What tv show captured the flavor of its city best?

[fybush]

I would say Scranton, PA with "The Office." I love seeing references of the area in the show (Wegman's brand soft drinks, Gertrude Hawk Chocolate in the vending machine, the Froggy 101 bumper sticker near Dwight's desk, the one episode where the Chief Meteorologist from the local NBC station, WBRE, made an appearance on a TV in the background, etc.) Plus the opening credits and B-Roll were flmed in Scranton, PA.

Don't forget the Utz potato chips in the Dunder-Mifflin vending machine!

Too bad they slipped up in one of the last episodes this past season, when Michael talked about the morning show on "Froggy 98-7." Dunno where THAT came from...

 

[LKellerIII]

I would say Scranton, PA with "The Office." I love seeing references of the area in the show (Wegman's brand soft drinks, Gertrude Hawk Chocolate in the vending machine, the Froggy 101 bumper sticker near Dwight's desk, the one episode where the Chief Meteorologist from the local NBC station, WBRE, made an appearance on a TV in the background, etc.) Plus the opening credits and B-Roll were flmed in Scranton, PA.

Don't forget the Utz potato chips in the Dunder-Mifflin vending machine!

Too bad they slipped up in one of the last episodes this past season, when Michael talked about the morning show on "Froggy 98-7." Dunno where THAT came from...

Tere's a "Froggy" bumper sticker on one of the file cabinets or desks in The Office. The camera catches it from time to time. Though Scranton may or may not have a "Froggy," it hardly matters, does it? You see fictional TV and radio stations in TV shows and movies all the time.

Think of all those TV crime shows based in Los Angeles that have news reporters showing up from "Channel 6" or "Channel 12." LA has neither a '6' or '12.'

 

[Carmine5]

As I see it, for a show to truly capture the flavor of the city it's set in, at least 50% (if not all of it) should be shot in that city. So, for me, the shows that capture Los Angeles best are "Perry Mason" and "Emergency."

For that matter, "Hawaii Five O" captures Honolulu very well, including the seedy neighborhoods of that city (yes, they exist).

c5

I agree with "Emergency" and "Hawaii 5-0" but would suggest that "Dragnet" (the original) was a much better representative of L.A. than "Perry Mason".

"Perry Mason" would often make reference to areas like Glendale, Marina Del Ray or Terminal Island, cities within Los Angeles County, and would shoot scenes at those locations. If you want to get a sense of what L.A. County looked like back in the late 50's and early 60's, "Perry Mason" is a great show for that purpose.

Another show from the past which made extensive use of locations in and around Los Angeles was "Adam 12."

c5

 

[Corky Marlowe]

"Hill Street Blues was not set in Chicago. It was one of those cop shows set in an anonymous rust belt city - the name of the city was never mentioned. To me, the show had an East Coast flavor, so I assumed it was supposed to be eastern seaboard. I believe their department had some generic name like Metropolitan Police Department."


If Hill Street Blues had an unspoken, implicit setting (despite it never saying it out loud) it was probably Buffalo. Steven Bochco is originally from Buffalo, and with the exception of Hill Street itself, most of the street names mentioned are Buffalo streets (Delaware, Hertel and Elmwood Avenues are giveaways).

I always thought Chicago because the opening credits showed a bar with an Old Style beer sign outside. I've also heard Pittsburgh becuase there's supposedly a neighborhood there called "The Hill".

 

[John-Summers]

Two pages and none of you have mentioned 'Homicide: Life on The Street'? For shame.

"Homicide" was the first thing that came to mind for me, living a mere 50 miles from Charm City. Every episode was shot in Baltimore, the actors lived there while the series was in production, and the many topical references were completely authentic. Barry Levinson made great use of the little local peculiarities of his hometown. "Homicide" almost seemed like it was directed entirely to people who lived in Baltimore, and folks anywhere else were welcome to watch too. Simply one of the best shows ever.

Now you might say that a show focused on murder investigation wouldn't be such a positive thing for a city's image, and I recall a few pompous councilpersons thought so too, but the tourist dollars that show brought to Baltimore were substantial. Everybody went to Fels Point and had their picture taken in front of the building that served as the police station, and then went looking for the bar "owned" by Bayliss, Munch and Meldrick.

 

[fybush]

Tere's a "Froggy" bumper sticker on one of the file cabinets or desks in The Office. The camera catches it from time to time. Though Scranton may or may not have a "Froggy," it hardly matters, does it? You see fictional TV and radio stations in TV shows and movies all the time.

It matters immensely, at least to this crowd.

The Office producers have been incredibly good about *not* fictionalizing the little details about Scranton. The bumper sticker to which you refer says "Froggy 101," which is not only a real Scranton radio station but arguably the real Scranton radio station. In this past season, there were frequent on-air references to WBRE, the very real NBC affiliate that serves Scranton. They get a lot of other little details right, too, as other posts in this thread have noted: the Wegmans-brand soda in the fridge, the Utz potato chips, the names of the local pizza joints and area vacation spots.

Which is precisely why it grated so badly when they had Michael Scott refer in a recent episode to "Froggy 98.7" instead of "Froggy 101" - you either go all-fictional and have the characters drink "Orange Pop" and watch "Channel 37 News," or you go local and get the details right. But if you start to get the details right, at least some of us notice when one of them is glaringly wrong.

 

[searadiofreak]

I would say Scranton, PA with "The Office." I love seeing references of the area in the show (Wegman's brand soft drinks, Gertrude Hawk Chocolate in the vending machine, the Froggy 101 bumper sticker near Dwight's desk, the one episode where the Chief Meteorologist from the local NBC station, WBRE, made an appearance on a TV in the background, etc.) Plus the opening credits and B-Roll were flmed in Scranton, PA.

Don't forget the Utz potato chips in the Dunder-Mifflin vending machine!

Too bad they slipped up in one of the last episodes this past season, when Michael talked about the morning show on "Froggy 98-7." Dunno where THAT came from...

Tere's a "Froggy" bumper sticker on one of the file cabinets or desks in The Office. The camera catches it from time to time. Though Scranton may or may not have a "Froggy," it hardly matters, does it? You see fictional TV and radio stations in TV shows and movies all the time.

Think of all those TV crime shows based in Los Angeles that have news reporters showing up from "Channel 6" or "Channel 12." LA has neither a '6' or '12.'

A-ha, on Frasier occasionallly they would mention Channel 5, which was the actual NBC affiliate in Seattle! Frasier also went to such detail as having actual Seattle newspapers on set.

 

[notalkallstatic]

I would say Scranton, PA with "The Office." I love seeing references of the area in the show (Wegman's brand soft drinks, Gertrude Hawk Chocolate in the vending machine, the Froggy 101 bumper sticker near Dwight's desk, the one episode where the Chief Meteorologist from the local NBC station, WBRE, made an appearance on a TV in the background, etc.) Plus the opening credits and B-Roll were flmed in Scranton, PA.

Don't forget the Utz potato chips in the Dunder-Mifflin vending machine!

Too bad they slipped up in one of the last episodes this past season, when Michael talked about the morning show on "Froggy 98-7." Dunno where THAT came from...

Tere's a "Froggy" bumper sticker on one of the file cabinets or desks in The Office. The camera catches it from time to time. Though Scranton may or may not have a "Froggy," it hardly matters, does it? You see fictional TV and radio stations in TV shows and movies all the time.

Think of all those TV crime shows based in Los Angeles that have news reporters showing up from "Channel 6" or "Channel 12." LA has neither a '6' or '12.'

This is a big issue, as a former resident of Scranton, I find it disappointing that they didn't use Froggy 101, but the fictional Froggy 98.7 (which admittly is close to WKRZ 98.5FM,) yet there is a Froggy 101 bumper sticker in the opening credits!

Just a side note, I didn't really like Froggy 101 when I lived in Scranton, but did enjoyed WWDL (now defunted.)

 

[michael hagerty]

I think both "Mannix" and "The Rockford Files" did a great job of capturing L.A. (Mannix from 1968-74 and Rockford picking it up from there).

 

[ixnay]

[T]he opening credits and B-Roll [for The Office were flmed in Scranton, PA.

What's a "B-Roll"? I never saw that term before. Does it refer to backgrounds?

ixnay

 

[oldschooler1]

[T]he opening credits and B-Roll [for The Office were flmed in Scranton, PA.

What's a "B-Roll"? I never saw that term before. Does it refer to backgrounds?

ixnay

B-roll is a term that describes the shots that don't have sound (dialog) with them -- yes, background, filler, wallpaper. In TV news, It's an old term from the days when your A-roll would be the film (celluloid) with sound (talking heads) on it, on one reel, and the b-roll would fill in under the reporter's voicetrack. The director running the show would have to switch between the two live.

BUT -- The Office, though it's a great show, is so lame whenever it shows the cast driving. With just a few exceptions, all the fresh footage is shot in SoCal. You never see any hills (consider the terrain of Scranton). I always like to look closely for palm trees. And you know their parking lot for "Scranton Business Park" is somewhere in SoCal. It's ALWAYS sunny, the stuff that's supposed to take place in winter in Scranton is so un-Scranton, because everything is always green, and you can't see people's breaths.

One of the best shows to capture local flavor? The Odd Couple.

 

[BRNout]

BUT -- The Office, though it's a great show, is so lame whenever it shows the cast driving. With just a few exceptions, all the fresh footage is shot in SoCal. You never see any hills (consider the terrain of Scranton). I always like to look closely for palm trees. And you know their parking lot for "Scranton Business Park" is somewhere in SoCal. It's ALWAYS sunny, the stuff that's supposed to take place in winter in Scranton is so un-Scranton, because everything is always green, and you can't see people's breaths.

