Well…there aren’t a lot of shows/movies set in Vermont, and I haven’t seen what is probably the most popular one that was (The Bob Newhart Show,) but I’ll tackle what I can.
Super Troopers might be the next most “oh, yeah, that obviously takes place in Vermont!” media I can think of, and it’s not too accurate. The fictional town it takes place in (Sperbury,) is both on the interstate, and close to the Canadian border. So it’s either the very north of I-89, or I-91…but there’s a line about the governor “passing through there” on her way to Burlington…on her way from where?! If she was coming from where she normally works, Montpelier, then that’s not going to take her anywhere near the Canadian border.
There’s also a scene of a trooper masturbating to a billboard for a casino cause it has a sexy woman blowing on some dice…only, there aren’t any billboards in Vermont. None. Can’t even have signs in front of your business that are too big or too tall. And the scene where they chug maple syrup is disgusting, because that’s clearly the kind of bottles that only hold the fake, nasty, “pancake syrup.” Barf.
I thnk that Bostonians are pretty passe about movies and TV shows that take place here. But up in Rockport, people take a lot of pride in it. Even when it’s passing itself off as Sitka, Alaska.
A few years ago a movie was shot there, and there was a scene inside of a movie theatre. They used locals for the audience. Of course the movie played at that very movie theatre, and all of the same people went to see it. There was a lot of “Hey Bill, that’s you!”
:::Checks Google street view::::
Yeah, the buildings are a lot smaller than they seem they should be based on distance from Rochester city center. But I originally mentally switched Webster with Brockport, now that would be a boner.
I don’t know if there has been a series set in Nashville, but I have seen very few documentaries or travelogues that didn’t feel it necessary to bring out the banjos and fiddles for background music. We groan at the horrible cliche every time it happens. I wonder if Parisians feel the same way about accordians. I’ve lived in Nashville for 47 years and I’ve never been to the Grand Ole Opry – even when it was just down the street and a couple of blocks over from where I lived downtown. I like Johnny Cash and that’s about it for country music. I don’t look down on it. Just don’t care for it and a lot of folks here don’t. Even the “little old ladies” (of which I am one) in my club are more interested in the Titans and SEC football than they are in the music business.
And no one seems to know what to expect from us in the way of a dialect. A lot of what’s seen on television is fake Southern. I have participated in that myself. When being tested for a quick into to a television show, I was told I didn’t sound like I was from Nashville. So I gave them a more countrified voice and got on TV as myself! Now I hate that I perpetuated the myth. Yes, I have a drawl. It is Southern enough.
Yes, I like to watch anything set in Nashville just to see if they show anything besides Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Everybody knows the real Nashvillians are at Pancake Pantry and Brown’s Diner.
Currently, The Walking Dead is set in Atlanta. I think a lot of Atlantans enjoy the “critiquing the geographic anomalies” aspect of watching the show. (Of course nobody really expects them to be bound by actual geography. It’s just a show.)
Las Vegas has tons of movies and TV shows filmed/based here, to mixed results. They do a Best of Las Vegas poll every year and one of the categories is Best Las Vegas Flim or TV Show.
Past winners have been Leaving Las Vegas and Hangover (part one).
CSI: Las Vegas is a bit of a problem. While many of the exterior shots are filmed here, the series is shot in Los Angeles. For locals, it is quite obvious - some of those so-called suburban areas of Las Vegas look NOTHING like any neighborhood in Las Vegas; miles of lush lawns with weeds growing in the grass, trees you don’t see here, plants that would die in the heat in about 4 minutes and homes that are not typical of the area. Still, that show has brought in zillions of tourists to Las Vegas and sells tons of T-Shirts and other CSI related goodies, so nobody is complaining - but it is funny when a tourist wants to go see them shooting the series, and you have to tell them to drive over to LA to see that.
I remember “Designing Women” was critiqued as being so generic it could have been set in any city, saying it was Atlanta was about all they did to make it feel like it was in Atlanta.
This film (The Ice Harvest (2005) - IMDb) was alleged to take place in Wichita KS, but was largely filmed in IL (I think I read Chicago, but could be wrong), so there were a lot of things wrong with it in the details. Cars with license plates on front and back (KS only requires 1 on the back), stuff like that.
The one movie I hate, hate, hate that portrayed KS was this dreck.
We have a not-so-friendly view of movies that drag St. Louis onto the screen. The 1981 version of Escape from New York shot on location in St. Louis to portray a post-apocolyptic Manhattan. That hurt.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles included the notorious goof of the main characters supposedly approaching St. Louis from the west by driving across the Mississippi River from Illinois.
On the other hand, The Game of Their Lives was widely praised around here for capturing the genuine feel of the vent.
I’m a sucker for any movie or show set in Chicago (especially if it is also filmed here). I loved *The Chicago Code, *and I thought they nailed a lot of the nuances of the local culture (geographic anomalies like “West Ashland” notwithstanding). I enjoyed watching the town done up as Gotham City, and look forward to seeing it demolished in Transformers 3.
I generally get excited when a show is filmed here, but I don’t necessarily care if it’s set here. I am not in any a stoner, but I really wanted to watch “Bongwater,” because it was both set and filmed here. I got excited at the opening bits, then it got real stupid quickly. I was sober and stopped watching.
Films and TV shows set in Colorado have been pretty successful for the most part, even though there are very few of them. Two of the biggest shows in the late 70’s/early 80’s were Mork and Mindy (Boulder) and Dynasty (Denver.) When they were cancelled, TV seemed to abandon the state. Red Dawn and Dumb and Dumber take place in Colorado, as does South Park. Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead is a good film with a great cast and script that fell flat at the box office. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, (Colorado Springs) was dreck (IMO) but was hugely popular for six seasons on TV.
Maybe they should use Colorado as a base more often.
Slap Shot with Paul Newman back in the 70’s was partly filmed in the War Memorial auditorium here, we had (have) quite a hockey team. It was a big thing for this mid-sized city. It’s the kind of overlooked place that, when mention is made on TV or in movies, there is a big newspaper article next day, all about how the name of the city was mentioned on the teevee last night.
Wayne’s World was barely set in any Aurora, IL, I know, but driving around in an old Rambler singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” sold me on it. That part, at least, was my life on film.
And I recognize some of the exteriors. And their apartment building. As a CPS teacher Emily couldn’t afford it, but a North-Loop shrink? Bob had it covered.