5 Famous Housekeepers from Your Favorite TV Shows
TV is fond of representing a variety of careers on screen. From housewives to doctors, nurses, and lawyers, most jobs are represented on television. One such job is the classic maid and housekeeper, a character who is often used as a representation of the protagonist's wealth, but who also serves a greater purpose than cleaning.
A housekeeper is often an insider-outsider. She sees the family from the eyes of an outsider, despite slowly becoming an insider as well. The maid plays an important role in keeping the household running, but, often, also, in keeping the family together.
Here, we look at 10 famous housekeepers that have been featured in TV series:
Alice – The Brady Bunch
Alice, played by actress Ann B. Davis, is the live-in housekeeper employed by Mike Brady. Her role becomes more challenging when Mike marries Carol Martin, meaning there is a total of 6 children in the household!
Marisol – Devious Maids
Marisol is the main character of the contemporary TV show, ‘Devious Maids’. Following a murder which her son is blamed for; Marisol, a successful college professor, decides to go undercover as a domestic maid to find out what secrets she can unearth.
Dorota – Gossip Girl
Dorota is the maid at the Waldorf residence in the TV show, ‘Gossip Girl’. Born and raised in Poland as a countess, Dorota lands a job as a housekeeper in America after leaving her husband behind in their homeland. Despite only being the Waldorfs' maid, she is a patient and a reliable source of support for Blair.
Florence – The Jeffersons
The Jefferson's witty, fearless maid, Florence Johnston was a popular character on the show. Her job is supposed to take up most of her time; however, she seems to be flat-out slothful (as far as George sees it), using very little effort to clean the Jeffersons' apartment, which she still manages to do well. Producers would soon make her move into the Jefferson household so that she can play a more central part of the family. Although George tries to fire her a few times, the pair come to love and understand each other as the series progresses.
Magda – Sex and The City
Magda is employed as a housekeeper and nanny by Miranda during season 3. She is patient and hard-working, often acting like a mother figure to Miranda and sometimes disapproving of her modern, independent lifestyle. Her attempts to push traditional marriage/motherhood attitudes on Miranda are both subtle and intrusive. However, Magda comes to accept Miranda's lifestyle choices. She even makes life manageable for Miranda after the birth of Brady by serving as a housekeeper and a nanny.