# Attitudes toward shows/movies set in your area **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263 "2011-07-08T02:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/1 "2011-07-08T02:47:52Z")
[The mayor of Minneapolis’ putdown of “The Mary Tyler Moore” show](http://www.theuptake.org/2011/06/17/mayor-rybak-this-aint-mary-tyler-moore-ville-any-more/) got me interested in local reactions to shows or movies set in your area. Does having a show set in your area make you and other local residents want to watch it? Are there any shows especially beloved or hated by locals? And what do those shows get right or wrong about your area? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/2 "2011-07-08T03:15:12Z")
The only recent film set here ( **Synecdoche, NY** ) got no reaction whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/3 "2011-07-08T03:25:18Z")
[The Alphabet Killer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alphabet_Killer) was not just set in Rochester, but was also filmed here. I don’t think anyone living here had any idea that any movie filming had occured until the thing was on DVD. Since appearing on DVD it’s been reasonably popular locally, but everyone I know who’s seen it chuckles at the weird geography of movie Rochester. For example, the sleepy town of Webster is depicted as a bustling city with multiple skyscrapers (or at least very tall buildings) and a huge downtown area. Needless to say, neither exist. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/4 "2011-07-08T03:41:23Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Does having a show set in your area make you and other local residents want to watch it? I live in L.A. … so … well … . ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/5 "2011-07-08T03:49:11Z")
There are zillions of movies set in New York City. Usually the location doesn’t matter. However, I find it especially grating when an actor tries to do a New York accent and fails: Johnny Depp in [Donny Brasco](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119008/). It is also a rare treat when the accents and location shots are completely authentic New York: [The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 version)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072251/) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/6 "2011-07-08T03:52:31Z")
I live in Chicago, where, according to Hollywood, there is nothing but ghettos and skyscrapers. Frequent obvious errors are roads going where they don’t, intersections of parallel streets and trains connecting that don’t connect or going to parts of town they don’t go. Oh, and our train cars have seats in parallel rows, not the bench seats up against the length of the car. For some reason, that one bugs me more than most errors. I’m also bugged by the red stripe on curbs indicating no parking. They’re yellow here, but on at least one studio’s “Chicago Lot”, they’re painted red, so it shows up quite a bit. The only red curbs I’ve seen here are on the grounds of the VA medical center. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/7 "2011-07-08T04:27:43Z")
It would always make me intrigued. There was some short film in the local news due to them filming it in a closed classic style diner in our town. I never got to see that film. She Devil was filmed partly in my my town (Port Jefferson) - Meryl Streep’s mansion is our famous Pink Mansion. It’s disappointing though, when they use your setting in name only. The comic book series Testament is partly set at Stony Brook University, which is near my town and where I went to school, but other than the name, there is nothing at all about the depiction that resembles the campus. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/8 "2011-07-08T05:46:47Z")
Outside Providence was a good represenation of the area and the people. Everything else I’ve seen was crap. The people who actually live here know how to pronounce the names of the cities and towns. I’m pretty sure the movie Idiocracy was based on Rhode Island, if that is true I would consider it an accurate representation. Family Guy is the show most associated with RI these days. Most of our characters are not so well drawn or erudite though. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/9 "2011-07-08T06:07:40Z")
I live in New York City, but it doesn’t make me more or less inclined to watch a show that’s set here. (Unless I saw it filming! I _almost_ went to Mr. Popper’s Penguins for that reason.) Honestly, I wish fewer things were set here - based on TV and Hollywood, you’d think there were only 4 or 5 places in this country. > [@installLSC](#): > > [The mayor of Minneapolis’ putdown of “The Mary Tyler Moore” show](http://www.theuptake.org/2011/06/17/mayor-rybak-this-aint-mary-tyler-moore-ville-any-more/) got me interested in local reactions to shows or movies set in your area. Does having a show set in your area make you and other local residents want to watch it? Are there any shows especially beloved or hated by locals? And what do those shows get right or wrong about your area? Why would the mayor put down “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”? ☹ It always made Minneapolis look good… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/10 "2011-07-08T07:06:43Z")
I don’t just live in Arkansas, but in the Ozarks. I don’t think I have to say any more. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/11 "2011-07-08T07:22:51Z")
When they were rebuilding Upper Wacker Drive, it was maybe 40 feet above Lower Wacker, not a mile and a half as shown in “The Blues Brothers.” And I knew the Illinois Nazis jumping off point, having made that wrong turn. It did look like a mile and a half, as all you could see was lake. At the bottom is yet another impound lot I rescued my daughter’s car from. This weekend I give up and take possession, as the co-signer. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/12 "2011-07-08T08:10:14Z")
