I feel like there's an implicit suggestion that this is modern Americana but let's be honest:
Jay is not just a small business owner but a guy who owns an entire company of what seems like 20-40 employees? He owns his own pool and hot tub, membership at a local country club, and they take at least 2 or 3 international vacations a year. If he has another kid, he has no panic whatsoever about additional costs or anything.
And?
There's actually an explicit suggestion it's modern Americana ... isn't the word in the title of the show? On the other hand, I don't think there's even a tacit suggestion that the family is "ordinary." They're clearly unusual in various ways (Alex is extraordinarily intelligent, among other things).
Indeed - notwithstanding the fact people like to throw the concept around - I don't know what, if anything, would be the ordinary (or, to use concept even more often referred to and even more meaningless, "typical") American family.
Pluas: I don't think they've take 18, much less 27, international vacations. I'm counting a total of four, and that's counting Mexico as international, which it is, though it's hardly remarkable to go there. More remarkable than Canada, I suppose. I've probably forgotten at least one, but that's in the neighborhood.
Most of American television and movies focuses on the upper middle class and upper class.
When was the last time you saw a major network or movie studio have a main character or family that lives under the poverty line, despite the fact that 15 percent of Americans do.
Your post made me remember the Seinfeld episode when Elaine found out she was dating a poor guy when he invited her to his place - I think he was a squatter and they climbed up the fire escape to go in.
Back when movies provided an opportunity to escape from reality for an hour (like in the Depression), maybe people liked seeing "how the other half live".
And aren't there hundreds of billionaires in the world? And who knows how many millionaires!
The titular characters on 2 Broke Girls are supposedly impoverished despite substantial windfalls, numerous jobs, and the unbelievable scenario where the former rich one's former billionaire embezzling father didn't hide millions of dollars for her.
On My Name is Earl pretty much everyone is poor, though the titular character lives off of $100,000 in lottery winnings. On It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at least Charlie is under the poverty line. The Wilkersons (yes, that's the family's surname) on Malcolm in the Middle are pretty poor, though it's suggested that it's largely due to unwise spending habits and ongoing crushing debt. The Gallaghers on Shameless are definitely under the poverty line. Pretty sure The Pursuit of Happyness was about an impoverished father and son. The Hunger Games is about a largely impoverished and oppressed society.
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When was the last time you saw a major network or movie studio have a main character or family that lives under the poverty line, despite the fact that 15 percent of Americans do.
I think there might need to be a more explicit definition of poor.
Mike is a foreman at the quarry and Frankie has a job at the dental office.
They are definitely working class and paying for three kids( 2 in college) makes money tight......but I wouldn't characterize them as poor.
True.
Frankie's dental office job is quite recent as she was made little to no money as car saleswoman for at least several years plus she paid to go to school for her current job. Mike should be making at least 50K a year as the foreman/manager of a large quarry for at least 10 years, though he should also leave for work before the kids leave for school and work some Saturdays.
Axl went to college with a full football scholarship but I don't remember if he that changed since he was at least thinking about quitting football. The Hecks' biggest financial issues, aside from Sue's and maybe Axl's college expenses, are large credit card debt and wasteful spending related to their laziness & disorganization, such as late fees, food spoiling in the fridge, or getting take-out several times a week for the whole family instead of cooking meals at home for less money.
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I can think of three 21st century shows where the characters are poor, and coincidentally or not, all of them are FOX shows
There are various references to the Chance Family from Raising Hope (2010-2014) being poor.
The family from Malcolm in the Middle (2000-2006) had financial difficulties and four (later five) boys.
In a different vein, terrorists set of an electromagnetic pulse prior to the events of Dark Angel (2000-2002). As the opening narration tells us: "The US went to a third world country overnight."
_______
The sun is shining... but the ice is slippery.
"When was the last time you saw a major network or movie studio have a main character or family that lives under the poverty line...?"
Sanford and Son?
The Waltons?
Pretty sure the title was never meant to imply socioecomic status. Just that in these modern times, families are not as nuclear as they once were (appeared to be)
Multi-cultural, same-sex, adoption, ageism etc.
**~Not my circus, not my monkeys...~**
Yes. That's exactly the point of the show. Not the money, but the blend of people
shareJay is obviously fairly wealthy and the other two families are solidly upper-middle class.
What kinda annoys me is not that TV/movie families are typically upper-middle class, but that they're upper-middle class AND the mother and daughter look to be no more than 15-20 years apart in age. Actual upper-middle class people typically graduate from college and then wait another 5-10 years to marry and have kids. Mothers and daughters can obviously be 15 years apart in age, but those kind of families would definitely tend to be working-class or poor. However, it's generally a law in television that families have to be upper-middle class AND both the mothers and teen daughters have to be "hot". That doesn't happen so much in real life.
But Claire and Haley are not as bad as, say, "The Gilmore Girls" or Lucy Hale and Holly-Marie Combs being passed off as "mother" and "daughter" in "Pretty Little Liars". That looks like the casting you'd expect in a 70's porno movie.
"Let be be finale of seem/ The only emperor is the Emperor of Ice Cream"
I think your problem mostly has to do with the fact that in Hollywood, most actresses in their 40s still look really good.
shareIt's called "Modern Family" not "Average Family".
shareMarried With Children is about a working class family.
King of Queens is about working class characters.
Everybody Loves Raymond is about a regular middle class family.
Yes, Modern Family, as in, they all (or many) of the components of a "modern family"
A divorce , a psycho ex-wife, a mixed marriage, extreme age gap couple.
Gays, smart kids, dumb kids, over bearing wife
All their missing is a drug addict, and a criminal
I'm sorry, are you under the impression that this show is called Ordinary Family?
There's absolutely no suggestion, overt or implicit, that this is how the average American family lives. If anyone thinks that, they are mentally challenged.
The characters are middle class, with Jay being upper middle, and Phil approaching that, selling high end real estate. Mitch is a lawyer but is not in a first class law firm.
They are not struggling financially, because the writers don't want the show to be about people who are just making it. We have had plenty of shows where lack of money was part of the show, and this isn't supposed to be that way.
Gee Woodle, Space Kadoodle!