Representations of age in TV series

Youth

Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) from 'Freaks and Geeks' is a terrific example of a teenage girl character. She is struggling to figure out who she is or who she belongs with. She stops hanging out with her old, "lame" friends and starts hanging out with a gang of less academically minded friends (self-proclaimed "freaks") which worries both her family and her old friends. She's sort of an outcast in this new crowd, but in her naive adolescent mind she believes this is who she should be with, so she tries desperately to fit in with them, even if it means neglecting her family, her mother in particular (such as in the Halloween episode) who she used to get along with so well, and her other friends. This is typical of teenage girls as they struggle with their own identity, hopping from one crowd to another to find solace in some combination of friends.

Lindsay has been given extra responsibility as Sam's older sister, and she fulfils that responsibility every time she helps him out with his social life, something she's able to do a lot better since hanging out with the freaks. In her early high school years, Lindsay was recognised by her teachers as a bright and thoughtful student, as well as a brilliant member of the Mathletes. However, when her grandmother dies, she begins to question religion, social structure and the general direction of her life. This often happens to teenagers who are exposed to a heavy issue such as death at a very young age. Lindsay starts out being very deferential to the freaks and ignoring their rudeness towards her, but she loses any fear of them as the series progresses, and after she calls them out for being selfish and having no futures, her ties to the group were solidified with mutual respect. Despite her new social situation, she remains an intelligent and considerate person.

She is continually questioning the world around her in order to find a place to fit in. She doesn't really know what she wants; she has no direction but she hates that, so she's desperately looking for direction in her life. Where she used to be at the top of all teacher's lists for college recommendation, she now questions whether or not she wants to carry on with further education, defending to one teacher that "Einstein didn't go to college."

She follows the fashion trends and interests of many '90s teenagers looking to be independent, or exist in their own shell. She wears her dad's old army jacket for most of the series, and jeans, and she is a fan of classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and others. She struggles to make it through day to day life, even though she's smarter than almost everyone around her - it's this barrier that forms part of the problem. Overall, we emphathise with Lindsay as we have all been teenagers and know how difficult growing up and figuring out who you are can be, and to teenage girls and women, she is a very relateable character.

Young professional

Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) from the American version of 'The Office' is shown as a competent salesman at Dunder Mifflin. Despite this, he rarely bothers to fulfil his full potential and insists that his job as salesman for Dunder Mifflin is just a job and not a career, despite the years he has spent there. He has a cool, rebellious attitude towards his work, but is filled with ambition and wants to achieve something more with his life. Being a young guy, he can plan like this because he has his whole life ahead of him. His main interests are cycling and pranking; he's young, he's active, he's mischievous. In one of the later seasons he achieves this goal in helping form the sports management company Athlead with some old friends and Dunder Mifflin co-worker Darryl Philbin.

Jim is the younger and saner counterpart to regional manager Michael Scott, made most obvious at one point when he is appointed Michael's co-manager. He has the office romance with Pam Beesly that only a young, attractive person could have (no romance for Creed). He is at a slightly juvenile and immature age, and therefore finds a nemesis in his desk-mate Dwight Schrute. He often has his jacket unbuttoned and the top button of his shirt undone to appear cool and unprofessional, unlike Dwight, as teenagers tend to do with their school uniforms to make them appear more fashionable. Jim is heavily interested in sports like most young guys, and is a lovable underachiever.

Middle-aged

Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) in 'Modern Family' is a classic sitcom dad, which has become a staple in the media of how we see middle-aged family men. He is the husband of Claire and father of Haley, Alex and Luke. A reasonably successful real estate agent, Phil is, in many ways, an overgrown child. His main goal in life is to ensure that his kids and their friends see him as being cool. Phil has a penchant for bad jokes and worse puns, but thinks of himself as hilarious. He adores Claire, yet falls easily into the mode of seeing her a killjoy when she tries to keep the household on track despite his antics. Despite his loyal marriage to Claire and love for her, Phil maintains an obvious crush on Jay's wife Gloria.

Phil wants to be someone his kids can talk to, but usually opts for making jokes when they have serious things to discuss and gets nervous if he can't figure out what to say. Still, he's a sentimental and emotional guy who wants nothing but the best for his family, which means everything to him. Phil also has a deep and unending need for the approval of his father-in-law Jay, which he rarely gets. On the professional side, Phil ranks anywhere from the second- to fourth-best real estate agent in the area, having never been able to unseat his main rival, Gil Thorpe. Phil sometimes finds his responsibilities daunting, but his love for his wife and kids keeps him going. He provides for his family and takes his relationship with them seriously, despite frequently finding himself in comical situations with them, which has been the norm of middle-aged dads in sitcoms from Homer Simpson to Al Bundy to Ray Barone.

Old age

Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) from 'The Walking Dead' is something of a wise old wizard for the group of survivors in the vain of Ben Kenobi. Where Rick Grimes is the leader of the group, he is somewhat mentally unbalance and can't be trusted to make every decision with his instability, Hershel acts as their moral compass. A farmer and a veterinarian, Hershel used to live on a bucolic estate in rural Georgia with his daughters Maggie and Beth, farmhand Otis, his wife Patricia, and Jimmy following the zombie apocalypse. When Rick and his company of survivors arrive, Hershel is reluctant to accept them fully, making the group camp outside rather than living in the big farmhouse - a symbol of relative stability in a world gone mad. His past includes trouble with alcoholism, which resurface in the face of so much death and destruction. He is old enough to have such a complex backstory, and this has shaped who he is today, as with most elderly dramatic characters. Hershel has a lot of life experience, and can help the young characters learn from that, and keep them on the right path.

The messy state of the post-apocalyptic landscape also tests his religious faith as well as his faith in his fellow man. Older people tend to be more religious than younger people as they are coming closer to death and try to come to terms with it. With his vet skills, Hershel becomes the group's medic, as no one else is smart or qualified enough. At one point Hershel is bitten and subsequently saved by Rick doing an impromptu amputation of his wounded leg. He pulls through, but this has disabled him, making Hershel not only the oldest but now the only one with a disability, which some could see as a hindrance to the group in this survival-of-the-fittest world. In that situation the younger characters were quick and agile enough to not only save themselves, but also him, while old Hershel couldn't even keep himself safe.

Unlike survivors such as Shane, Hershel believes that a cure is possible and that his undead friends, neighbours and loved ones might someday return to their normal human state. This shows Hershel as the most sympathetic and hopeful one of the group, which his old age could be to blame for as it's made him soft. This belief drives Hershel to take few unconventional measures that are eventually revealed to Rick and the rest of the survivors, much to their shock and discomfort. Through it all, however, Hershel remains a principled and caring person, using his rudimentary medical skills to aid several survivors. He is a voice of reason and caring logic, especially to Rick, who comes to trust Hershel for guidance under the most trying circumstances.