memorized is ref height of sophistication

Sounds like. R119 is the one who memorized it

[quote] I was a class suburban kid in Houston and I’d never seen urban decay like that. [bold] The school, graffitied train in the credits, the slum-like apartments. What part of NY was that supposed to be? [/bold]

Here is the lopening scene of the TV show.

R113 What was so fancy about the KofQ's house that a delivery driver couldn't afford it. It was pretty ordinary and middle class looking.

All In The Family-that interior looked like a realistic portrayal of a lower middle class house.

R126, R127 has it. I do not have WBK memorized but I got a laugh at your post insinuating people had a crappy sitcom from decades ago memorized.

Oh shut up

On Alice, if I remember correctly, she and Tommy lived in a 1-bedroom apartment, with Tommy getting the bedroom and Alice sleeping on a foldout couch.

The apartment was relatively claustrophobic, with a galley kitchen. Good thing Alice wasn't a whore, as that set-up made it hard to throw a fuck with your kid in the next room.