this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2025
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Total lie (lazysoci.al)
submitted 15 hours ago by LadyButterfly@lazysoci.al to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[–] RizzoTheSmall@lemm.ee 152 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

The expectation that you could get an apartment that size in central NYC without being a billionaire is also a lie

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 hours ago

It actually addresses this. Chandler was in a high paying job and lived below his means. And Monica’s (much larger, much nicer) apartment was rent controlled; The apartment complex still had her grandmother on the lease from the 1960’s, so Monica was essentially only paying a small increase in 1960’s rent.

That rent control was the topic of one episode, where Joey yells at the maintenance guy. In response, the maintenance guy threatens to tell the landlord about Monica’s grandmother being dead, meaning Monica would need to start paying full price for the apartment. Monica can’t afford the rent, so Joey has to do a favor for the maintenance guy and get back into his good graces.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 25 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Some of that is due to the realities of filming in a stage made to look like an apartment as you need the space for the camera crew to fit. This everyone lives in massive places.

[–] Underwire@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

That's completely not the reason. How other shows manage to show small apartments and poor people houses?

Showing regular people living in big apartment is more appealing to the public. Shows from the 70s or before were more realistic. Mary Tyler Moore was living in a small apartment and sleeping in the sofa despite having a regular job. In All in the family, they were financially struggling especially because of the 70s inflation. Lucy and her husband were living in a small apartment.

Things did change in the 80s and we started seeing families living in big houses with cars. Even Roseanne who normally depicted a working class family was living in a big house and could afford many things.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

you think you know better than someone who worked on tv in NYC at that time?

Mary Tyler Moore's show never had the expectation of holding six or more people in the same room like friends.

All in the family took place in a house. Im not sure how you miss this. It's in the credits.

Lucy and her Husband never had more than a handful of people on screen at once. They dont need the space Friends does.

Friends needs a space for the main cast plus partners and that requires a larger space plus the ability to fit crew which requires large places. The bit about rent control makes perfect sense if you have experience with NYC real-estate.

[–] Underwire@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

There were many episodes where there were more than 6 people in I Love Lucy. I mentioned All in the Family because it was realistic and was showing people financially struggling even with two jobs. They lived in a house but it was small with one bathroom.

Even Seinfeld had a small apartment. Many other shows manage to show people living in small apartments. And even with rent control, it isn't realistic at all.

So that is clearly not the real reason.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Again their living room had to fit six or more. There are episodes where they have six people in Lucy’s house but rarely is it more than four or five.

Seinfeld had 4 main cast and they rarely had anyone else in their places other than the main 4. No one needed to fit a dozen people in a room.

Were you renting living space in NYC in 1994? I was.

Do you know anyone with a ridiculous place because of rent control policies? I know several. Everything about the show makes sense within the context of the time once you realize that eight or so people need to fit on the stage in many scenes

[–] Underwire@lemmy.world -1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

So writers are like "we will write a sitcom about this poor family of 10. Let's give them a big house to fit them all". That is ridiculous.

I won't continue debating with you. I am amazed at how are you trying to justify everything about the show. Actually you are like the ones I saw on the fan sub on Reddit.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

They were like "How can we justify them having the place we know we need them to have?" and worked from there.

I know a guy living on Central Park West with 2000 sq ft two floor apartment with park views that was paying less than what I paid for 1k sq ft in the middle of Queens. That's a nicer place in a better area than Friends had for less than 3k a month thirty years after the show all because of rent control.

We know they all came from money except Joey and Phoebe. They could also be getting money from family.

[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 7 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Never thought about this, that a really good input, thanks

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 8 points 9 hours ago

NP,I was told the same thing by a camera guy back in the late 1990s about this exact show.

[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 46 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I quite like the way How I Met Your Mother handles this - the size of the apartments is the narrator misremembering. There's an episode where the characters have been viewing a house in New Jersey - they return to the apartment and it's portrayed as the size it realistically would be.

[–] faintwhenfree@lemmus.org 77 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (3 children)

I think they explained it, the reason they could afford it was because Monica's grandmother lived there, and they've been paying 1950s rent because of rent control or something. Something similar for phoebe as well. Anyway show never explains how joey/chandler/Ross can afford those big houses.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 9 hours ago

Also worth remembering that except for Phoebe. All the characters on the show grew up upper class. Like top 5% upper class.

Also Phoebe lived with her grandmother in a small apartment until her grandmother died and she got roomamates.

[–] utnapishtim@sh.itjust.works 43 points 14 hours ago

Hi, Chandler and joey'flat is not that big, it was actually the joke between characters often and Chandler had a good job anyway. Ross was good with money and his parents favourite so I think he got more money from them.