Get squicked, David E. Kelley. Get squicked now.

The BBQ Pit
1

I did it.

After doing mortal combat with my VCR for several months, I finally managed to tape the infamous “Nigger” episode of Boston Public.

I was not disappointed. The whole story about “Nigger” was well done, IMHO. Good job.

But there was another subplot, which was about a homeless student. Jeri “Baywatch” Ryan was worried that this girl was sleeping in a van under a bridge in gack Jamaica Plain! That gawdawful crime-ridden neighborhood. Land of the homeless. Home of the wino.

Later in the episode, they went to JP to visit the girl. And there were several scenes of that neighborhood. Steam rising from sewars. Menacing bohemoth parking garages with heroin junkies milling about. Teeming masses of alcoholics. Gangs. Crime, crime, crime.

Excuse me, Mr. Kelley. But have you ever visited the wonderful land of, oh, say, Not California?

Perhaps in your fucked up little fantasy land, all students are tanned, all teachers are 22-year-old babes (with uber-glossy lips and tits that mountain climbers dream about) and JP is a slum.

Perhaps you got over on the rest of America, you snot butt. But not me. Why? I LIVE here, you fuck nose. Why was there NOT ONE shot of, oh, I don’t know, Jamaica Plain, maybe? Why did it all look like South Central LA in winter? You’ve gotten filthy bloody rich producing shows about Boston. Care to come for a visit sometime? Just to say you’ve been here, even once?

JP is not a slum. We have mansions. We have art centers. We have a symphony orchestra (or we did – until that bitch took over, when the board of directors chose her over me – another rant). We have the nation’s oldest arboretum. We have the nation’s oldest community theatre (thanks in some part to NKOTB Joey McIntyre).

OK, when I moved here, JP had a slighly sinister reputation. But that was 15 years ago. Since then, neighborhood watch programs have started (and I have participated). Property values have gone insanely high. There are maybe two homeless people, and I have befriended them both.

This is a great place to live. Boston’s fastest growing jewel of a neighborhood. I am proud to be part of it.

Perhaps you should visit. Seeing as how you profit from your deep knowledge of the place.

Ass bomb.

2

Oh, stop whining. At least television acknowledges that the east coast (and Boston in particular) exists. What’s the last TV show you remember being set in Minnesota? Iowa? Kansas?

:wink:

3

Hey, BlackKnight, there was an episode of this one show that had Kirsty Alley in it. I don’t remember the name of the show. I only saw this one episode. Anyway, she was going home to Kansas. And they had the usual musical travel montage indicating the epic voyage (From where? NYC? I dunno.) to Kansas.

In the background, they played, “Goin’ to Kansas City.”

:smack:

4

Ummmm… Smallville? :slight_smile:

5

Ummm. Little House on the Prairie? Of course, it took place over 100 years ago. But it was on TV only 30 years ago! So that’s pretty good, right?

As for the OP, David E. Kelley lives in a fantasy world where women lawyers wear skirts higher than most hookers. I don’t think he’s ever heard of the word “reality.”

6

I feel for you, tdn. But frankly… you’re used to it. Boston is a convenient city for writers who want to set a show in New York, but want to avoid the New York show cliche. So they set it in Boston, a Boston which looks like a daydream of New York.

Now, nobody sets a show in Tucson. We were happy with that; it’s a great city, and we really don’t want a show spreading misconceptions about us around the country. We certainly didn’t want to become popular.

And then came… Greetings from Tucson.

Damn them all to hell.

7

And really, did you expect anything closely resembling reality to be coming out of that TV show anyway? I for one can’t stand it; I don’t think that a more over-dramatic and contrived environment could have possibly be used for that pathetic excuse for entertainment.

8

If Hollywood can’t do a realistic show about Los Angeles, what makes you think they can do a realistic show about anywhere else?

9

So, you’re miffed that this guy who’s never done anything even remotely accurately in his career (to the best of my knowledge) set this scene in an area that has been soullessly gentrified because he didn’t do any research to discover that this once “iffy” area is now yuppie-central with mansions and a symphony?

Not to defend Kelly, I’ve never seen anything of his that I liked, but maybe he just remembers or was familiar with the area as being rough and human rather than a bleached out, rubber stamped latte center with “sky high” property values.

Wonder where those all but two homeless people went after the neighborhood got all nicey nice?

10

Some new studios were just built near my house that David Kelley uses and this area is Not Quite like anywhere else. I think seeing so many people that have cosmetic surgery like most people go to the dentist kinda warps your reality.
The local free paper that is mailed out is half filled with ads of all the corrections you can make to be beautiful, the other half is the real estate section.
reality moved from my town years ago… :frowning:

Podkayne - once I lived in wichita for a bit and all the locals loved to brag about how kirsty alley was born there, that is probably how kansas got in the show.

11

Um…

Mary Tyler Moore?

My Favorite Sow?

Wizard of Oz, th Next Generation?

Hellooooo? Where you been?

12

Just to set the record straight, JP is hardly bleached out – it’s one of Boston’s most economically and ethnically diverse places. And while prices are rising, I can still afford to live here.

Oh, and there’s not a Starbucks for miles.

It’s never been much of a haven for the homeless. I don’t know why, but I just don’t think they’d fare very well here.

And nicey nice? No. It’s still a city. We have all the problems that any major city has. We’re just not the slum that Kelley depicts us to be.

So there.

13

I’m pretty sure he was a lawyer in Boston before he became famous. Like others said, he was probably familiar with the area before it got better.

-HoldenCaulfield, the only Doper that admits to liking David E. Kelley (Sans The Practice, of course)

14

I suppose that’s a reasonable explaination. But still – I’ve lived here for 15 years, and occasionally visited 5 years before that. In those 20 years, JP was never like DEK portrayed it.

And it had a reputation that far exceeded the reality. Perhaps he never actually visited here, but just went on its sinister reputation.

As far as the scenery portrayed – there is nothing even remotely like that here. He went to the trouble to get some stock shots of Boston for the opening credits, and for transitional scenes in Ally McFeel. But obviously “cheated” for the JOP shots.

Unless those stock shots are cheaper than a shoot for one specific show. I can see that.

15

Please–it’s just a show.

His “misportrayal” of JP was not to intentionally smear the good name of your community. It was poetic license used for dramatic effect. In other words, a theatrical device. He could’ve used a fictional part of Boston, but then the Bostonians would’ve gone “Uh, no such place exists!” So he used a real place name. Accurately? Guess not. Should you have expected anything less? Uh-uh. Sheesh!

Actually, Kelley himself made an Emmy-winning show that takes place in Wisconsin. Now, I’ve never been to Wisconsin, but I doubt as many interesting things happen in your average town there than in Picket Fences.

16

Yeah, you’re right. No big deal.

ASS MUNCH!

Sorry. That just slipped out.

DICK WAD!

Oops.

Really, I’m over it, and have made my peace with Kelley.

THE BIG TURD MUNCHING FREAK!

I really do feel better now.

17

<nitpick>

Jeri Ryan was never on Baywatch. (More’s the pity.)

</nitpick>

18

You’d be surprised.

Where was Green Acres set?

19

Gosh… sorry that orchestra gig didn’t work out, but God bless you and your community spirit! You put the “B” in Booster! Bob Richards at the Chamber of Commerce wants to talk with you about that admin job!

20

A totally fictional town called “Hooterville”. They never even said what state it was in (kinda like “Springfield” on The Simpsons).