Television has provided unrealistic standards of life’s many truths for as long as it’s existed — from being able to hang out in a coffee shop during the work day to going on thousands of dates in a single year. One of the most annoying standards TV has imposed on its viewers is how much apartment New Yorkers can afford.
Millions of people live in five boroughs. More people move to the area every day, with the hopes of getting a 212 code and a postal address in the big cities. They should have known what they were really in for. The 15 TV characters ranked below lease or own apartments that have become characters in and of themselves, leading New York natives and newbies alike to think they can afford an apartment like Monica Geller’s from “Friends” or Hannah Horvath’s from “Girls.”How fictional can these TV apartments be?
has ranked the most realistic contemporary TV apartments to the least realistic apartments, featuring favorites like billionaire Logan Roy’s penthouse abode in “Succession” to TV writer and producer Liz Lemon’s digs in “30 Rock.”
15. Logan Roy, “Succession”
As the most realistic apartment on the list, Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) is also the most extravagant and ostentatious. The Roy family isn’t your average family. They’re regularly shown taking helicopters or private jets to their various homes around the world, including Season 3’s Italian villa. The Roys are wealthy and exude luxury. Therefore, the patriarch’s main home, a luxurious Manhattan penthouse, is the most realistic home based strictly on who Logan is. A billionaire media mogul, Logan is a proud owner of a luxurious Manhattan penthouse.Manhattan penthouse $23 Millionis just a rite of passage.
14. Ilana Wexler, “Broad City”
Contrary to what her coworkers may think, Ilana Glazer (Ilana Wexler) actually works for Ilana Glazer. DoesTechnical work. Picking up a paycheck from various odd jobs and side gigs – be that it babysitting gigs, a Deals! sales associate or cleaning strangers’ homes – Ilana does live within her means. Ilana is a Gowanus, Brooklyn resident who lives with a roommate. It’s a bit cramped, slightly messy and there’s limited space for more than two people in the living room.
13. Charlotte York, “Sex and the City”
Charlotte York’s (Kristin Davis) apartment is realistic by New York standards because, well, she won it in her divorce. The Park Avenue penthouseThis has become a standard in the “Sex and the City” world, and it’s thanks to Charlotte’s Season 3 arc where the former art gallery curator married and divorced the old-moneyed cardiologist Trey MacDougal (Kyle MacLachlan). Trey gifts Charlotte the apartment after their divorce since he was unable to give her the family she’s always “dreamed of.”Charlotte calls her apartment her home through the entire series, the films, and the television. “And Just Like That…” reboot.
12. Will Truman “Will & Grace”
Will Truman (Eric McCormack), is a corporate attorney who lives in the Upper West Side. His home because the main locale for he and his friends — Grace Adler (Debra Messing), Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and Karen Walker (Megan Mullaly) — to come for breakfast, a night in or even a prolonged stay. Will’s two-bedroom apartment is one of the more lavish apartments on this list, but it still remains realistic for the era, location and character’s profession.
11. Don Draper “Mad Men”
Formerly a father living in the suburbs, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his new wife Megan (Jessica Paré) move to an apartment on Park Avenue in New York City. As an advertising Creative Director and Junior Partner of Sterling Cooper & Partners, Don could shell out a few more dollars on a beautiful Manhattan apartment, but since the show’s conclusion, NYC real estate agents have revealed Don really couldn’t live in the magnificent mid-century apartment today.
10. The Humphrey Family “Gossip Girl”
“Gossip Girl” may be a New York–set series that mostly takes place on the Upper East Side, but it detoured to Brooklyn with the Humphrey family. Located in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood, Dan’s (Penn Badgley) family loft requires a slight stretching of the imagination. Dan and Jenny (Taylor Momsen), live in the three-bedroom unit together with Rufus (Matthew Settle), who is a former musician and gallery owner. While the spacious apartment wasn’t as luxurious as Serena van der Woodsen’s (Blake Lively) or Blair Waldorf’s (Leighton Meester) on the Upper East Side, its location and size did leave some viewers wondering if a divorced dad could afford it while taking care of two teenagers. But the Humphreys’ home mostly did make sense, given the success of their father’s former and present careers.
9. Liz Lemon, “30 Rock”
A former writer “Saturday Night Live,”Tina Fey added some realness to the mix “30 Rock”Liz Lemon, her character. While the entertainment industry sitcom rolls out some of the most outrageous plot lines, Liz’s apartment is one of the few elements that teeters on the edge of realism. She lives in the Upper West Side like many other characters on this list. This provides a real neighborhood for the comedian writer. But when Season 4 features Liz buying the unit above to her current place, that’s when the line of the character’s finances becomes a bit blurry.
