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Real cities/places passed over as a TV show setting

I

ixnay

Maybe some of you have read The Book of America by Neal Peirce and Jerry Hagstrom. This 1983 book, which I had for many years, devoted a chapter to the people, economy, politics, and culture of each of the 50 states, plus DC.

In the California chapter's description of San Diego, it was mentioned, among other things, that the City by the Border was passed over as the setting for a sitcom (unnamed in the book) because SD wasn't "sexy" enough. Anyone know the story about this?

Which brings up the point of this thread, which I was thinking about over the weekend. Surely there must be other real life cities passed over as settings (or models for settings) for TV series for one reason or another. I mean, this Happy Days/Laverne & Shirley devotee always wondered why Milwaukee got the honors for those. I'm talking mainly about scripted shows. Got backstories?

ixnay
 
I have that book and wouldn't mind seeing it updated.

Back on-topic, more or less: I don't know about any
sitcom set in San Diego but I know of at least one drama
series set there: David Janssen's "Harry O" (1974-76).
Janssen played a cop forced to retire from the force after
being shot in the back (unlike Ironside, he wasn't confined
to a wheelchair although he had difficulty walking). He set
up his own detective agency on Coronado Island and used the
bus whenever he went into town. Despite fairly good ratings
Fred Silverman canceled it in favor of "Charlie's Angels," and
Janssen swore he'd never do another series, which didn't matter
since he died in 1980.
 
ixnay said:
In the California chapter's description of San Diego, it was mentioned, among other things, that the City by the Border was passed over as the setting for a sitcom (unnamed in the book) because SD wasn't "sexy" enough. Anyone know the story about this?
Click to expand...

Ironic since San Diego fit so well into Anchorman.
 
San Diego was initially the setting for Simon and Simon.
Later on they kind of migrated away from that to a generic Southern
California setting.

As far as cities being passed over, to my knowledge nobody has EVER
made a TV show set in Toledo.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
As far as San Diego, I once read where "Scrubs" was set in a generic West Coast City the producers referred to as "SanDiFranGeles".
Click to expand...
However, Turk gave out his phone number with a 916 area code (Sacramento) though it could have been 619 backwards (San Diego). 8)

Two San Diego shows that tanked early are That 80s Show and Shat(ner) My Dad Says. ;)
 
Guys, I asked about cities that were *almost* settings for a specific series, not cities that won the honor.

Guess no one knows the inside dirt about the topic.

ixnay
 
Limp73 said:
...or Dayton or Louisville or Wheeling etc.

What about Toledo or Columbus?
Click to expand...

Family Ties was set in Columbus. I don't know
of a show that was based in Toledo, but Klinger
from M*A*S*H was from Toledo.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
I'm not sure I can think of any shows that have ever been set in Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...

Karl Malden's NBC series "Skag," which lasted from January 6 to February 21, 1980.
Its combination of problems at home and on the job for Malden's character, a steelworker,
proved awfully depressing: Skag was out of work as a result of a stroke and a younger worker
was gunning for his job as a foreman; at home, he was a more serious Archie Bunker, having to
deal with a Jewish wife in an otherwise-Catholic family, a son more interested in making money
than in anything else and another who worked in the mill and was ashamed of it, one daughter
who was introverted and another who slept around in hopes of
becoming popular, and a father who had also suffered a debilitating stroke.

Perhaps the show was too realistic for its own good; after a strong three-hour premiere,
viewers left in droves.

I've often wondered if a primetime soap set in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky could have
worked in the '80s; I'm not sure if the combination of horse, tobacco, and bourbon interests
has quite the appeal of oil and cattle down in "Dallas," but who knows? Maybe there's a J.R.
lurking among all those Kentucky colonels.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
As far as San Diego, I once read where "Scrubs" was set in a generic West Coast City the producers referred to as "SanDiFranGeles".
Click to expand...

I recall that The Rookies was generica West Coast - the city was never mentioned, but the uniform emblems said "SCPD"...presumably for Southern California.

Then there are the generic gritty East Coast cities, like the setting for Hill Street Blues. I believe they were the "Metro" police.
 
Tim from Springfield said:
Corky Marlowe said:
I'm not sure I can think of any shows that have ever been set in Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...

"Mr. Belvedere" (ABC, 1985-90).
Click to expand...

There was another ABC program set in Pittsburgh ("Sirens"); this one aired during mid-90s centering around three female police officers. Its first season (a mid-season replacement) aired on the Alphabet, and its second and final season aired in first-run syndication.

Wikipedia has a list of other shows set in the Steel City, most recently, the CBS medical drama "Three Rivers" (2009-10).
 
ShawnHill1 said:
Tim from Springfield said:
Corky Marlowe said:
I'm not sure I can think of any shows that have ever been set in Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...

"Mr. Belvedere" (ABC, 1985-90).
Click to expand...

There was another ABC program set in Pittsburgh ("Sirens"); this one aired during mid-90s centering around three female police officers. Its first season (a mid-season replacement) aired on the Alphabet, and its second and final season aired in first-run syndication.

Wikipedia has a list of other shows set in the Steel City, most recently, the CBS medical drama "Three Rivers" (2009-10).
Click to expand...

"Hill Street Blues" seemed to use Chicago as its backdrop, but the players and producers drew on the common background for many of them, Carnegie Tech, which wasn't too far from the Hill District police station in Pittsburgh.
"The Guardian" with "Mentalist's" Simon Baker also was set in Pittsburgh.
Can't think of any other show beside possibly "Hill Street Blues" that thought of Pittsburgh but chose another city in its stead.
 
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