FX
The more we watch (or rewatch) iconic sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld, the more invested we become in the characters – and we’d be lying if we said we’ve never envied their seemingly perfect lifestyles. But how realistic are these lifestyles?
To find out, the fine folks over at Joybird recently analyzed the hypothetical salaries, rents, and monthly living expenses of some of our most beloved TV characters to determine how many could actually afford the lifestyle they portray on television.
Here are some of the more interesting takeaways from their analysis of characters from TV shows like How I Met Your Mother, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, New Girl, Stranger Things, and more…
• Of the 30 characters analyzed, 60% could not afford their TV lifestyles.
• Spoiler alert: Friends may not be the most accurate depiction of life in the Big Apple. Ross and Chandler are the only friends that could actually afford those amazing apartments.
• Olivia Pope may be able to handle any crisis, but you don’t want her handling your finances. Her lifestyle was deemed the third most unrealistic of all of characters reviewed only behind Lorelai Gilmore and Carrie Bradshaw.
• Unless he has some hidden income or money in the bank, there’s no way Kramer could afford to live across the hall from Jerry Seinfeld.
• Barney on How I Met Your Mother is living a champagne life on a beer salary.
Check out how more popular TV characters are living above or below their means in the charts below…
