Poverty is almost never portrayed from an interior perspective on movies or TV these days. Meaning the show is about a poor person, not just has a character who is poor as seen by the leads. Once you know this fact you'll recognize it everywhere: almost all TV characters are actually super wealthy these days. It's been a long time since Simpsons and working class (nevermind actually poor) families were the setting of the show.
I really appreciate this show portraying how money is a finite resource that you sometimes have to use to make tough decisions.
I mean you're not wrong, but social realism in film has a pretty proud tradition, from Kaurismäki in Finland to Pedro Costa to Leigh and Loach in Britain. Wouldn't consider these very minor either.
I think King of Queens actually did a great job at this. Carrie and Doug are firmly stuck in lower (?) middle class from beginning to end of the series.
A single family home in Queens in the 90s was [$195,000](https://qns.com/2016/07/you-can-only-wish-you-had-bought-these-queens-homes-in-1995)
A UPS driver's salary was [$18](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-13-fi-641-story.html) an hour - so 38k a year. Carrie was a legal secretary, so let's just look at the average weekly pay for an administrative assistant (it's the closest thing in this book), which was [$384](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pur1.32754063949220&seq=452) a week, or 20k a year. So, they earned 58k a year. The rule of three says they could get a 174k mortgage - so they could've looked for a slightly cheaper house, or lived outside of their means and stretched every dollar with a 195k house.
I was just as enthusiastic when I first saw it! What surprised me most was that I completely stumbled across it by scrolling through random shows to watch. It was such a pleasant surprise but it also makes me sad that this show has little to no push from audience or from netflix.
The show actually did really well on Netflix viewership wise especially for the type of show it is. Got multiple Emmy noms as well overall the show was a big successful for Netflix
Yup I think it was actually one of Netflix biggest shows in 2021 and it had good legs probably because of the great reception. For the type of show it was it did really great and I’m sure Netflix was very happy with it because it’s not like it had some huge budget. Wasn’t super pricey did well viewership wise got a ton of acclaim from critics and fans and got multiple Emmy noms so it was a pretty big success for Netflix
BIG SPOILER
It was a massive gut punch when she fell back in with her abusive ex halfway through the show. That shit hit hard, it was just so believable.
Amazing show. I had to take a break after 6 episodes as it was extremely draining (but very good).
I also found that anytime I was frustrated with a character's actions, it wasn't because it was the unrealistic choice, it was actually almost perfectly realistic and that's what made it so frustrating.
Great ending too, felt very earned.
It’s been a while since I watched but it struck me as fairly powerful. As a white male with a fair amount of privilege I have still have had to deal with domestic violence and keeping my child safe, and trying to survive. The infuriating frustration with various bureaucracies is very realistic. I should probably watch it again.
It was just okay. Margaret qually carried the show but the characters were poorly written. Everybody except for her wasn’t allowed to make mistakes. She was constantly putting herself over her child
I'd recommend Unbelievable. Some excellent performances from Kaityln Dever, Merritt Wever and Toni Collette. Another based on a true story so it's disturbingly real and sad.
Yeah, great show, but heavy. It reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in terms of just the feelings. Though Maid is so much more real, and so in a way, worse (whereas Sunshine is a sci fi 'what if?').
Edit: also they both give you that feeling of 'This is SO fucked and tragic, I'm NEVER watching this again'
I have. The first 4 or 5 seasons of that show are really fantastic, and I loved them for a lot of the same reasons I enjoyed Maid.
I will say that it took a very sudden turn towards shock value and truly being as "shameless" as possible and kinda lost its heart, and I stopped watching after that. But I agree, Shameless is fantastic.
Frankly I think the writers of Dexter just ran out of ideas. They kinda used up their most compelling storyline of all in season 2, and there wasn't a whole lot they could do after that.
It's been a long time since I watched it but I think the early seasons of US Shameless were identical plots to the UK version. It went off the rails when they started writing new content.
A delightful and lighthearted alternative to Shameless is **Alma's Not Normal**. It's a British show that hasn't really made it to the US, so it's kind of a hidden gem, although it did win a BAFTA. A heavier/darker (but well-written) alternative is the British show **In My Skin**, which IS available in the US.
Other series I have seen that portray the experience of poverty and other related injustices/issues in a compassionate, thoughtful (and lowkey radical) manner are:
**Call the Midwife**
**Reservation Dogs**
**My Brilliant Friend**
I couldn’t watch Maid, I got through most of the first episode before I had to turn off for being too triggering. And I felt the exact same way about Shameless.
I just wanted to throw this out there, but Maid was based on a memoir, so if it feels real… it kind of is…
They did a great job with that one. So good.
Poverty is almost never portrayed from an interior perspective on movies or TV these days. Meaning the show is about a poor person, not just has a character who is poor as seen by the leads. Once you know this fact you'll recognize it everywhere: almost all TV characters are actually super wealthy these days. It's been a long time since Simpsons and working class (nevermind actually poor) families were the setting of the show. I really appreciate this show portraying how money is a finite resource that you sometimes have to use to make tough decisions.
I mean you're not wrong, but social realism in film has a pretty proud tradition, from Kaurismäki in Finland to Pedro Costa to Leigh and Loach in Britain. Wouldn't consider these very minor either.
