I thought it'd be fun and different to discuss the best and worst homes on TV. From cozy homes you'd like to live in, lushly decorated abodes that are simply nice to look at, or total pits that you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. Pick from any show (reality shows included). By the way, the name of the post is based on a game my friends and I played in middle school called M.A.S.H., which stood for, as you've already guessed, mansion, apartment, shack and house. I decided against calling the topic M.A.S.H. because I didn't want to confuse anyone. My picks for the best homes:

Monica's apartment from Friends: I love the lavender walls, the perfectly sized kitchen and the roomy and comfortable TV area. I also love the eclectic, girly decorations and the front door with a knob in the middle.

Mary's one room apartment in the first few seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. If I were a single girl living alone, I'd like to live that adorable little place too (though the shag carpeting would be the first to go). I also lurrrved Rhoda's hot pink attic apartment with the hippie bead curtains and that brass "etc." sign on the wall.

I liked the guest room where Mr. Belvedere stayed with the forest green walls and the writing desk with the brass lamp. I also remember the bed with the plaid bedspread. Home-y and austere at the same time.

Favorite reality show home: Hogan Knows Best. Beautifully furnished and I love that massive kitchen.

Worst?
Homes in every other '70s show (I agree with my folks that it was the ugliest decade). The Bunkers' house in All in the Family had all that brown and orange, and then there's that nasty rat hole of a house from Sanford and Son... yes, I know, Fred Sanford was a junk collector and that's what his house was supposed to look like, but, still, yech! I always felt so sorry for Lamont for having to live there.

Both homes on Everybody Loves Raymond were terrible. Ray and Debra's house poorly decorated and cluttered, and Frank and Marie's house was dated looking and sterile.

I loved Frasier Crane's apartment. Fussy and prissy as he was about details, it paid off with that beautiful place. The great view and wonderful furnishings made up for the awful old recliner that Martin insisted upon keeping. I loved the character of Martin, but I really hated that recliner.

Even better, IMO, was Niles' apartment with all that beautiful hardwood. It had all the elegance of a mansion, but the workable size of a very large apartment.

Giles's apartment/loft on Buffy. It was small, but had all sorts of wonderful, ecclectic wall hangings and such. Also, the outside with the little courtyard was just beautiful.

The house on The Brady Bunch was designed by the dad, who is an architect, but all kids still had to share rooms.

I *love* the house in The Addams Family. Creepy stuff, but toally fun. I love all the booby traps and moving statues. If I ever get rich, I'm going to recreate it as one of my houses, just for fun.

This thread can't go without a mention of "the hatch" on Lost which I guess counts as Desmond's home. I wouldn't mind purchasing a house like that myself.

Living on a beach ... not the best TV home

Didn't somebody actually draw blueprints of a bunch of TV houses, based only on watching repeats of the shows way too many times? I know he did one of Rob and Laura Petrie's house, but I can't tell you what the others were. He had a few exhibits at art galleries with them, and I think there's a book out.

The Huxtables had quite the big place for NYC, but I loved it-- I always wanted my own room, so I was jealous of their pad.

I am also thinking of the house in Rosanne-- I think it was the first realistic and normal house on tv. It was filled with not so nice furniture, the kids shared a room, and it was generaly messy. Not a great place, but nice to have a more accurate depiction of how most of America lives.



Didn't he design it before "they all bcame the Brady Bunch...". I never understood why he never put on an addition, or designed another one, though.

Yes, but it was only a slight stylization of an upscale townhouse in Brooklyn Heights (where they lived, as an affluent family like the Huxtables likely would).

I too liked Mary Richards's one-room apartment, complete with the sunken living-sleeping area with shelves in the little walls, and the walk-in closet through which one got to the bathroom.

I also liked the Petries' house (twin beds notwithstanding). it was a tad unrealistic (two-level living-dining room), even for the postwar wave of suburban ranch houses, and yet it became so popular that people asked to have their houses designed just like it.

I liked the house on Roseanne because it was overflowing and cluttered just like real peoples' houses.

I liked the Steadmans' and Westons' homes on thirtysomething for similar reasons -- you can never quite get everything put away. I know some people thought the houses were ridiculously opulent for the characters to afford, but they seemed about right to me: young professional married couples plunge into homeowning with an old house that's a little beyond them (probably they got help from the parents on the down payment) that they could afford because it had things wrong with it, and they spend the rest of their lives trying to get everything working properly, with a mixture of hand-me-down and thrift-shop furniture.