Well I have to give up on the movie US Navy Seals … where to begin… They live in a condo in the southern end of the Va Beach strip on Atlantic Ave. Being SEALS, they are stationed at the Ampib base, which is more or less at the northeast end of the Va Beach strip on Shore Dr [apparently officially named Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story]. So, their commute in took them to the James River Bridge, where Charlie Sheen decided to swim to work by jumping out of the jeep, off the bridge into the James River. If you actually look at a map of tidewater, he would then have to swim down the mouth of the James River, past down the entire length of the Naval Air Station, through the Hampton Roads Beltway bridge and tunnel at the mouth, hang a right and go past Ocean View [a slummy beach area] and finally to the Amphib Base. Why they couldn’t just drive up the Blvd to the Amphib Base in the first place is beyond me. I guess they just like detouring through Portsmouth or something. A chief and his fiance are at the chapel for a wedding, all the SEALs are in the wedding party. There is no way in hell any female will let a wedding halt just as they were about to go down the aisle for a recall … they would have done the quick and dirty version and then the guys would have bailed out. Then she would not have been left high and dry when he got killed in the op. SEALs do not have units comprised of just officers and chiefs. Someone has to take orders. Sorry, having lived in tidewater for almost 8 years, and having lived with a SEAL I have serious problems watching the movie without throwing stuff at the screen. [I much more enjoy NCIS, though their submarine episode causes mrAru and I to laugh…] ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/13 "2011-07-08T14:12:26Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > When they were rebuilding Upper Wacker Drive, it was maybe 40 feet above Lower Wacker, not a mile and a half as shown in “The Blues Brothers.” And I knew the Illinois Nazis jumping off point, having made that wrong turn. It did look like a mile and a half, as all you could see was lake. If that’s the scene I’m thinking of that was actually filmed in Milwaukee. It’s where 794 ends at the lake and was unfinished at the time. You can see a Summerfest stage in the background [here](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/images/scmods/locations/i794-bridge.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/locations/i794-bridge/&usg=__yKVOZgiLccChPsg802Ji7IcH8yI=&h=402&w=720&sz=81&hl=en&start=12&sig2=R-wf52R6AnjQBRpcgGNsRg&zoom=1&tbnid=v8TWAP1bZhXziM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=198&ei=wQ8XTt2bAsjGgAer5tkt&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dblue%2Bbrothers%2Bon%2Bbridge%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D595%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=63&page=2&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:12&tx=74&ty=55). But you’re right, it was only about 40 feet up, not a mile. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/14 "2011-07-08T14:32:51Z")
> **[Boston -- now in CGI!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=615525)** > > Evidently people aren’t all that happy with Boston the way it is, and are trying to reshape it via CGI. The front-page story in today’s Boston Globe – the most prominent one – is about how the CBS broadcast of the 4th of July fireworks display... ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/15 "2011-07-08T14:37:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Family Guy is the show most associated with RI these days. Most of our characters are not so well drawn or erudite though. Lois seems to have a pretty good RI accent; Peter sounds like he’s from New York. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/16 "2011-07-08T14:51:52Z")
**No Country For Old Men** nailed the bleak isolation of the Trans Pecos area of Texas. Ruggedly beautiful, it can also test your mettle in any number of ways. If you get in trouble or die, it doesn’t care, you just become part of the story. The movie captured the refreshing simplicity of some of it’s residents too. From the sheriff to the motel clerk, all those characters I’ve met several times before. Another movie that gets that Texas region and it’s inhabitants right, albeit with a decidedly lighter atmosphere, is **Fandango**. _Como te llama, your mama…_ A third that gets life here in the 50s right was **Hud**. Spot on. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/17 "2011-07-08T14:58:08Z")
There was a lot of excitement among Chicagoans about Chicago Code because of the location filming. More than geographical problems, the Californication of all dialogue disturbs me. Not every place has a “Hall of Records” or a “DMV” or “red zones” or “minimalls.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/18 "2011-07-08T15:00:00Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > [I much more enjoy NCIS, though their submarine episode causes mrAru and I to laugh…] The one thing I really do like and respect about NCIS is that not everybody in the Navy in that show is a pilot or on a submarine. They’ve got supply clerks, dentists, programmers, etc. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/19 "2011-07-08T15:17:31Z")
Yeah. Omaha has undergone a LOT of changes in the past few years. When you point out where “things used to be”, you can back it up by pointing out that you could see the old landmarks in _Citizen Ruth_, \*To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar \*or _About Schmidt_. In a few years, I suppose we’ll be saying the same thing about _Up in the Air_. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263/20 "2011-07-08T15:24:05Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Lois seems to have a pretty good RI accent; Peter sounds like he’s from New York. The RI accent is kind of a mix of Boston and Brooklyn. Just remove the R from some words, and stick it in others. There is plenty of CT Yankee and that Newport Howell as mentioned in another thread. Plus the unintelligible gibberish and mispronunciation of French names. We’re pretty diverse for a state smaller than a postage stamp. > [@Zsofia](#): > > The one thing I really do like and respect about NCIS is that not everybody in the Navy in that show is a pilot or on a submarine. They’ve got supply clerks, dentists, programmers, etc. But the whole NCIS division is unnecessary. The vast majority of investigations are about people trying to kill NCIS members. Get rid of the group and there wouldn’t be anything to investigate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attitudes-toward-shows-movies-set-in-your-area/588263.md?page=2)