Awright, awright! Let's class this thread up! Enough with the toilet paper.

To get back to the original query, it was: I've noticed that in a lot of films and TV shows from the US that many apartments in city tower blocks don't seem to have, let alone use, curtains.

Dazbo, once again TV fails to portray the true life of the American people. In general, a rental property has to have shades of some kind in the windows. If the shows you watch are about young professionals in big cities renting apartments and shagging like crazy in them, then the apartments should shades or blinds to be legal and realistic.

However, once the American woman switches from being a renter to a property owner, watch out! Suddenly all these drapery-buying hormones swing into play. An American picture window just isn't right unless it's completely buried by draperies. You might leave the the blind in place, then you add sheers, next the drapes proper, and to top it off a valence, window scarf or swag. Tiebacks, preferably elegant, finish the look.

This applies to windows that face the street. Other windows can be more open to the world.

Someday a builder will figure out that he doesn't need to put windows in the front of a house at all. Builders will just apply woodwork to the blank walls, omitting the glazing, and allowing Madam to drape it to her heart's content.