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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Comment
Rebecca Shaw

I am sick of seeing the rich and powerful on my screen. Where are all the TV shows about normal people?

Jon Hamm
Jon Hamm in Your Friends & Neighbors
‘I need TV shows to stop focusing on satirising class only via the lives of rich white people’ … Jon Hamm in Your Friends & Neighbors. Photograph: Jessica Kourkounis/AP

It’s important in any healthy relationship to be able to “call each other in” – gently point out issues you are having with behavioural patterns, and ask for some space when needed. I’m thinking particularly about a good friend of mine. Always there when I’m in need, even there when I’m not in need (rarely). That’s right, I’m talking about … television (I’m normal).

I love my television and everything it brings me, but I do have a gripe I need to get off my chest, while I’m lying down on the couch. Mrs TV, love you girl but I’m calling you in: I need TV shows to stop focusing on satirising class only via the lives of rich white people (and occasionally the people around them). This issue has become more obvious since the latest season of The White Lotus, but is not at all restricted to The White Lotus. Recent years have seen TV and movies like Succession, Big Little Lies, The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, Knives Out, Saltburn etc about what is going on with powerful people.

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