That was a bad place for the original 24" tube TV for sure - neck twisting. We took it out and did what Phil recommends using a laptop and USB tuner on the dinette table. Now have too much storage space.
I bet the ubiquitous B+ fp I linked above resulted from Born Free's popularity at that time. They made the overcab bed an option w/ an entertainment center and smaller overcab space. They also promoted neat twin sofa beds that would raise at the head end so the overcab TV was then in a perfect spot for the two reclined viewers. You could say that the den was replaced w/ a bedroom. In both cases, the dinette had to be set up - kind of like TV trays.
Mlts, there's a lot of flexibility in that tired old layout. The small shower could store a couple folding bikes too.
If taken a step farther, you can shave off a lot more length and width via a wet bath and a rear door. The TL 211, Born Free Built for Two, and Chinook come to mind, with the Chinook Premier coming in as the smallest, if I recall.
We started out looking at truck canpers. Then conversion vans, then I started following the B+ thread on RV.net. Somehow we just skipped looking at short cabover Cs, where all the rooms are permanently in place. (Now that I think, we got into RVing mainly so our dogs could get into state parks, and at the time, both dogs slept w/ us.)
So, I guess, dogs rule!