I believe the "logic" behind Rachel and Monica having such a sweet apartment when they're broke is that the apartment was Monica's grandmother's and it's rent controlled. In the first or second season Monica mentions that the landlord still thinks the grandmother lives there, so "If anyone asks, I'm a 72 year old woman with bunions" - that's not the exact quote, but it's something like that.

Carrie Bradshaw's paycheck to lifestyle ratio always bugged me just a little bit but I choose to ignore it for love of the show

i think that TV shows are very misleading sometimes. we know that carrie had a rent stabilized apartment and that's how she was able to afford it - especially if she had her column that was a weekly feature in the paper as well as getting paid to write for vogue.

as for monica and rachel - they were just really really lucky that they had that apt from monica's aunt cause there's NO WAY that anyone could afford that place and be just a waitress.

suziryder, you took the words right out of my mouth! I was just thinking the same thing about Friends. I don't know if that explains it as I know nothing about rent in New York.

It's good that they at least TRIED to provide a reasonable explanation.

It's funny that that article starts off talking about Entourage because that show addresses their money situation quite often. When Vince lands a huge movie with a big paycheck, they buy a huge house. And now that Vince's career is in the toilet they've had their cars repossessed and they all moved in with Drama.

Yeah, it definitely seems like they always explain big NYC apartments as rent-controlled. Remember when Carrie's building was going to turn into a co-op and she tried to find another apartment? Everything in her price range was a complete dump! What I never understood about Friends was how come Monica and rachel's apartment was enormous when Joey and Chandlers was so tiny? They were right across the hall! Maybe it's different in New York but here on the west coast, apartment sizes are more standardized.

i would always think that carrie couldnt afford all that in real life. like she wears so much designer stuff and her appartment is awesome, it doesnt make sense.

On How I Met Your Mother--- Lily is a kindergarden teacher for the NYC Department of Education and can afford to have her own apartment in Manhattan--not because she uses it at all, but like fat pants, she says it's good just to know it's there just in case.

Now I too am a New York City Department of Education teacher.... and I can barely afford my itty bitty Brooklyn studio apartment.

So that's just not fair.

If Hollywood depicted "real" apartments commiserate with salaries, it would be pretty bleak television. Especially when we're talking about NYC. Real estate is at a premium in NYC and you just can't afford giant, sprawling flats on even a decent salary let alone that of the average person. In real life, you've got a one bedroom and three roommates and are still scraping enough together to eat. Of course you'll be living in the best city in the world with literally anything at your fingertips, as well as a plethora of freebies, so IMO it totally makes up for it!

suziryder, you are absolutely right. Monica & Rachel's apartment was owned by Monica's grandmother and it was rent-controlled. Not to mention, Monica was a pretty successful chef (at least later in the seasons) and the apartment was on the top of a five floor walk-up (which is pretty much the cheapest type of apartment you can get in Greenwich Village, from what I heard).

Carrie's apartment in Sex and the City was rent-controlled as well, at least for the first few seasons, and I think she started renting it many years before the show started. Although it is surprising that she was able to afford so many designer clothes until she started working for Vogue.

I find it surprising that Ned would only make $21,000 a year. Wouldn't he make more since he owns the restaurant? He doesn't just make pies.

Yeah, you don't get that much if you're a columnist.

And yay for Ned! In that case his gift is really handy.

I own all 10 seasons of Friends and watch the show religiously and never picked that piece of info up! Thanks! All makes sense now.

I've always found Carrie and Rachel to be the most unbelievable. Their apartments were amazing, Carrie had about a billion dollars worth of shoes...it just didn't make much sense.

I just thought that Carrie charged everything on credit cards. She made references to being broke multiple times. It didn't make sense how she always had the hot new thing but remember she was always looking for a way to make extra money ie Vogue. Plus she published a book that was a big seller so she probably/maybe made good money off of that. Miranda and Samantha would probably been able to live the way they did with their incomes.

The Friends apartment thing was always odd to me, though I loved it. Joey is stressing about the cable being turned off and its like, your rent is 3200 a month, you are worried about 100.00?

And when they swapped apartments, wouldn't the guys kinda ask about how much a month more this apartment is than theirs? I mean the response was just "yay, we got the big apartment!"

Oh well, it's tv.

There is just NO way that Carrie could have afforded her lifestyle.
By the last season she was wearing Couture Dior. Even if she worked for Vogue you cant afford to wear couture everyday.

As for Friends that was the most onrealistic shows. I mean they all lived in New York and not one of them had an accent. There were no african americans or JEWISH people in the show.

It's all fluff/fantasy.

xo

HotBlonde, actually, Ross is Jewish. There are several episodes where it's mentioned, such as when Ross tries to teach his son about Hanukkah by dressing up as the Holiday Armadillo.

popcorn - in HIMYM, i always assumed lily more or less lived off of marshall, who's a lawyer (although he was jobless for a bit). plus, isn't ted their roommate? also, they say they live on the upper west side, and apartments like that are more or less feasible, if you go above the 100's. anyway, i got confused when they bought that apartment (i missed some eps in the middle). that's what makes no sense to me, because the apartment they got would easily cost in the $300k range, and there's no way the two of them could have scraped up the downpayment for that. ah, tv land!

everyone here's enumerated exactly the reasons i disliked friends. it was the most unrealistic show about new york!

oh, and a 2 br on a 5th floor walkup in the village (which is where i lived, actually) would be significantly tinier than any of their apartments, and let's say by some magic there was a place that big, it would be well into the $3,000s or more.

Evidently I'm not alone in having thought about the Carrie thing before. But I'm an optimist and like to think she could have done it! So I'm going to try to defend this.

Her apartment was rent controlled, and all the furniture and furnishings looked like post college stuff. Did she even have a tv? Think about it...
-no couch, no living room set, not even a throw pillow
-no dining room table
-no extra furniture (except the aiden chair, which she got a "designer discount") that was the only furniture she ever bought
-no big new bed and bedroom set
-VERY basic bedding. Sheets and a quilt.
-no car payment/no gas
-no cell phone bill until the last season
-and I'm thinking no cable bill either

Her apartment was bare because she poured it all into her closet. The girls went out a lot, but four hot girls at a bar? In real life they would have never had to pay for many drinks. And Samantha was invited and on guest lists for things and big parties and promotional things so they probably had opportunities for free food/drinks and such.

And through out I'm sure the boys picked up the tab. Big would have always paid for all those dinners at nice restaurants, Petrovsky gave her an Oscar dela Renta dress after she just pointed it out in Vogue. Petrovsky flew her to paris, paid for the hotel, and paid for her place back home while she was gone.

I believe in the dream! haha. I know it's stretching it but I like to believe she could have done it. As a broke college student, I have a few luxury items that I have no business of owning except for coupons, credit card discounts from stores, and outlet shopping at Nordstroms Rack and Off 5th. It might surprise you but if you look hard enough you can find designer things at a fraction of the cost.

So I have faith! whether or not she could have done it in reality, I do like to believe she could have afforded it. And as other people mentioned the books would definitely have helped the income. I don't remember how much her advance check was for the first check when she was with Burger or if they said how much it was for...But the movie made it seem like all of the books were very successful.

That is my hopeful rant. I like to think she did it!

and PS- she got "four dollars a word at vogue. That's a lot, most people get two!"

The thing about Carrie Bradshaw is she lived on Credit Card!!!!!! Dangerous and it did bite her arse. Not all shows are miss guided.

Remember Charmed it showed trying to balance books and being responsible.

It is fun to think about. However I love Roseanne, where the characters actually really struggle with money, and their clothes, attitude, and lifestyle reflects this!

hotblonde, Ross and Monica ar jewish, well not technicaly, as their mom is not, but they're dad is... And Ross and his dad actors are actually the most jewish people you could get. there were black people, for exemple Charlie the hot scientist chick...

HotBlonde - Ross and Monica are Jewish, as Allytta stated above ^, and there were a few black guest stars. I do think TV casts should reflect all races, but I think that if there was one black person or one Jewish person in a cast, the show would be ridiculed for just sticking in a token black person to make the cast seem more "well-rounded." I definitely think that all races should be represented though.