The 90s were a great time for television. One type of show that was super popular in the 90s were sitcoms. These beloved sitcoms such as Full House, Friends, and Blossom followed characters navigating through the daily challenges of their life. The goal was to show real people facing real challenges.
But that doesn't mean that these shows were completely realistic. One area that many of these shows portrayed inaccurately was the financial stability of their characters. And these are the 10 most financially unrealistic sitcom characters from the 90s.
Ellen
Ellen DeGeneres made history when she came out on her sitcom Ellen. While many fans were shocked by this, what they should have been shocked by was her fiances. The show takes place in Los Angeles, where Ellen lives with a roommate. In the first season Ellen works at a bookstore and is somehow able to save enough money to buy the bookstore in the second season.
During the course of the show, her roommate Adam moved out, and even with the missing help with rent, she was somehow able to purchase a house. It's highly unrealistic that someone working at a bookstore could afford an apartment and a business in LA.
The King Of Queens
Houses in Queens are very expensive. Somehow, the characters in The King of Queens were able to afford a very nice private house in Rego Park, one of the more expensive areas of Queens.
Doug was a parcel delivery person at a made up company fashioned after UPS, and Carrie was a secretary at a law firm. There is no way these two would have been able to buy that house in Queens.
Blossom
The television show Blossom mostly focuses on the experiences of the teenage title character, but her family never seems to be struggling financially. This is another family who lived in the expensive Los Angeles area.
With three children raised by a single father in an expensive area, he must have had a very good job to support them. So what was that job? Nick is a piano player frequently between jobs, taking gigs as he can. There is no way he'd be able to support his family under these conditions.
That 70s Show
That 70s Show primarily focuses on the Forman family. While this family does not have a lavish lifestyle and is depicted as a middle-class family in Wisconsin, there still isn't something right here. The two children, Eric and Laurie, live at home with their parents. Kitty, their mother, is nurse who seems to spend more time at home than at work.
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Red, the father, is a former vet and a retired factory worker. It's unclear how he could have retired so early in life. The family is constantly feeding all of Eric's friends and supporting Laurie's shopping habit. This just doesn't seem realistic for a family with only a nurses salary coming in.
Everybody Loves Raymond
In Everybody Loves Raymond, the Barones live in a 3 bedroom, two bathroom home in Lynbrook, NY, which is on Long Island. While Lynbrook is not as expensive as some other towns in Long Island (such as Merrick, where the real house is located), raising children on Long Island is still more expensive than many other places in the world.
While Ray makes his money by writing a sports column for Newsday, Debra stays home and raises their 3 children. Though Debra comes from a family with money, it is unlikely that the family is helping them out in any way. Ray would have to be making over $100,000 a year to support their lifestyle, and that just isn't likely.
Seinfeld
Kramer is a character on the hit show Seinfeld who is always coming up with crazy schemes. Though he lives in the same apartment building as Jerry in the Upper West Side, he doesn't have a steady job. The apartments in this building likely costed over $3,000 a month to rent.
The gang also goes out to eat or picks up take out very often, which is another added expense. It makes you wonder what Kramer was doing off screen to be able to afford his lifestyle.
Boy Meets World
Boy Meets World takes place in a suburb of Philadelphia. This family raises their three children in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. What is confusing about this family is Amy's career. The character is rarely shown working and is sometimes portrayed as a housewife.
However, her job seems to be inconsistent, and throughout the series she was said to work in real estate, as an art dealer, and as a stay-at-home mom. With her career up in the air and inconsistent, the family is forced to rely on Alan's salary as a grocery store manager. Yeah right.
Married With Children
How did the family from Married with Children survive? This family comprised of a mom, a dad, and 2 children lives in a suburb of Chicago. Peggy, Al's wife, refuses to work and spends money carelessly. She mocks Al for not making enough money to support her habits and it is said that she has put the family into financial debt many times.
Still, the family seems to have a lot for a 4 person family surviving on the salary of a shoe salesman. How is it that that house isn't taken away from them?
Full House
Full House is one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. The family lives in a gorgeous and spacious house in San Francisco, California. Their house features a large living room, a kitchen, a fully finished basement, an attic, 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Danny works as a local morning show host and it is this job that supports his family, which include 3 children and a dog.
Jesse and Joey also live in the house with them, and while they may be expected to contribute some financially, it's doubtful that their financial contributions make up for the extra cost they come with. Their main contribution to the household is in helping to care for the children, as Jesse is a struggling musician and Joey is a struggling comedian, with neither holding consistent and steady jobs. This family lives very comfortably, regularly having large parties for the children, paying for dance lessons, horseback riding, and going on family vacations. There is no way they could afford that lifestyle without a huge life insurance policy on Danny's former wife.
Friends
The quintessential example of "how did they afford that apartment?" is from the television show Friends. This group of friends lived in the West Village and were all relatively new in their careers with jobs, ranging from a waitress to a struggling actor.
While Monica supposedly took over her grandmother's rent controlled apartment, that still doesn't explain how Joey and Chandler would be able to afford their place across the hall.