Page "The Honeymooners" Paragraph 30

In contrast to other popular comedies of the era ( such as Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ), which depicted their characters in comfortable, middle class suburban environments, the set design for The Honeymooners reflected the blue collar existence of its characters.

The Kramdens lived in a small sparsely furnished two-room apartment ( the main set ) in a tenement building at least four stories high ( the Kramdens were on the third floor and the Nortons ' were one floor above them ), badly aired and with insufficient lighting.

They used the single main room as the kitchen, dining and living room, and it consisted of a functional table and chairs, a chest of drawers, a curtain-less window ( with a view of a fire escape ) and an outdated icebox.

The Kramdens ' bedroom was never seen, although in the episode about Ed Norton's sleepwalking the Nortons ' bedroom is shown.

One of the few other sitcoms about a blue-collar family was The Life of Riley, whose first season ( 1949 – 50 ) had actually featured Jackie Gleason in the lead role ; William Bendix took the role of Riley thereafter.