My Top 10 Favorite Sitcom Interior Sets.
I’m no interior decorator and I’m not really a natural designer of any kind, but I do know what I like in a sitcom set that our characters live in for the duration of the series and that we visit them in every single week. These are my 10 favorite sitcom sets that I would either want to live in myself or visit regularly.
10. Steve Hightower’s Apartment. The Steve Harvey Show.
Steve Hightower had one cool bachelor pad. Pretty swanky for a High School Music teacher\Vice Principal’s salary but it helps that he had Ced as a roommate kicking in that extra for rent.
An accessory like the piano helps give it the musical touch accompanied by a music teacher\former High top.
9. Barney Miller’s Squad Room.
The disorganized, crappy little squad room at the 12th precinct occupied by our favorite NYPD Detectives somehow made its way into our hearts. For all it’s issues like a leaky roof, a bathroom that’s a disgrace and horrible coffee courtesy of Sargent Nick Yemana, the squad room was like home to these guys. The iconic status of this set is due to its authenticity and lived in look. It was definitely these guys’ second home.
The set wouldn’t have been complete without the cage where they keep detainees and Barney’s office that hosted many bizarre meetings between the captain and his detectives, and occasionally the eccentric, long winded Inspector Luger.
8. The Heck House. The Middle.
If there was an award for most realistic house in television The Middle would certainly win. The place is messy, disorganized and feels just like my home and yours. It’s so perfectly mid western and blue collar, giving us the real feel of a family from Indiana living and loving each other there. I feel like I could easily walk into the family room, plop into the couch and watch tv, or head to the kitchen and make myself a big bowl of cereal.
7. Jim Rockford’s Trailer. The Rockford Files.
Bare with me. This one is a cheat since it’s a detective show and not a sitcom but I couldn’t help it because The Rockford Files is one of the all time greatest tv shows and Jim’s trailer is one of my all time favorite tv interior sets.
Rockford was a guy who lived at the beach, worked as a PI and had a cool trailer? The guy had it made! What’s not to like about a mobile home that you can just drive away whenever there’d be a Hurricane or a Tornado, what have you. And the place can take a beating since folks love to come there and pick fights with Jim causing him to constantly have to get the place cleaned up or renovated.
6. Reggie’s Diner\Dr. Becker’s Office. Becker.
Dr. John Becker is a man of routine and his two main places he leaves his crappy little apartment to are his small doctor’s office and Reggie’s Diner. Both places have a great sense of authenticity whether it’s the actual look and feel of the sets or just the types of people who inhabit them. The doctor’s office is a true neighborhood clinic that is filled with patients of all backgrounds and quirky personalities of The Bronx.
I’ve always said that if there’s one doctor’s office I’d love to go to for the rest of my life it’d be Dr. Becker’s so that I could see John, Margaret and Linda and enjoy a good laugh at the antics and receive genuine care by people who don’t see me as just another number. Dr. Becker may be a loud mouth but he’s a doctor who cares and will work out payment with patients that can’t afford to pay; such as the barter system. Then there’s Reggie’s Diner ran by Reggie Costas who is the owner, fry cook and waitress and lives upstairs. The diner ironically is the complete opposite of Cheers, which may have been done on purpose so that viewers could accept Ted Danson in this new role.
5. Martin’s Apartment. Martin.
Martin’s pad is one I’ve just always liked. It just has that perfect down to earth essence to it and Marty Mar definitely made sure it was always respected or else you had to “get to steppin’!”
I would kill to get that couch in my place…. I’m a fan of any type of leather.
4. The living room and kitchen. The Golden Girls.
Now, I may not be an woman over fifty and living in Miami but the iconic living room and kitchen set on The Golden Girls is definitely a place I would love to visit my Grandmother, Aunt etc. It just looks and feels so warm and comfortable and of course for anybody whose watched the show there has been some great laughs and fun had there. The kitchen alone is where the girls would wake up in the middle of the night and have racy discussions about sex over cheesecake.
3. Jerry’s Apartment. Seinfeld.
A lot of crazy and hilarious things have happened in Jerry’s tiny little spot but it’s somehow that small space with nothing there except a couch, a kitchenette, bicycle hanging in the background, a window with an air conditioning vent under it and a whoooole lotta Cereal that has become one of the most recognizable and iconic tv interiors of all time and a favorite of mine too.
Jason Alexander has said in his Archive of American Television interview back in 2013 that if they had known that they were doing a series for nine years they never would’ve built such a small set to be the main one for the whole series, but thank God they did because Seinfeld wouldn’t be Seinfeld without it. When you watch the show you really do wanna be there at Jerry’s place with Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George where some of tv’s funniest, most classics moments happened.
2. The Cheers Bar. Cheers.
The place where everybody knows your name is truly one of the most beloved tv interior sets of all time and the one most people really want to go to in real life. Cheers was the every man’s bar and everyone whose ever been to their local sports bar and became bar flies recognize their drinking buddies in all the characters, especially NORMMMM!
I personally love the look and feel of the Boston Tavern that has that perfect blend of blue collar and white collar which is the same for its clientele. A unique blend of a elegant and sophisticated dinery with a run of the mill rustic sports tavern. The tall wooden Indian statue was a nice touch enhancing the historic feel of the bar.
- Frasier’s Apartment. Frasier.
Frasier Crane truly had it all, and perhaps what I envy most is how incredibly amazing his apartment was. When I grow up I want to live in Frasier’s apartment if I could somehow find a way to afford it. This lavish, posh and truly beautiful looking apartment earned set designer Roy Christopher a few Emmy nominations.
Bonus:
The Jeffersons Apartment. The Jeffersons.
Everyone recognizes this deluxe apartment in the sky. This apartment meant more than just a great looking pad, but was also a representation of a working class businessman going from rags to riches and moving he and his family on up to the East side! It’s a really beautiful home that many Americans and non Americans aspired to get one just like it one day.
The Addams Home. The Addams Family.
Truly one of the most unique and quirky sitcom interior sets for the time and even now it’s still so uniquely Addams with its macabre and gothic features, yet there’s still that warm, family feel with this loving but odd family making this haunted house a real home.
I hope you all enjoyed this little real estate tour. I hope that this inspired some of you to go into sitcom set designing and give us some more iconic, classic sets that the viewers of the future would be happy to call home one day.
That’s all, folks!