To be jealous from a TV drama?

[PhrogPhace]

Name changed, I know this sounds pathetic and it’s my own problem. But I find a lot of TV shows have glamorous settings and fittings I would like for myself. Not a show like Eastenders, obviously, but for example I am watching Angela Black on ITV right now and the characters have such a nice kitchen and I couldn’t help but feel jealous when I saw it. AIBU to feel like this, does anybody else feel the same sometimes?

Do you mean jealous or envious as you find it aspirational? I expect most people feel that way. I don’t know the show you’re talking about but we watch a lot of house programs and the whole point of those is to sell you a but if a fantasy, that’s the fun.

Be thankful you don’t have to keep cleaning the kitchen or constantly putting stuff away. It’s a fantasy kitchen. It’s not practical.

Ooh no I love it - it's like a form of Voyeurism - how the other half live.

@AnneLovesGilbert

Do you mean jealous or envious as you find it aspirational? I expect most people feel that way. I don’t know the show you’re talking about but we watch a lot of house programs and the whole point of those is to sell you a but if a fantasy, that’s the fun.

Envious as I find it aspirational… jealous was probably the wrong word, envious would have been better ascribed.

I was just watching this and saying how ominous those kind of houses are because they only ever seem to exist in terrifying tv dramas!

I find American films and TV the most unrealistic. The ‘average’ American family, or 20/30 somethings don’t actually live like that.

At least here we have soaps that portray something closer to real life- although some of the houses in Eastenders would be worth quite a bit in London!

@DragonDoor

I find American films and TV the most unrealistic. The ‘average’ American family, or 20/30 somethings don’t actually live like that.

At least here we have soaps that portray something closer to real life- although some of the houses in Eastenders would be worth quite a bit in London!

They do have bigger houses in the US.

I think I know what you mean. I wonder how they afford it all sometimes.

I get that American houses are bigger.

The ‘ average’ family in America is no where near as well off as is portrayed in films and TV. The characters mostly live upper middle class lifestyles, regardless of incomes/careers.

Let’s not get started on the apartments in sit coms- large living spaces, good neighbourhoods ...it’s not how people beginning their careers or working in the gig economy live!

I was (and still am) envious of the kitchen in ‘Outnumbered’. I bloody want that kitchen.

I actually like Julia's house in 'motherland'. Probably one of the most realistic, lived in houses I have seen on tv.

"The ‘ average’ family in America is no where near as well off as is portrayed in films and TV. The characters mostly live upper middle class lifestyles, regardless of incomes/careers."

I'm currently watching a series based in New York where successful people have to have one flatmate sleeping in the living room.

I was always envious of the houses in 'The Split', lovely substantial London homes and gardens but messy just like normal people's.

YABU as it's not a nice home. I'd rather a smaller kitchen & a husband who doesn't beat me up.

I agree op. You never see an ex council, 3 bed semi such as mine on these shows

Just watched Angela Black and never noticed the kitchen! Pretty distracted by her smashed up mouth and why she is still in the house.

@Gwenhwyfar

That sounds like it would be right up my street! I’ve not come across a good sitcom in ages. What’s it called? x

I'm still wanting Sarah Lancashire's kitchen cupboards from Happy Valley. YANBU

@CoronaPeroni

I was always envious of the houses in 'The Split', lovely substantial London homes and gardens but messy just like normal people's.

Oh yes that house was stunning! And some lucky bugger actually lives in that house in real life!

I remember the bedrooms from some of the American teen TV shows when I was a kid and I used to be so jealous of them. They were always massive with lovely decor. They still all seem to have massive beds and lots of floor space. Nothing like the crammed and messy little cupboards me and my friends lived in!

@Kljnmw3459

I remember the bedrooms from some of the American teen TV shows when I was a kid and I used to be so jealous of them. They were always massive with lovely decor. They still all seem to have massive beds and lots of floor space. Nothing like the crammed and messy little cupboards me and my friends lived in!

Yes, and then I remember watching Malcom in the Middle (4 kids in a 2 bed house) and going "Wait - 3 of them share 2 beds in that room? Where did Francis sleep before he went to military school?!"

These dramas always have massive picture windows with no curtains so it's like living in a goldfish bowl and someone is always lurking outside at night.

Yep!! Im lucky enough to live in a very spacious house but the decor is tired and everywhere I look there's books, toys, chargers, laundry, tubes of moisturiser, piles of post, a dead fly here, a dirty cup there etc.

I always really liked Jim's parents house in American Pie.

I always have kitchen envy from TV shows.

Nothing wrong with feeling envious if it inspires you. It's only relatively recently that we've started to see things like this everywhere and our brains have yet to adapt. Someone living a hundred years ago would only see a limited number of kitchens in their lifetime and none of them as fancy as modern standards. You just have to tell yourself that for the majority of people, it's not real.

The reason American houses always seem so big on tv or in movies is because they are sets and they need a lot of space for cameras in the 4th wall space.