More money, more problems. At least that’s the idea behind many shows on TV that have focused on rich families over the years. We’ve always liked following the struggles of the rich and famous, as lots of money tends to create avenues for lots of drama. But don’t forget that there’s also room for plenty of comedy as well. While money can lead to drama, it can also lead some some amazingly funny situation that wouldn’t have arisen had the characters not been rich. Either way, the public’s interest and fascination with the rich isn’t waning any time soon. Here are ten of the most memorable rich TV families we’ve spent time with over the years. Naturally, there are many more not included, but suggest your favorites in the comments.
1. The McDucks (Duck Tales)
Can we start in the animated world? I’d say we can, given the fact that Scrooge McDuck and his heirs might actually be the richest people on this list. I mean, nobody else has a pile of gold coins so large they can actually swim in it right? But with great money comes great greed, and Scrooge is notoriously terribly about sharing his wealth with others, content to hoard it all for himself (to swim in it, naturally).
[Photo via Disney]
2. The Banks (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air)
The entire premise for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air was that Will Smith gets plucked out of the Philly streets to live with his rich uncle, who starts out as a lawyer and by the end of the show, he’s a respected judge. Smith constantly spars with his spoiled rich children, Ashley, Hilary and Carlton, but it’s hard to say that he doesn’t enjoy living with a wealthy family.
[Photo via NBC]
3. The Ewings (Dallas)
Definitely one of the richest families on this list, The Ewings starred in the 1978 series Dallas, and came back for the 2012 reboot as well. They’re Texas oil barons, and as such, the show is based on their struggles trying to hold on to their empire and their fortune from threats both outside their family, and within it. There are many soap opera style shows that could have made this list, but Dallas is by far the best, so it has a place of honor here.
[Photo via CBS]
4. The Sopranos (The Sopranos)
Not all money is acquired by honest means, so I felt obligated to feature The Sopranos here. We’ve seen many shows about mobsters, but none that has a family quite so memorable or dysfunctional as the Sopranos. They weren’t outrageously rich, not like Tony’s friends/rivals in New York, but the Jersey mafia don had enough cash to buy a pretty nice mansion and an endless series of SUVs. Granted, most of his assets are in cash, but he still has a substantial sum.
[Photo via HBO]
5. The Strattons (Silver Spoons)
Silver Spoons didn’t invent the term, rather it draws on the longtime notion that rich children are born with silver spoons in their mouths, meaning they have access to everything and anything from birth. The show here featured a dynamic between a father and son, one an overgrown child, while the young is more uptight. The show ran for four years on NBC in the ’80s, and made Ricky Schroeder a household name for a time.
[Photo via NBC]
6. The Cosbys (The Cosby Show)
The Cosby Show broke a lot of new ground by featuring an upscale African-American family as its central set of characters, and introducing Cliff Huxtable as a loveable physician patriarch. The Cosby’s wealth wasn’t really the focus of the show, but served as a backdrop to the program and money often game up during many of the series’ plotlines. The show changed a lot of stereotypical notions about what the African-American family unit was, and made a lasting impression to this day.
[Photo via NBC]
7. The Crawleys (Downton Abbey)
I nearly left out what is perhaps today’s most popular rich family, the Crawleys. Downton Abbey takes us back to an age where the rich were content to simply exist being rich, supporting the local economy by hiring servants to wait on them hand and foot. But if the show has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t escape tragedy just because you have wealth. The Crawleys have seen many tragic deaths over the years (though most were due to cast members wanting to leave, to be fair).
[Photo via PBS]
8. The Graysons (Revenge)
Revenge is practically a soap opera in everything but name, and as such it introduces us to one of the richest families currently on TV, the Graysons. Emily, the lead character, is determined to take down the rich family who set up her father to take a fall for a crime he didn’t commit, ultimately leaving her an orphan. She even went so far as to get engaged to the Graysons’ son to further her plan.
[Photo via ABC]
9. The Clampetts (The Beverly Hillbillies)
The original “fish out of water” rich people show is obviously The Beverly Hillbillies, where the Clampetts accidentally strike oil in their backyard, and end up becoming oil barons when a huge swell of the stuff is discovered on their land. This leads into the entire premise of the show, which involves the Clampetts trying to cope with their newfound wealth and fit in to southern California, but while hanging on to their homespun ways.
[Photo via CBS]
10. The Nichols (The OC)
I couldn’t go the length of this list without including one of my favorite shows of all time, the OC. I was going to have “the Cohens” listed here as they are the titular family and they are rich, but I thought it best to go one more run up the ladder. Kirsten Cohen’s father, Caleb Nichol, is the real powerhouse of Orange County with a hand in everything. Eventually, after his death, much of his wealth and power transfers to Kirsten.
[Photo via FOX]
