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I am sick of seeing the rich and powerful on my screen. Where are all the TV shows about normal people?
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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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.
Raising Hope was great, especially the first couple seasons.
The wonder years?
Skills issue.
If we redistributed all excess wealth perpetually they wouldn't exist anymore and we would stop treating them like kings and gods.
Then we'd find another way to identify the top of the social heirarchy and watch shows about them
It would be about the smart people who forward the human race and they would get credit for it.
Normal people are boring. I want to watch TV shows about wizards.
But not the kkk wizards. And if so, be Rick and Morty chopping them into little pieces like the trash they are.
I'd be down to watch a dark comedy about kkk wizards.
Bob's burgers.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
Watch Andor, if you wanna see ordinary people fight the power
Bob <3 (hearts) Abishola
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.
Shameless was a great show (the US version). It was very much a show about the working class.
and all copaganda shows, and military propaganda
It is kinda bonkers how much of TV watched is copaganda
the military forum site reported thier recruitment were significantly boosted after years of low qouta rates, after top gun maverick was released in theathers, and many shows like it. copaganda tries to paint cops in a "we are not all pigs" people. and many movies are allowed to use bases and military equipment if they paint them in a positive light.
early on in SG1s series, they used alot of AF materials, and even had a general as a guest on the show before. i think they partially moved away from that overtime.
i love SG1 but the propaganda aspect does get noticeably worse over the course of the show
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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.
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”.
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Shameless: "am I a fucking joke to you?"
Since the wealthy fund the shit, anything to do with the commoner is portrayed as trashy, just above literal refuse with regard to usefulness, while the wealthy are portrayed as the righteous and just, with money to fix all the problems they face and any moral failings related to them is the result of something outside their wealth.
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.
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.
Fuck that shit, I want to watch sci fi
im currently watching the orville, its perfect to just forget everything and be entertained in on a silly level
can recommend
I'm sooo hyped that it's coming back with another season! Just the show we need these days.
Nice! All hope was lost. That last season was some good stuff.
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Judge Judy, Hoarders, and Cops
I dunno if you’re being sarcastic here but wow, what a low opinion of normal people!
I cast no judgment but these shows are where you can find regular people and not professional actors.
Yes, it’s just that you’re often seeing a regular person on one of the worst days of their life, not a normal day. It gives a rather unkind impression to the viewer!
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