Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
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- This article is about the television series. For the song by Good Charlotte, see Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (song).
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was a television series that ran from 1984 to 1995. The show featured the usually extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes, and business moguls. It was hosted by Robin Leach; Leach was joined by Shari Belafonte in 1994, and the show was renamed Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte.
Lifestyles was one of the first shows to capitalize specifically on Americans' interest in the lives of the wealthy. Later shows such as MTV's Cribs and VH1's The Fabulous Life Of continued this concept.
[edit] Parodies/allusions
- Lifestyles was parodied on Sesame Street with "Lifestyles of the Big and Little," hosted by Dicky Tick.
- Lifestyles was also parodied on Saturday Night Live with "Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous", "Lifestyles of the Rich, Famous and Scary" and "Afterlifestyles of the Rich and Famous".
- In the film Shrek 2, Donkey says "champagne wishes and caviar dreams from now on" upon first seeing the kingdom of Far, Far Away–a reference to Leach's catchphrase.
- In the DuckTales episode "Down and Out in Duckburg", Scrooge McDuck gives an interview to a version of this show.
- The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Lifestyles of the Sick and Twisted" revolved around Dr. Robotnik's desire to be a featured guest on a program titled Lifestyles of the Very Good. When he is rejected in favor of Sonic, Robotnik makes the host, Throbbin Screech, interview him by kidnapping his unnamed niece, after which he changes the show's title to that of the episode itself, and later to Lifestyles of Robotnik Only. Also on the episode "Momma Robotnik's Birthday", Sonic refers to the old home as "I've seen this place in the Lifestyles of the Mean and Rotten."
- The Earthworm Jim episode "The Book of Doom" featured an intermission segment where Professor Monkey-For-A-Head is featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Villainous.
- An episode of the second season of Garfield and Friends titled "Lifestyles of the Fat and Furry" had Garfield winning the lottery and being featured on the titular program. At the end, though, Garfield loses his fortune because he was underage (he was 11 years old at the time the episode aired), and the winnings are given to the Robin Leach look-alike (played by Robin Leach himself), who is thrilled that he can now "stop hosting this stupid program and talking in this stupid voice!"
- The Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas features "CTV" (Circus Television) on each TV in each room, with the same exact programming repeated every few hours. Among this programming is "Lifestyles of the Rich and Tasty" hosted by a clown named "Rubin Leach" and it promotes the various restaurants of the hotel, with Robin Leach's hosting techniques heavily parodied.
