Hey, "Office" fans, Can I Borrow $50?

What TV show has the richest fans? Yup, it's The Office, which is ironic considering that it's a show about undercompensated cube dwellers. According to Nielsen Media Research, the median yearly income of Office fans is $78,000. (And don't underestimate that value of that number in keeping the show on the air when it was new and struggling in the ratings.) Second place goes to Lost at $73,000. Then a handful of shows are tied for third at $68,000: Heroes, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Lipstick Jungle, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. (Maybe that's part of why Lipstick got a second season.)

Nielsen didn't spill the shows with the lowest incomes. Or the best looking viewers, or the smartest, or the dumbest. Feel free to come up with those lists on your own. -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, Unbox TV Freak

Comments

[mike in tennessee on June 05, 2008 at 01:10 PM]

that's what she said!

[wch on June 05, 2008 at 01:36 PM]

If the elderly (who don't relate to office life of the sort shown on the show, and have hard-to-quantify income) and housewives (who aren't in an office, and have the same hard-top-define "income") aren't well-represented here, how accurate can this Neilsen Media Research be? Aren't housewives and the elderly a pretty big group of TV watchers, stereotypically speaking?

[wch on June 05, 2008 at 01:37 PM]

If the elderly (who don't relate to office life of the sort shown on the show, and have hard-to-quantify income) and housewives (who aren't in an office, and have the same hard-top-define "income") aren't well-represented here, how accurate can this Neilsen Media Research be? Aren't housewives and the elderly a pretty big group of TV watchers, stereotypically speaking?

[Tom on June 05, 2008 at 01:47 PM]

wch: A small group of people with lots of disposible income is far more attractive to advertisers than a large group of people with little disposible income.

[denise on June 05, 2008 at 04:06 PM]

The Office characters are cube-dwellers, but I don't know that they're undercompensated. Some aren't very bright; other's aren't very ambitious; still others are a huge liability suit waiting to happen.

I love the show, but not as professional inspiration.

[Jack is Back! on June 06, 2008 at 08:12 AM]

I stopped watching network shows in 2003. I only watch sports or news or military channel, etc.

But all my friends (affluent) seem to be in love with Boston Legal and the characters Denny Crane and Alan Shore. That is all they talk about in our clubhouse after a round of golf.