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Fake Stations On TV Shows

B

briancraig

I was watching Shark last week and James Woods was watching a local newscast. The station was channel 10. I was wondering why don't they just use KCBS TV 2?

McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O would sometimes go down to KGMB, but usually it seems like they use fake tv stations.

Does anyone know why?
 
In the case of "Hill Street Blues", this was actually done to help create confusion on the location of the show (the show took place in an unnamed setting, although hints pointed at Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh among other gritty Northern cities and the show was actually mostly filmed in LA). The show's cops were shown watching news reports of their own activities on two or three different channels during the show's run, one of which used "K" call letters and another used "W" calls.
 
I have noticed that the "fake" station used in "CSI"(the original set in Vegas) is using a station with call letters starting in a "W"! ???-they were using the Vegas CBS affiliate (KLAS Ch 8) previously.

Fake stations are possibly used due to future syndication on different network stations.
 
I think they should always use fake stations as not to confuse viewers flipping by about what is real and what is not. I know on 24 they use Fox News graphics and stuff to report on terrorism stories. Can you imagine flipping by and not knowing it was a fictional tv show?
 
marko83 said:
I think they should always use fake stations as not to confuse viewers flipping by about what is real and what is not. I know on 24 they use Fox News graphics and stuff to report on terrorism stories. Can you imagine flipping by and not knowing it was a fictional tv show?
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Isn't it also FCC regulation to prevent confusion?
 
One possibility is to avoid confusion down the road if a station should change their affiliation down the road.

Not a use in a TV show but similar situation: in Terry Gilliam's film Twelve Monkeys, he used actual newscasters, sets, and TV logos for newscasts relating to the story. For the Philadelphia scenes, he used WCAU-TV, Channel 10, complete with the big CBS Eye in their logo.

Unfortunately, even though he shot the film in 1993 and 1994, it was set in 1996. In 1995, WCAU was purchased by NBC (because of the big CBS/Westinghouse buyout) and became an NBC O&O. Thus, it leaves the impression that the Big Affiliate Swap was what kept the Plague from wiping out most of mankind. Maybe the geneticist was too busy watching the four o'clock news to get his genome correct.
 
Occasionally, real stations are used in the movies. There was a Kevin Bacon movie in the 1990s called "He Said/She Said". There was quite a bit of WBAL-TV (NBC) channel 11 Baltimore in that one! I have seen phony channel 3 or 6 used for New York City before.
 
On the Odd Couple, Felix and Oscar won a car from Dick Clark on WZAZ. They picked up the car in front of an ABC studio. I've seen WZAZ used a few times on
mobile units on TV dramas.
 
NBC made reference to their O&O WTVJ 6 in Miami during ER.

And CSI: Miami frequently refers to "Channel 4" in their show, in reference to WFOR-TV. I think even a news anchor and the station graphics appear from time to time...I remember one of the anchors talking about her cameo in CSI: Miami.

Kinda random, but...

Radio-X
 
I believe there's actaully a Wikipedia page on this!
JAG and NCIS both use ZNN
Up until a about a year ago, all of David E. Kelley's shows used "WKDE" (his initial re-arranged), but lately, on Boston Legal, he is also adding WCVB 5 which really is the ABC station in Boston. It should also be pointed out that David E. Kelley avoids shooting his shows on location in Boston because of Union issues, but I'm not sure if that is related.
 
On The Edge of Night, the TV station on there was WMON, for Monticello, the town setting.

Likewise, Another World used KBAY (the show's town setting was Bay City) for a TV station.

I checked the FCC database, and neither calls are being used for a real TV station.
 
I was wondering about the Mary Tyler Moore Show and if there is/was really a WJM elsewhere since it was a fictional station in Minneapolis.

I remember when Happy Days did the episode with Howdy Doody and the Big Money episode where they used (I think) WMIL as call letters. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
 
I have heard Channel 5 referred to on ER at least once - obviously a reference to WMAQ in Chicago. On Law & Order, they often use New York 1 mics and even footage, and for other mic flags I have seen 4's from time to time, although they look nothing like WNBC. As for movies, The Day After Tomorrow used both WNYW and KTTV footage. Part of Mrs. Doubtfire took place at the KTVU Channel 2 studios in San Francisco, and they showed the 2 logo a couple times.