8. Jerry, “Seinfeld”
Jerry’s apartment in “Seinfeld”Seinfeld also has a tendency to stray from reality. As a successful stand-up comedian, the reality of Jerry Seinfeld’s life behind the camera seemed to slip into the fictional world of “Seinfeld.” The character isn’t quite starving-artist material, but even as a semi-famous comedian on-the-rise, performers at that level typically live in quainter spaces before making it big. Jerry could certainly live there if Kramer could.
7. Mindy Lahiri, “The Mindy Project”
Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling), a New York City OB-GYN, lived in one of television’s most colorful apartments. And as colorful as Mindy’s apartment was matches its lack of realism. One-bedroom apartment in Manhattan Brownstone features a walk-in closet as well as a staircase leading to another unit. Kaling intentionally created an unrealistic setting. “bachelorette pad,”The series begins with a few snarky jokes about the absurd NYC housing market. Further introducing other characters’ apartments, such as Danny Castellano (Chris Messina), Jody Kimball–Kinney (Garret Dailahunt), the sitcom rom-com creates an idyllic world of sprawling and beautifully-decorated lower Manhattan homes.
6. Oliver Putnam “Only Murders in the Building”
Yes, some apartments come with rent control, but Oliver Putnam, Martin Short, seems to be unable to pay his monthly Arconia payments. The amateur detective (and “retired” theater director) has lived on the Upper West Side for decades; however, he’s positioned himself as a bit of a late-stage struggling artist. Despite receiving numerous investments from his neighbors including Teddy Dimas (Nathan Lane), the theater director has not been able to lead a successful production. While Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) starred on a successful network TV show and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) resides in her late Aunt’s home, Oliver’s place in the Arconia is constantly put up for questioning — even facilitating a possible criminal motive in Season 2.
5. Ted Mosby “How I Met Your Mother”
Ted Mosby (Josh Randor) is an architect-turned-professor who lives on the Upper West Side for the duration of the “How I Met Your Mother” series run. Ted’s apartment hAs a rotating door, with the main characters, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), and Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) consistently occupying the two-bedroom unit. With roommates, Ted could possibly swing the rent, but given his roommates’ rocky employment histories, it doesn’t seem as likely. Ted’s apartment was large enough to house a telephone booth, entertain a fencing duel and to host many, many parties. “How I Met Your Mother” fueled young 20-somethings moving to the big city with very unrealistic expectations for what their first apartment might look like — but the latest spin-off “How I Met Your Father”It captures the realness of NYC living.
4. Carrie Bradshaw, “Sex and the City”
Fans and savvy NYC residents have long refuted the plausibility of Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) Upper East Side apartment. As one of the only characters to actually name the price of her rent (around $700), it’s extremely unlikely she’d have found a space to live alone in that neighborhood for that price, even when considering rent-controlled opportunities.
3. Hannah Horvath “Girls”
Venturing back to Brooklyn, Hannah Horvath’s (Lena Dunham) two-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint, which she shares with Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams), stands as another writer living in a completely unrealistic apartment given the location, era and character. Hannah is very open about her finances and is willing to admit when she hits financial struggles – which makes Hannah’s fictional Brooklyn fantasy utopia is just that: a fantasy. Contradicting the fantasy of Hannah and Marnie’s shared apartment, Marnie’s Chinatown “s–tbox”Studio poses as the most realistic home in the HBO series.
2. Monica Geller “Friends”
Yes, Monica Geller (Courtney Cox), technically. “Friends” inherited her iconic, rent-controlled apartment from her grandmother – but even so, the unit stands as one of the most famous unrealistic homes across film and TV. Monica was a line chef, then unemployed, founder of a temporary catering company, and finally a chef. She still managed to live in a large NYC apartment in a fashionable downtown area. Greenwich Village’s space has two large bedrooms, an enormous living room, and a joint kitchen. “Friends”And didn’t dream of jumping onto Monica’s lease?
1. Elliott Goss, “Search Party”
The cult-comedy may be a bit too sexy. “Search Party” is a satire, the absurdity of the show doesn’t stop with the characters or the storylines and of course extends into the main characters’ homes. Elliott Goss is an unemployed fraudster who lives in Brooklyn, near his college friends Portia Davidnport (Meredith Haner), and Dory Sief(Alia Shawkat). Even though he claims he’s a fraudster, eliot Goss (John Early) lives in Brooklyn near his old college friends Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat), Portia Davenport (Meredith Hagner) and Drew Gardner(John Reynolds). “doesn’t enjoy working,” Elliott has a number of on-again, off-again jobs through the series’ five seasons. He starts “Search Party” as the founder of a charity called Water Bottles for Africa, then he receives a book deal, then he becomes a right-wing news pundit – but he’s never able to StayThese gigs can lead to a successful career. This is why it’s so difficult to imagine a scenario where you can live in a Brooklyn apartment with a staircase, Portia, Drew, or Dory staying over.