Yeah I hear you I have been on a real 70s kick lately with films and METV(A network that does nothing but broadcast old TV shows over the air)has added a ton of 70s shows to their line up lately and the one thing I noticed was that even the family sitcoms looked more real and had a level of grit to them that isn't present in today's dramas.
What is more I think today's Tv shows and movies are missing a trick because when everyone is pretty and perfect they all look the same. Back in the day an actor's face could draw you in because every line on it could have a story to tell and the viewer would want to know that story.
Oh and as for aspiring to be like the people on Tv these days I think all they are doing is depressing people. At least in the old days on shows like Hill Street blues and Cheers they would show how hard it was being a single parent so if you were watching and you had those problems you wouldn't feel bad about yourself. Now adays every parent has time for their kids, makes a huge amount of money, and has a house that is magically clean. It creates this image that if you don't have this life that there is no way to get in the real world then you are a bad person. So not only is it unrelatable but it is depressing.
Also modern clean sets call attention to the fact that they are sets, the homes and locations don't looked lived in, there are no dark patches on the walls and now piles of laundry being worked on so I don't buy the locations as places where people live and it hurts my ability to believe in the world the show takes place in.
Oh and don't even get me started on the number of shows that feature people who work at a desk all day and live off of take out and yet are in perfect shape, I don't believe these perfect looking people are who the show is telling me they are for a moment. What ever happened to Sipowitz being our image of what a man would look like after twenty years spent mostly at a desk typing. Oh and don't even get me started on female cast members who are getting so thin they are unatractive and look like they could give you a paper cut and then they insult as by asking us to believe that they live off of a diet of donuts and burgers. How am I supposed to believe anything in this world is real, and if I don't believe in the world why should I be invested in the outcome of the story.
I am sorry maybe I am just an old fart ranting, but I really think a lot of modern Tv shows and movies that could be good are shooting themselves in the foot by making the worlds look ultra fake and giving us interchangible casts of pretty people that we can not relate to or believe in as people.