I can think of several sitcoms that have this scenario, but I can't think of any where that's reversed. Why is that?
shareEventhough this show has a fat, unattractive husband with a "hot" wife (although I truly find her attractive), at least this show is more realistic than Married With Children. Yes, Al and Peggy Bundy weren't that attractive but unlike Peggy, Cheryl actually cleaned the house while Peggy accomplished that through watching TV and eating bon-bons all day. Sure, Jim was lazy at home, but he had a job, in an office and being a boss, that probably paid more than Al's dead-end minimum wage job. So, Jim is more likely to afford paying the mortgage for his own home than Al. Also, this show hasn't had much slapstick and cartoonish scenes unlike Married With Children in it's later years.
shareArn't TV sitcoms are mostly watched by men. That would be the most obvious answer. Guys want to look at attractive women. That's the reason you don't see fat cheerleaders at Pro Football games...or male cheerleaders.
shareSo true but at least Courtney Thorne-Smith is just not a pretty face. I mean she quite funny and expressive, and not anorexic.
shareprobably because it's a sitCOM (comedy)
Fat guys are considered funny. Fat women- not so much. Fat guy with a skinny beautiful wife = twice as funny.
sitcoms trade on stereotypes more than any other type of show. the fat (and loveable) funny guy is a pretty recognizable "type." and fits perfectly into the sitcome genre. Meanwhile overweight women are more likely to be considered pathetic. Pathetic women are not funny. Pathetic men, for some reason sometimes are.
also, women are ruthless. A heavyset women- god, a woman on tv with an extra 6 pounds, is going to get so much hatemail about her weight, she'll probably run away in tears. Some beautiful normal wieghted women have had very public issues w/ there weight, sometimes as a result of normal and healthy developemental changes during the growth process.
****these are not my opinions, just how I see it. I don't think fat women are pathetic, I just think that's how they are often viewed by our society.
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Amanda
http://groups.myspace.com/jonathanrandallfanclub
myspace.com/amanda_marr
I don't think fat women are pathetic, I just think that's how they are often viewed by our society.but then the question that begs to be asked: WHY are fat women considered more pathetic than fat men? just because of the patriarchal set up of our culture? share
Its just double standards in the entertainment world really
Average women dont stand a chance on TV. Even to be a housewife married to a fat slob you have gotta be hot
Hot or not, but I just hate this show, when Jim says Cheryl, Cheryl, Cheryl!
And the brother is awful, hanging around all the time.
Also they are mean to the kids, oh and the sister is annoying as hell!
I hate this sitcom, and no I just watched like two times, still hate it!
Most of the "pretty" females have been around.
So, they have to be content with who will take them.
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Maybe this doesn't count but in the british show Miranda the girl (Miranda Hart) is the funny but not so attractive one and the guy (Tom Ellis) she likes (who likes her back) is very handsome. And that show is a hit in the UK (or so I've read, don't live there). But it's really refreshing to see another perspective.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcyyoh9WDz1qzh4jho1_500.jpg
Also... I can kill you with my brain
simple always think money they're trying to attract the young male demographics
RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008
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http://www.avclub.com/article/why-has-time-forsaken-home-improvement-242973#comment-2914127384
Home Improvement spawned the equally predictable but much weirder "According to Jim," which had an oddly specific, pseudo-Shakespearean-romantic-comedy formula for every episode: Jim and his brother get into some hijinks and try to hide it from his hot wife and hot sister-in-law. BUT, hot wife and hot sister-in-law are fully aware that Jim is always getting up to shenanigans, so they engage in weird, psychological gamesmanship until Jim admits what he did and all is forgiven.share
It's like a sitcom version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," when you think about it.