Evelyn Harper, our favorite TV real estate agent

by Dan Krell © 2009

Television doesn’t often portray a realistic view of life, especially in a sitcom. That’s probably why reality TV has a huge following. And what’s more interesting than real estate?

A couple of well produced reality shows that presents the “realistic” drama of buying and selling homes include Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing” and HGTV’s “Real Estate Intervention.” These two shows depict the daily ins and outs of real estate in two markets on opposite coasts of the country, as well as illustrating how hard a real estate agent works for their clients. For example, while demonstrating the slowdown in the market (Million Dollar Listing’s) Chad endlessly waits for prospects to show up to his open house.

But no matter how hard Realtors work at maintaining a positive image, leave it to a sitcom to stereotype the personification of the real estate agent. Credibly played by Holland Taylor on CBS’s “Two and a Half Men,”, the fictional character Evelyn Harper appears to be the quintessential real estate agent.

Ok, Evelyn is portrayed as selfish, opportunistic, unloving, and sometimes pushing the ethical envelope. But personality traits aside; she is always wheeling and dealing, always thinking, and appears to be a very hard working real estate agent. For example, in the 2007 episode “Media Room Slash Dungeon,” Evelyn attends a charity event with her son Charlie. When asked by Charlie:“…If you don’t like any of these people, why do you come to these things?” Evelyn quips: “ Do you read the paper? Do you know what the Los Angeles real estate market is like now?…No one is selling unless they have to…that’s why I have to be working these rooms to learn who is getting divorced, who’s dying, who can’t make bail, who’s crappy sitcom got cancelled…”

If the fictional Evelyn were a real person she might not be your best friend, but you could possibly say that she does know real estate, about networking and the art of making the deal. But the real reason that Evelyn Harper is our favorite TV real estate agent is that she allows us to laugh at ourselves by seeing the humor in typecasting a real estate agent; although exaggerated personality traits (and personality disorders) are not pleasant in real life- it makes great TV comedy!

This article is about fictional TV characters and not to be confused with any real person or real estate agent with similar or same names. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice.