Sitcom Syndrome

I came to a revelation the other day while watching my new favorite show, How I Met Your Mother. Now, before I explain my revelation I am curious to know, does anybody else grow tired of being perpetually broke, feeling like they are accomplishing absolutely nothing in their life, and grow envious of those that look like they have it all figured out? Well, I hit that point and that is where my revelation comes from.

Think about your favorite sitcoms. Whether it be Full House, Family Matters, Friends, or even HIMYM. These are families that seemingly have absolutely no real problems. For illustrative purposes I am going to focus on Friends and HIMYM.

HIMYM focuses on 5 friends: Ted, Robin, Lilly, Marshall, and Barney. Ted is a struggling architect/college professor, Robin is the host of an EARLY morning tv show, Lilly teaches Kindergarten, Marshall is a lawyer, and Barney...well nobody actually knows what Barney really does but he works at a bank. Ok, now that we have the characters established let's discuss where they live. Marshall and Lilly are married and have an incredible apartment in the city and before that they lived with Ted in his equally incredible apartment. Robin had her own little apartment (still nice considering the area) but she has since moved in with Ted. Barney has an enormous apartment that has two wall to wall TVs and numerous other luxury items. With the exception of Barney and Marshall NONE OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE ANY BUSINESS LIVING THE WAY THEY DO! Ted is a struggling architect and a professor, for him to live where he does and to be able to go out to MacLaren's Pub seemingly every night is absolutely impossible. Some of the nicest apartments in Atlanta for a few thousand a month in rent alone. How in the world can Ted afford that? He can't be making that much!

Robin's situation is a little tricky. Yes she is on TV but it is a show that airs at 4AM that nobody watches. I can't imagine she makes that much but the entertainment industry likes to throw money around so whoevenknows.

Lilly is by far the least likely person to actually live the way she does on the show. Unless Marshall has been supporting her since the shows beginning (which is unlikely because he was a law student in the beginning) Lilly couldn't possibly afford her lifestyle on a Kindergarten teacher's salary.

So herein lies the dilema, I watch this show and can relate to the characters because we are pretty close in age and some of our struggles are the same but these people never worry about cashflow. I am debating on whether I eat lunch today or not and these folks are buying ten year old scotch and martinis every day of the week. It isn't fair! I want to be at MacLaren's every night with my friends but I can't, I have bills. TV sitcoms, you make my life miserable.

I could rant about Friends too but I think you all know how that would go. Just look at Ross. He is a college professor (I can't remember if he has a doctorate or not) yet the guy can afford to travel to London at the drop of a hat, go through multiple weddings, and support two children. I don't think so.