Frasier's apartment? I could never really get on board with it. Mind you, I would love to have that view and that kind of space in Seattle -- sign me up. But can I suspend my disbelief enough to imagine a three-hours-a-day radio personality affording that place, decorating it on that level, and also supporting his father and paying full-time live-in help? Sorry.

The couch on Married...with Children was very similar to the one we had at the time. Otherwise, it was more like Roseanne - clutter everywhere.

I always liked Frasier's place. It fit the character perfectly and it needed that damn recliner to mess with his head.

Worst:
They need to fire the people responsible for the homes on The Real World and The Surreal Life. I realize part of it is to make the casts crazier than they normally are but a little subtlety would be appreciated for us viewers.

Not to mention the fact that in order to have that view, I think you'd have to remove First Hill, or something... :)

I have always lusted after Buffy Summers' house. Whenever I see a house like that, I swoon and want to buy it.

I have craftsman-style bungalow love for the Girardi's house in "Joan of Arcadia." That goes for the furnishings as well.

I always liked the Chase's house from "My So-Called Life". Love those California craftsmen bungalows. Also, Martha Stewart's Turkey Hill. I hear she's selling it. Time to go see what's in the penny jar.

Another big fan of the Craftsman home here! The Eppes family home from NUMB3RS, inside and out, is my dream abode. Swoon, drool.

And I wouldn't mind having Charlie as a housemate, either. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

Gilmore Girls is all about the houses.

Lorelai and Rory's house is lovely. It looks cozy and lived in, not like something out of a magazine.

Rory's poolhouse does look like something from a magazine. But it's so cute!

Luke's apartament fits him so well, right down to the flannel sheets.

Rory and Paris' dorm at Yale. Yes, it's huge and unrealistic, but I still like it.

Babbette and Morey's house is hilarious but I would never want to live in it.

Emily and Richard's house is terrifying. It looks like a museum.

Aha! Blueprints.

Jeannie's bottle on I Dream of Jeannie could be considered a home, couldn't it? If so, that's the coolest television home. Southfork Ranch on Dallas is also pretty bad-ass. Though after I actually visited Southfork Ranch and discovered that the show used wide-angle lens and mirrors to "enlarge" the house and swimming pool, it lost some of its coolness in my eyes.

And even though it's not the worst, I'm not exactly crazy about Blanche's house on The Golden Girls. To quote Sophia Petrillo, too much wicker!

As a kid I just loved the house on Please Don't Eat the Daisies (yes, I'm ancient) because it was so big they would occasionally find a room they didn't know they had. I loved that concept. I still have dreams where I find a room I didn't know we had! I think the Keatons had a nice homey home on Family Ties and the Full House house seemed to know no bounds when it came to creating new rooms.

Can't stand the show, but my GOD that house is gorgeous. Whoever owns that house is real life are lucky people indeed.

On Buffy, I really liked the apartment that Anya and Xander shared. It was roomy and had those nice ceiling fans.

ITA. Also on AitF, everything had like a dingy tint to it. That really annoyed me. On SaS, if I was a woman, I would not be coming over. Ever.



I loved his apt as well. Granted, in reality he couldn't afford it, but since when is TV realistic?



I loved their home but I could grasp just how big it was. I mean they had a basement but wasn't his office in the basement? And Claire had an office but where exactly was it located?

I liked the Buchman's apt of MaY but I was annoyed at the fact that people would have to walk thru their bedroom to get to the bathroom.

Buffy always lived in a very pretty house, and it was, if I remember from the commentary for "What's My Line" correctly, the "set" house was set up to be exactly like the house in real life.

I have these dreams all the time.

I like the homes on Alias, particularly Sydney's 2nd apartment (luscious wood, great lighting) and Jack's. It was perfect for him.

I totally covet Frasier's apartment, and I don't think it's without the bounds of possibility for him to afford it. He's, what, 40 or 41 when the series begins, so he's had about ten years in private practice, which could be extremely lucrative. If that money was properly invested it could yield a good income. Further, he seems to make a good salary from the station (good enough that he's not tempted to give it up and go back into private practice), particularly after Bebe becomes his agent. Martin would have a pension and possibly some savings of his own, so he's likely to be contributing to the rent/mortgage, and to Daphne's pay.

I know, I've thought about this too much.

Also on Frasier, I like Niles and Maris's house or castle or whatever it is. I think we only get to see a couple of rooms, but it's so completely right for Maris's brand of bonkers-ness, with the stone and the huge doors and the faux-gothic.

Buffy's house and Giles' apartment were all build with all 4 walls intact. Each wall could independently roll out to allow photography.

It strikes me that this would be useful for cleaning, as well.

Ghastly as the decor of the Bunker home in All in the Family was, at least it seemed representative of a working class urban home of its time. In the seventies, the homes of characters really began to separate themselves from reality.
To my mind the worst example of this was in The Waltons. A spacious house with electricity, running water and indoor plumbing owned by a poor mountain family in the midst of the Depression? I don't think so.

Let me throw in the love for the Manning house on Once and Again here, and I think we've got a Herskovitz/Zwick theme going here. Lily's house seemed very right for a middle-class suburb, and was reasonably cluttered. I remember when Rick moved in and couldn't find a place to work because the dining room table had stuff (laundry?) all over it. Also, when the Sammler kids needed their own rooms, the solutions seemed practical. As opposed to the house suddenly having two extra previously undisclosed bedrooms, they made one bedroom out of the attic and converted the garage into another. Angela Chase's room on MSCL looked like a real teen's room; in the pilot, IIRC, her mother comes into the room and is horrified by the mess. I also loved Melissa's apartment on thirtysomething and Judy's apartment on Once and Again; both characters were somewhat artsy and their apartments reflected their creative sides.

In general, I think the H/Z shows did a great job of having houses/apartments that matched the characters' lifestyles and personalities. They seemed to be places where these people actually lived, as opposed to artificial sets where all the furniture and accessories match perfectly, and elves come in every night to clean and make sure nothing is ever out of place.

I always loved the Taylor home on Home Improvement! The living room/dining room/kitchen area was so nice and spacious.

Little House on the Prairie has my vote for worst house. That log cabin might have been charming at first, but after several years and several more children, it was time to burn that thing to the ground. Especially in light of all of the lavish Victorian pads owned by their neighbors.

It was Xander and Anya's apartment I adored. Desperately. Sleek, modern, well-designed, excellent use of space.

Other homes I've loved included Maxine & Amy Grey's house, Paul and Jamie Buchman's apartment, and the Montana mansion of the V.P. on Prison Break. God, that thing was gorgeous. Fab and flawless inside, gloomy outside. I want it!

For people who work around the place in lieu of rent, Jed and Abby's place isn't bad, but I hear the responsibilities are quite heavy.

Word! I should have posted that on stuff you called out as a kid. I asked my dad how they were poor with a two story house, a family lumber business and being able to send their kids to college. Plus they supported the grandparents and always had these Thanksgiving style meals. Seemed to be doing a lot better than we were. My dad just said, "You could be poor and have a big house because it was in the country." Thanks Dad.

I also called out Jeanie's bottle as a kid. When Maj. Nelson got in it with her I thought, 'The couch is not big enough, the floor is too cramped. How they gonna do it?'

I liked Mary's house on MTM, the apartment building on I Love Lucy and the Cunningham house with garage apartment. They all let the main charactors live near each other so it didn't seem strange that they were in each other's homes all the time. Loved the episode where Joey/Chandler switched apartments with Monica/Rachel.

The Luthor mansion/castle is pretty awesome. But whenever I see huge homes like that I inevitably start to think about how chilly it would be in there. I don't like being cold. Also from Smallville: The Kent home. It always looks so warm and cozy in there. And MamaKent is always baking.

I always liked the Walsh home from 90210. Oh, and Angel's crib from BtVS was really cool. Sort of dilapidated but in a really beautiful way.

I always loved Monica's apartment on Friends. Tons of space, wonderfully decorated, awesome balcony, open kitchen (and I always loved the kitchen cabinets that didn't have any doors), a huge bathroom and a huge living room. What else can you ask for in a NYC apartment? Highly unrealistic, but still a great apartment.

I always liked the Keatons' house on Family Ties. It was very typical of an average American family and I always felt a sense of warmth whenever I watched scenes that were filmed in their house.

The Cohens' house on The O.C. is ridiculous. My favorite part is how Sandy and Kirsten's room connects to the backyard, so they have a great view of the pool and the ocean from their room. I also love their dining room/kitchen color scheme and decorations.

I liked the Thatcher's house on Life Goes On. It was such a typical white picket fence house!
I liked Sydney and Francie's apartment the first couple seasons of Alias, but I wasn't a huge fan of Sydney's apartment afterwards. It was so dark!

Jerry's apartment of Seinfeld is one of my favorites. It was spacious enough, but not so lavish that it stretched credibility that he could afford it. Although the hideous studio from the pilot dampens that somewhat. The skylight was cool, but not enough for me to want to live there.

Apparently that mansion is Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Well, in the second X-Men movie, at least.
Moving back on topic, it always puzzled me that Buffy and Joyce Summers had a big two-story house for only two people. I know Sunnydale real estate would probably be cheap, but even so.

