1990s TV Characters Whose Finances Made Zero Sense

The employees of WNYX occupy a peculiar economic universe because their salaries should vary dramatically, yet their lifestyles rarely reflect the enormous differences between their jobs. Dave Nelson manages the station, Lisa Miller is an ambitious reporter, Bill McNeal is its star broadcaster, and characters such as Beth and Matthew occupy considerably less prestigious positions. Living in New York should make those salary differences painfully obvious, particularly for the lower-paid employees, but housing and daily expenses rarely become sustained problems. The greatest exception is billionaire station owner Jimmy James, whose immense wealth is not only believable within the show but deliberately exaggerated for comedy. Everyone else seems protected by the sitcom assumption that steady employment in Manhattan automatically produces enough money for an active social life. Their real luxury, however, may be time rather than housing.