In Tough Times, TV Goes Blue-Collar

As the financial crisis deepens, expect TV to trade upper-crust environs for jokes about crustiness, reports the New York Post. Entertainment execs are pushing the development of blue-collar comedies that allow for a little old-fashioned escapism. "I don't think audiences want to see a show about the fall of Lehman Brothers," says an NBC honcho.

NBC's Ben Silverman cites Knight Rider as an example of forget-it-all fare: "Every week, the good guy and the car win." CBS embraces working-class heroes with Two-Dollar Beer, a Roseanne-esque comedy, and The Millionaires' Club, about blue-collar investors. But don't expect the well-heeled protagonists of Dirty Sexy Money to go broke. "They're so fabulously wealthy that this is sort of like a hangnail to them," says an ABC exec.

(More recession stories.)