King of Queens has the same deal! Look in the background as they drive and you'll see palm trees here and there, sunshine, relatively open sprawl with wide-open boulevards that feature streetlights with nice backlit cross-street identification signs and raised reflectors/lane dividers. The likes of which you would never find in Queens.

Not to mention Doug Heffernan's clear love for the In-N-Out Burger - cups from which end up in his delivery truck. As the nearest one is some 2,000 miles off his route, how they get there is quite a mystery.....

 

[ixnay]

The Office, though it's a great show, is so lame whenever it shows the cast driving. With just a few exceptions, all the fresh footage is shot in SoCal. You never see any hills (consider the terrain of Scranton). I always like to look closely for palm trees. And you know their parking lot for "Scranton Business Park" is somewhere in SoCal. It's ALWAYS sunny, the stuff that's supposed to take place in winter in Scranton is so un-Scranton, because everything is always green, and you can't see people's breaths.

Yes, I’ve been through Scranton a few times in various seasons, on my way to and/or from Niagara Falls, Cooperstown, the Thousand Islands, the Finger Lakes, Vermont,* so I’ve seen the hills around there – not at all like the coastal mountains in Cali (where I vacationed in mid-1981).

Wonder if Wilkes-Barre-ans are jealous of Scranton (20 miles away) getting the TV spotlight?

*even took an excursion train out of Steamtown National Hist. Site in downtown Scranton (an old Lackawanna RR yard) down to Moscow, PA in 2003.

ixnay

 

[LKellerIII]

[T]he opening credits and B-Roll [for The Office were flmed in Scranton, PA.

BUT -- The Office, though it's a great show, is so lame whenever it shows the cast driving. With just a few exceptions, all the fresh footage is shot in SoCal. You never see any hills (consider the terrain of Scranton). I always like to look closely for palm trees. And you know their parking lot for "Scranton Business Park" is somewhere in SoCal. It's ALWAYS sunny, the stuff that's supposed to take place in winter in Scranton is so un-Scranton, because everything is always green, and you can't see people's breaths.

Yes - it's never been unusual to see those parched Southern California hills in other "cities." It's more complicated these days though, because a lot of dramas and action shows are shot in Canada to save money. So to turn the LA thing on its head, I've seen shows supposedly set in San Francisco, and even Los Angeles - that are suspiciously green, and damp, or have hills in the background filled with evergreen trees. When that happens, you can guess the shows are actually filmed in and around Vancouver, Montreal, or Toronto.

 

[dhett]

Wonder if Wilkes-Barre-ans are jealous of Scranton (20 miles away) getting the TV spotlight?

Not a chance. This W-B native knows that the only time NY or Hollywood brings up the name of Scranton is to poke fun at the city. Per NY/Hollywood, Scranton = Podunk. No such thing as bad publicity? Not in my book.

OTOH, some Scrantonians are peeved that the airport is called Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

 

[The King Bee]

The late, lamented classic "Frank's Place" (CBS, 1987) wins this discussion hands down. Even before Katrina, New Orleans was such a unique place that the first time I went there, I almost thought I'd have to go through Customs because it felt like another country!

Tim Reid, Hugh Wilson, and the fabulous cast simply NAILED IT...even right down to the beer ads and taps (Jax, Dixie brands) in the restaurant's bar and the use of actual New Orleans radio station airchecks for background natural sound.

 

[Prais]

M-Squad for Chicago. LOTS of REAL locations and great downtown shots. It's 1960 again! Lee Marvin is NOT really a Chicago guy - MUCH too New York.

 

[Videovet]

Jeez people! Did I miss one here? All these messages and not one mention of the Law & Order shows or Naked City! New York is so promininent in both programs that it deserves main title billing! M Squad is good for Chicago but only the exteriors and B-roll scenes were done there. The rest of it was done on the west coast. Same trick with The Bob Newhart Show.

 

[Prais]

O YEA! I would say Naked City gets the GRAND PRIZE for New York realism. (I forgt about that!) My dad LOVED that show and always commented about "that is the real thing."

 

[ixnay]

Wonder if Wilkes-Barre-ans are jealous of Scranton (20 miles away) getting the TV spotlight?

Not a chance. This W-B native knows that the only time NY or Hollywood brings up the name of Scranton is to poke fun at the city. Per NY/Hollywood, Scranton = Podunk. No such thing as bad publicity? Not in my book.

OTOH, some Scrantonians are peeved that the airport is called Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

I think W-B has the greater claim to top billing on the local airport. Per the official PennDOT map, it's almost entirely in W-B's county (Luzerne) while the northeast tip of the main runway is in Scranton's county (Lackawanna).

ixnay