Most of the time though, I've seen fake stations. The movie Snow Day took place in Syracuse, and one of the main characters was a weatherman on a Channel 6. They referred to the "other two" stations there, one of which I remember was on 10, and the other I know was not 3, 5, or 9.
 
easttxtv said:
On The Edge of Night, the TV station on there was WMON, for Monticello, the town setting.

Likewise, Another World used KBAY (the show's town setting was Bay City) for a TV station.

I checked the FCC database, and neither calls are being used for a real TV station.
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I think "As The World Turns" uses a fake TV station for it's town of Oakdale, IL. Channel 3 or something?
 
The Brady Bunch watched their Amateur Hours, Davy Jones interviews, and Jesse James movies on KBEX-TV.
I remember at least one Happy Days ep that referred to WZAZ.
 
Mary Tyler Moore was always pretty good about using fake TV stations and call letters. I remember she dated the guy from "Channel 8" and would have Rhoda quick turn to channel 10. WJM-TV was of course Channel 12. All channels not in use in Minneapolis.

CBS was pretty picky in the early years about not promoting anything other than CBS. I recall Lucille Ball saying they would try to do a parody of Artie Johsnon's "Very interesting." but CBS pulled it everytime as they wanted no references to Laugh-In. Which was funny because Laugh-In used to mention Lucy quite a bit. They were on at the same time. Green Acres would often mention WPXL for Pixley, that was so poor they'd have to run radio programs on the TV station.

I think on Underdog "Sweet" Polly Purebread worked for TTV as a reporter.

The big mistakes TV shows usually make is none of them seem to understand in the Central and Mountain Time zones Prime Time ends at 10pm. You always see characters in Chicago watching the 11 O'Clock news.
 
Kevin Lagasse said:
Occasionally, real stations are used in the movies. There was a Kevin Bacon movie in the 1990s called "He Said/She Said". There was quite a bit of WBAL-TV (NBC) channel 11 Baltimore in that one! I have seen phony channel 3 or 6 used for New York City before.
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WBAL made a claim a few years back on the 50th Anniversay special that they are seen in more movies than any other TV station in America.

The made for TV-movie "Death of Ocean View Park" was filmed in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area back in the late 70s. The is a very brief scene of a Norfolk TRT Bus sporting a billboard on its side with a picture of the late local news anchor Ed Hughes telling people to watch "News 3 on WTAR-TV". The movie however aired on ABC-TV which meant in Norfolk, the movie aired on WVEC-TV.

Sadly that scene was edited out when I caught this movie on TBS about 10 years ago.

Speaking of TBS...Another interesting example is the late 70s Tatum O'Neil/ Matt Dillon flick "Little Darlings". In one of the opening scenes, when you see Kristy McNichol's mother's car pull into the parking lot you can see in the background a billboard for WTCG-TV 17. TBS before TBS.
 
Mark said:
Mary Tyler Moore was always pretty good about using fake TV stations and call letters. I remember she dated the guy from "Channel 8" and would have Rhoda quick turn to channel 10. WJM-TV was of course Channel 12. All channels not in use in Minneapolis.
Click to expand...

...however, there *were* occasional references to WCCO, although I'd have to take a look at the episodes to determine if the reference could have been to the radio station rather than TV...don't recall who got the off-network rerun rights to MTM in Minneapolis...
 
Hi everyone:
Kevin Lagasse said:
I have seen phony channel 3 or 6 used for New York City before.
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An example of this is in the 1984 Holiday movie It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. In that movie, a fictional Channel 3 is used as a New York City station.

Cheers :D

Pat
 
Hi everyone:
radiodxrichmond said:
NBC made reference to their O&O WTVJ 6 in Miami during ER.
Click to expand...
You would think they'd make reference to WMAQ 5 instead since ER is set in Chicago. Go figure.....
And CSI: Miami frequently refers to "Channel 4" in their show, in reference to WFOR-TV.
Click to expand...
I think 24 has made reference to KTTV 11 a time or two as well if my memory serves me correctly (But yes, they stick mostly with FNC or the fictional CN3 "network").

Cheers :D

Pat
 
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