Outside Of The TV House Doesn't Match The Sets

[flashback]

the house on sanford and son did not seem right when they showed it from the inside and the area on the outside with the junk.not compared to the outside of it in the opening and closing credits.

it was something i noticed but it never got in the way of enjoyment of the show.

 

[Hal Erickson]

Here's an obscure one...the VERY short-lived Kevin Pollak-Nancy Travis sitcom WORK WITH ME. The interior of the couple's tiny law office indicated that the window was directly across from another building, allowing characters to climb from one window to another....and yet the exteriors indicated that the office was in a corner building, facing the street--with no other building in sight.
If I hadn't written a book about TV law shows I never would have noticed this one--or for that matter been forced to watch WORK WITH ME.
Of course, if you really want to get esoteric, the Flintstones' tiny one-story house could never have accommodated all that "repeated" furniture whenever anyone ran through the living room.

 

[bpatrick]

The Huxtables lived in a pretty big house by NYC Standards

Yeah, but he was supposed to be a medical doctor with a thriving practice, so I don't think the big New York house is too much of a stretch.

The Waltons had a huge house (and a guest house!). But only one bathroom for 11 people?

I wasn't a Waltons watcher, but weren't they supposed to be on the poor side? If so, a huge house wouldn't be likely - but one bathroom per house was pretty common for the middle and lower classes until after World War II. A lot of older San Francisco houses - even big ones - originally had one bathroom, with maybe an extra "water closet" (toilet only) in the basement.

"The Homecoming," the TV-movie that served as the pilot for "The Waltons," takes place in 1933, and the family is already in place, so more than likely the house was built before the Depression; it's also possible that Grandpa or some other ancestor built the house decades earlier; after all, large families were not at all uncommon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I wasn't a "Waltons" fan, either, but my mom, who grew up on a farm in North Carolina in the '40s was, and she used to marvel at two things: the indoor plumbing, which her parents' house didn't have until the '50s; and electricity (she and her siblings did their homework by kerosene lamps), which her parents didn't get until the late '40s or early '50s (and in case you're wondering, they had a battery-powered radio; TV came to these parts in 1949 but I don't think they got one until the early '50s).

 

[Al Timiter]

Maude.

The open zooms in on a house, presumably that of the Finley's. Then later in the open, she opens the door from the inside as if to greet a visitor. It's clear it's not the same door or house. The house they zoom in on even has a screened porch.

 

[firepoint525]

I'm not so sure if the house shown from the outside matches the "Casa Walsh" of Beverly Hills 90210. But then again, in the pilot episode, I believe they lived in an entirely different house. But there are often continuity issues between a pilot episode and the rest of the series, assuming that the series gets picked up.

On the Brady Bunch, I believe the backyard scenes also don't necessarily match the rest of the house. To say nothing of that astroturf backyard! And they continued to have the dog house long after Tiger was gone! I might have missed that except that I believe Bobby hid out in the doghouse in one of the later episodes.

 

[Markieo]

On the Brady Bunch, I believe the backyard scenes also don't necessarily match the rest of the house. To say nothing of that astroturf backyard! And they continued to have the dog house long after Tiger was gone! I might have missed that except that I believe Bobby hid out in the doghouse in one of the later episodes.

Peter also hid in the doghouse, after his voice started changing.

 

[searadiofreak]

The Brady Bunch house was simply an exterior of a north hollywood home located near the studio. Every other scene was shot on a Paramount hollywood set. My only complaint is the exterior shot mismanged the interior perhaps than more than any other tv show. Perhaps never hurt the show, so an unnecessary issue, but still good tv fun fodder. If you are a fan, the home still exists, (google can provide the address), but frankly it isn't exactly in a neighborhood that you would expect. A fun expedition in the Valley for tv geeks. Don't linger or knock on the door as the police will be called.

 

[notalkallstatic]

Married With Children
House of Payne (don't worry, I don't watch it, just only saw it once)
Gilligan's Island (island always changed...)

 

[firepoint525]

Gilligan's Island (island always changed...)

Don't know if you ever saw the made-for-TV movie about the behind the scenes goings-on at Gilligan's Island, but I recall that Alan Hale and Jim Backus were big golf addicts, and were practicing their swings from the "lagoon" between takes on the show. After one such round of practice swings, they got word that they had broken windows of cars in the parking lot! ;D Seems that they were a lot closer to civilization than they thought! ;D

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

The Brady Bunch house was simply an exterior of a north hollywood home located near the studio. Every other scene was shot on a Paramount hollywood set. My only complaint is the exterior shot mismanged the interior perhaps than more than any other tv show. Perhaps never hurt the show, so an unnecessary issue, but still good tv fun fodder. If you are a fan, the home still exists, (google can provide the address), but frankly it isn't exactly in a neighborhood that you would expect. A fun expedition in the Valley for tv geeks. Don't linger or knock on the door as the police will be called.