Back when I was a kid growing up in the 'burbs, I was in love with Uncle Bill's apartment on Family Affair. I mean an elevator, a doorman, that huge balcony, and, for some reason, the double entry door, were just magical to my young mind. I think it was just because it was so different from my life and seemed so exotic/glamorous to me.

The Walton house didn't seem that out of character to me. I mean the house had been in the family for years, and the land for generations. Since they were in the lumber business they had access to the building material, and it probably was built and expanded over the years. It wasn't that big, only four bedrooms upstairs, and the grandparent's room seemed like an addition. As far as supporting the grandparents, grandpa worked in the mill and grandma tended the garden and did housework; I would say they earned their keep. The thing that seemed weird to me was that the only bathroom was upstairs, that makes no sense at all. All in all, the house looked very much like the ones my farmer ancestors built back in the early 1900's - 1920's. I have been lucky enough to have been in two of those homes and the feeling of knowing that my ancestors built them with their own blood, sweat, and sacrifice is indescribable.

The house itself didn't bother me, but it was awfully plushly furnished. And there's no way a poor mountain family in Virginia would have had electricity then. I mean, rich mountain families in Virginia didn't have electricity. It took the TVA to bring electricity to the rural south, and Virginia wasn't part of the TVA plan in the 30s. My mother used to visit her school-teacher aunt and extension-agent uncle in western Kentucky in the late 40s, and they still didn't have electricity.

I used to covet those open cabinets to, until I realized the dusting that would be involved. I'm not a Monica -- I have a hard enough time keeping the dog hair out of the cupboards with doors on them.

I'm with you. I don't know what was worse -- Susan's cry face, or Bree macking on George. This show is starting to hurt my eyes and my brain.

I like the house that Toby bought for Andi, Huck and Molly. It would have been nice to see what the house would look like furnished. I still wonder if Toby is living in it.

My grandfather actually went to the school that John-boy's college was based on at about the same time. Then he got his first parish and moved out to the country and had two kids. My father moved to Hopewell (a small city) in 1946 and had indoor plumbing and electricity for the first time.

On the other hand, the big meals were perfectly plausible if you had land and grew your own. I just want to know why Olivia's hands were never bloody from killing the chicken for the pot.

I too covet the Eppes house from Numb3rs.

I loved the Buchman's apartment on Mad About You. It just seemed very cozy and I actually liked the layout too. Also loved Syd and Francie's apartment from the first two seasons, and Syd's present apartment, although a bit less so.

Housing I hated? Angel's penthouse in the final season. I think it was the style that I didn't like, the headboard behind his bed most of all. The styling was exactly the same as his office downstairs. It seemed like Japanese-influenced California minimalism (I think that's what the set designer called it) and it really wasn't my cup of tea.

I didn't like that penthouse either, but I did like Angel's original LA apartment, with the elevator going down into it, and I liked the Hyperion, with the big lobby with the circular sofa in the middle and the doors leading out to the courtyard. I liked Cordelia's apartment too, but that was partly because of Phantom Dennis!

I echo the love of Giles' house in BtVS - it really kind of suited him.

In sitcoms I liked that the house in Roseanne actually looked like a real working-class home, and I have a soft spot for Eddie and Saffy's house in Ab Fab, despite Eddie's constant redecoration! I especially love the hallway with the gallery upstairs.

I've always wanted the Full House home, minus the Tanners and Joey living in it with me. That place was huge and illogical (exactly how did the living room stairs and the kitchen stairs lead to the same place?), but I'd kill for a living room with that alcove and a basement and attic that nice.

I loved Syd and Francie's apartment on Season 1 and 2 of Alias. The one Syd moved into in Season 3 was ugly and just sad. (maybe they did that to reflect the season's mood)

I also loved Monica's apartment on Friends. Bright, colorful, and huge.

Add me to the Craftsman worship for the Eppes house!

I grew up in the country, so I liked seeing the city houses and apartments on TV. I had decided that when I grew up and became a single working woman, I wanted Hannah's studio from Anything But Love. Split level, hardwood floors, huge windows--it was just dreamy!

Both the Connor's and Drew Carey's houses looked totally foreign to me, even in the establishing shots. I think that's just because midwestern vernacular architecture is totally different from southern vernacular architecture. There are a lot of reasons for this--for instance, houses in the south are designed to let heat out while houses in the north are designed to keep heat in--but that's probably I could never figure out the layouts of either of these houses. I could never see how they sat on their lots, or what room connected to what other rooms.