Cooking dinner on television shows

[no_hypocrisy]

Take a look at shows that feature large families, like The Brady Bunch, The Waltons, The Cosby Show, etc.

Look at the kitchen, specifically, look at the pots on the stove. Two to three, ranging in sizes of a 4-quart saucepot, a 2-quart saucepan, and a 1-quart saucepan.

Dinner is surmised to feed between seven and nine people.

There's no way you can feed that many people with so few pots on the stove.

I'll give a little on The Waltons. It was the Depression and they lived frugally. Maybe one menial portion per plate. But the others, huh? I could understand almost commercial-sized pots on the stove.

Logistically, it doesn't make sense. Don't the producers do research?

[MiHale]

1. And then on "Big Bang Theory"...

Observe the dinner table that is overloaded with food more than 2 people can eat in one sitting.
When Howard and Bernadette are shown having dinner at home after they were married, it’s so much it’s gross.

[samnsara]

7. at least bernadette got to sit with the family and eat..poor harriet nelson was a waitress

..and i never saw june cleaver eat very much either. Up down up down up down...come to think of it i rarely saw my grandmother sit and eat a meal...

[MiHale]

11. Yeah true enuf with those moms...

My Mom hated that about those shows. I grew up in a first generation Polish household…all family was expected to be at the table for dinner, Sundays…you wore good clothes…everyday dinner was casual…mostly work duds.
Dinner rosary weekday…quick version; Sundays…full recitation of everything. Then eat!

Edited to add… in the ‘50’s. I’m 70.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. It's a setting. They make kitchen look "normal" so as not to distract.

I sold a coffee can on eBay to a Hollywood show. It was specific to the time period of the show. Don't know if they ever used it, I didn't watch it, but they bought it obviously for the time period and locale logo.

There are a lot of incongruities in shows and movies. Some films are famous for them. Chairs in different places, blood present and then removed. I was amazed to see outtakes from sets where actors scream for line prompts. Shows are assembled in the cutting room. There are even personnel who review the end result, looking for logical or sequence errors. They are not always successful and the errors are not rare by any measure.

[mitch96]

3. It's TV.. their props to move the story.. nt

[samnsara]

4. im still scratching my head about Betty Anderson ordering a 'chopped olive sandwich'....wtf is that?

....and Harriet Nelson taking a jar of fruit cocktail out of the room temperature cupboard and then returning the opened jar to the cupboard after she tried to make tutti fruit ice cream out of vanilla...topped with warm un-refrigerated fruit cocktail...



oh and whats with the 'jelly omelette' that everyone wanted for breakfast on Hazel?


of all the social changes that have taken place over the last 100 years.. I think the preparation and serving of food it has changed the most

[Kali]

5. to be fair

there is probably enough sugar in the fruit cocktail to not need refrigeration. we store a lot more in the fridge than we really need to.

[samnsara]

6. you are right but i dont want to try...

... Im just getting to the point of leaving butter out over night :/




and im still trying to figure out the jelly omelette..which sounds absolutely awful. I think it was a regional dish..like pickled pigs feet

(which I DID eat)

[Kali]

8. jelly omelet sounds very gross

but then I don't like "maple" syrup on bacon, sausage, or fried chicken. LOL

[MiHale]

10. Kinda like a crepe except made with beaten egg...

in place of the very thin Pancake, folded over like an omelet filled with the jelly, jam or fresh fruit of your liking.

[Marthe48]

9. There were 9 people in my house growing up

My Mom cooked 2 gallons of homemade soup or chili, minimum, a full sized roaster full of baked beans (from scratch), huge beef roasts surrounded by loads of onions, potatoes and carrots. Huge bowls of salad, crates of corn, peaches or summer vegetables. My Dad brought groceries home every evening from the store, but there was always room for it and nothing lasted long. My invalid great aunt lived with us and she ate different food. My Dad and grandmother worked long hours at our family grocery, but my Mom cooked him steak and french fries almost every night. Not sure what my Gram ate. Dad made food at the store, and she might have eaten there. I really can't remember her eating anything other than cake and other desserts. lol She probably lived on sweets, but never gained weight or got sick lol. The rest of us dug in and there were rarely leftovers.

Gram would make a batch of cookies, like over 6 dozen, and we'd eat them all. She would make pancakes for us, and with 5 kids, she made endless trips from the kitchen to the dining table, with a platter of small pancakes. Then one day, she created the plate sized pancake and we did that from then on. lol

[trof]

12. Any time we're watching a movie and see some anomoly..

I guarantee we will look at each other and IN UNISON say: "IT'S A MOVIE".