And IIRC the "upstairs window" was added to the exterior of the Brady home by the producers--the real house did not have that window. Am I remembering correctly?

 

[cowboybud]

The Brady Bunch house was simply an exterior of a north hollywood home located near the studio. Every other scene was shot on a Paramount hollywood set. My only complaint is the exterior shot mismanged the interior perhaps than more than any other tv show. Perhaps never hurt the show, so an unnecessary issue, but still good tv fun fodder. If you are a fan, the home still exists, (google can provide the address), but frankly it isn't exactly in a neighborhood that you would expect. A fun expedition in the Valley for tv geeks. Don't linger or knock on the door as the police will be called.

And IIRC the "upstairs window" was added to the exterior of the Brady home by the producers--the real house did not have that window. Am I remembering correctly?

Correct. The real house is a one-story.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

One TV house that is more-or-less true to it's source is the Connor home on "Roseanne." The actual house is located on Runnymeade Ave on Evansville's east side near the University of Evansville campus.

I had always been told (growing up) that the house was on 3rd Avenue near the "3rd/Delaware" street sign seen in cut-aways. And there is a house there that is similar, but is absent the driveway and a couple other features.

After comparing google maps and a screenshot of the house from the show, I'm convinced it's the Runnymeade house (though a bit updated).

 

[trusty]

Remember, on Everybody Loves Raymond, when Raymond's parents drove the car through the front of his house? It looked like the front wall was noticeably altered enough to let it happen.

 

[firepoint525]

Don't know about "the outside of the house matching the set" on this one, but supposedly, the outside of the Cunningham home on Happy Days had to be tightly shot because of palm trees growing near it! Wouldn't see those in Milwaukee! ;D But, of course, Happy Days originated the term "jumping the shark," so what's one more shark jump? ;D

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

At least one season, "I Dream of Jeannie's" Dr. and Mrs. Bellows lived in the interior of the Stephens' house on "Bewitched". (I remember it from the episode where Tony and Roger break in to switch boxes with Jeannie's bottle in one of them.)

I don't recall if they used the Stephens' exterior for the Bellows', tho.

 

[chrish]

I have been watching lots of I Love Lucy on METV and TV Land and while most of the living room scenes show a wall to the left of the kitchen and front hallway
with the bedroom to the left of this wall, I seem to remember on some shows there was a window in the wall with the piano in front of it. Anyone else remember this or am I crazy? So far I have noticed several rearrangements of the furniture but have yet to see the window.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

I noticed the different apartment, as well. The window over the piano played prominently in the episode about Little Ricky's birthday party visit from "Superman" (George Reeves).

I'm wondering if they "moved" apartments when Little Ricky was born?

 

[LKellerIII]

I noticed the different apartment, as well. The window over the piano played prominently in the episode about Little Ricky's birthday party visit from "Superman" (George Reeves).

I'm wondering if they "moved" apartments when Little Ricky was born?

I recall the "different apartments" as well. I believe the Ricardos did "move" into another apartment at some point during the years the show was on - I don't recall if it was keyed to Little Ricky's birth or not.

 

[ShawnHill1]

I noticed the different apartment, as well. The window over the piano played prominently in the episode about Little Ricky's birthday party visit from "Superman" (George Reeves).

I'm wondering if they "moved" apartments when Little Ricky was born?

I recall the "different apartments" as well. I believe the Ricardos did "move" into another apartment at some point during the years the show was on - I don't recall if it was keyed to Little Ricky's birth or not.

If I remember correctly, the Ricardos changed apartments sometime during season three, just after Little Ricky's birth. Their reasoning, of course, was that the original apartment would be too cramped to hold not just Lucy and Ricky, but Little Ricky as well. In the second apartment, you had go through Lucy and Ricky's bedroom in order to get to Little Ricky's bedroom/nursery.

Personally, I was always partial to the Ricardos' second apartment...it was much livelier than the first apartment. I also believe the change to the second apartment coincided with the change in studio facilities, when Desilu bought their own studio lot (what's now the Ren-Mar Studios at Cahuenga Boulevard near Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood). Heck, if I were to rank them...the second apartment, the Connectcuit country home, the first apartment.

As to Sanford & Son...in a bit of irony, my mother and I briefly lived (with family friends) near the Sanford house where was set (91st Street and Central Avenue in the Watts section of southeast Los Angeles). We actually drove by there several times back then, during the mid-80s, especially during the time when daily reruns were airing on KHJ/KCAL Channel 9. I haven't personally visited that part of town in many years, and it's not exactly a great neighborhood either.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I saw another example on a "Mary Tyler Moore" episode.

Phyllis got her real estate license, and badgered Lou into selling his house (post-divorce).

The interior of Lou's house shows the front door leading to an outside trellis. The front exterior view shows the front door straight, with no such trellis in front of it.