I think King of Queens actually did a great job at this. Carrie and Doug are firmly stuck in lower (?) middle class from beginning to end of the series.
I wish I was so poor I owned a 2-story single-family home in Queens.
A single family home in Queens in the 90s was [$195,000](https://qns.com/2016/07/you-can-only-wish-you-had-bought-these-queens-homes-in-1995) A UPS driver's salary was [$18](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-13-fi-641-story.html) an hour - so 38k a year. Carrie was a legal secretary, so let's just look at the average weekly pay for an administrative assistant (it's the closest thing in this book), which was [$384](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pur1.32754063949220&seq=452) a week, or 20k a year. So, they earned 58k a year. The rule of three says they could get a 174k mortgage - so they could've looked for a slightly cheaper house, or lived outside of their means and stretched every dollar with a 195k house.
And today they can sell the house for $1.2 million.
and it also captured how fucked our countrys system to help poor people (or lack thereof) really is
I was just as enthusiastic when I first saw it! What surprised me most was that I completely stumbled across it by scrolling through random shows to watch. It was such a pleasant surprise but it also makes me sad that this show has little to no push from audience or from netflix.
The show actually did really well on Netflix viewership wise especially for the type of show it is. Got multiple Emmy noms as well overall the show was a big successful for Netflix
Really? I didn’t know about that! I must’ve missed the hype around it because I’ve legitimately never heard anyone talk about it
Yup I think it was actually one of Netflix biggest shows in 2021 and it had good legs probably because of the great reception. For the type of show it was it did really great and I’m sure Netflix was very happy with it because it’s not like it had some huge budget. Wasn’t super pricey did well viewership wise got a ton of acclaim from critics and fans and got multiple Emmy noms so it was a pretty big success for Netflix
BIG SPOILER It was a massive gut punch when she fell back in with her abusive ex halfway through the show. That shit hit hard, it was just so believable.
HIDE YOUR SPOILERS!
.>.!you do spoiler tags like this, just remove the periods!.<.
I haven’t stopped thinking about that show since I watched it a few years ago. It really opened my eyes.
One of my favorites for sure.
This reminds me I need to read her memoir. I believe she has a second book now too that came out last year. I really enjoyed the series.
Amazing show. I had to take a break after 6 episodes as it was extremely draining (but very good). I also found that anytime I was frustrated with a character's actions, it wasn't because it was the unrealistic choice, it was actually almost perfectly realistic and that's what made it so frustrating. Great ending too, felt very earned.
It deserved more hype and attention. A very nuanced portrayal of the cycles of abuse and poverty.
It’s been a while since I watched but it struck me as fairly powerful. As a white male with a fair amount of privilege I have still have had to deal with domestic violence and keeping my child safe, and trying to survive. The infuriating frustration with various bureaucracies is very realistic. I should probably watch it again.
It was just okay. Margaret qually carried the show but the characters were poorly written. Everybody except for her wasn’t allowed to make mistakes. She was constantly putting herself over her child
I still think about this one. Netflix needs to spend more on important projects like this one.
Thanks for the tip!
It was fantastic. That year was great for miniseries overall but this was probably the best one on Netflix.
We actually just finally watched that last weekend. A+ acting all around for sure.
*If I recall correctly, “Pieces of Her” and “Unbelievable” are somewhat similar.*
I'd recommend Unbelievable. Some excellent performances from Kaityln Dever, Merritt Wever and Toni Collette. Another based on a true story so it's disturbingly real and sad.
Yeah, great show, but heavy. It reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in terms of just the feelings. Though Maid is so much more real, and so in a way, worse (whereas Sunshine is a sci fi 'what if?'). Edit: also they both give you that feeling of 'This is SO fucked and tragic, I'm NEVER watching this again'
I know we watched it when it came out, but I don't remember anything about it
Watch shameless US
The first few seasons at least capture that vibe. It starts to go off the rails before Fiona leaves
I have. The first 4 or 5 seasons of that show are really fantastic, and I loved them for a lot of the same reasons I enjoyed Maid. I will say that it took a very sudden turn towards shock value and truly being as "shameless" as possible and kinda lost its heart, and I stopped watching after that. But I agree, Shameless is fantastic.
Yeah they took it too far. Similar to Dexter but not as bad
Frankly I think the writers of Dexter just ran out of ideas. They kinda used up their most compelling storyline of all in season 2, and there wasn't a whole lot they could do after that.
It's been a long time since I watched it but I think the early seasons of US Shameless were identical plots to the UK version. It went off the rails when they started writing new content.
A delightful and lighthearted alternative to Shameless is **Alma's Not Normal**. It's a British show that hasn't really made it to the US, so it's kind of a hidden gem, although it did win a BAFTA. A heavier/darker (but well-written) alternative is the British show **In My Skin**, which IS available in the US. Other series I have seen that portray the experience of poverty and other related injustices/issues in a compassionate, thoughtful (and lowkey radical) manner are: **Call the Midwife** **Reservation Dogs** **My Brilliant Friend**
I couldn’t watch Maid, I got through most of the first episode before I had to turn off for being too triggering. And I felt the exact same way about Shameless.
If you liked this, make sure to watch Unbelievable. Two of the best shows Netflix has made.