# Movies/TV shows set in a location you know well, but obviously not filmed there, or just gets something wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [September 21, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003 "2022-09-21T21:26:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/61 "2022-09-26T04:50:07Z")
There’s an episode of Miami Vice where the two detectives have to go to the Bahamas to arrest a drug kingpin. Now I have never been to the Bahamas, but I have been to the US Virgin Islands, and their version of the Bahamas suspiciously has a lot of American flags flying in the background and police cars with the Virgin Islands crest on them (complete with American flag). Also everyone drives on the right hand side of the road which being a British colony, they should be all driving on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/62 "2022-09-26T12:38:28Z")
The movie “Identity Thief”, with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman, has a scene where they are driving across the Mississippi River into downtown St Louis, on a bridge that does not exist at that location in real life. The bridge is actually in Chattanooga and was digitally inserted. Having grown up in the St Louis area, that was definitely a “wait… what?” moment. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/63 "2022-09-26T12:51:54Z")
Actually they drive on the left in the USVI, too. But I take your point about the flags. Even more obvious should be the topography. The Virgins are hilly; the Bahamas are flat. I came to mention another topographical error: the early 90s film _The Fugitive_ is set throughout northern Illinois (including Chicago), yet there is a scene with about an 800-foot dropoff (above a dammed river in a canyon) that can’t be anywhere in the Midwest (I think the scene was filmed in Idaho or Montana or maybe Colorado). ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/64 "2022-09-26T14:31:29Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I came to mention another topographical error: the early 90s film _The Fugitive_ is set throughout northern Illinois (including Chicago), yet there is a scene with about an 800-foot dropoff (above a dammed river in a canyon) that can’t be anywhere in the Midwest (I think the scene was filmed in Idaho or Montana or maybe Colorado). North Carolina - [Cheoah Dam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheoah_Dam) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/65 "2022-09-26T15:00:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But they had one show set at Grey Cup 2003 in Regina, and it was clearly filmed in the summer, not late November. The sky was all wrong for one of the highway shots. I watched it first and said, “They filmed it in the summer”, and then later on found that was correct. It just had the wrong feel in all the exterior shots. That reminds me of Neil deGrasse Tyson pointing out to James Cameron that the stars in the sky over the titanic were wrong (mirror image, IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/66 "2022-09-26T15:19:32Z")
The movie Twilight was set in the town of Forks, Washington. Except for a few exterior shots of the high school, none of the movie was filmed in Forks. Most of it was shot in and around Portland, Oregon. The only thing they got right was a couple scenes shot in Port Angeles, the dress store and eating at a restaurant. There are a couple places in Forks trying to make a buck off the movie. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/67 "2022-09-26T15:56:46Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s an episode of Miami Vice where the two detectives have to go to the Bahamas to arrest a drug kingpin. Now I have never been to the Bahamas, but I have been to the US Virgin Islands, and their version of the Bahamas suspiciously has a lot of American flags flying in the background and police cars with the Virgin Islands crest on them (complete with American flag). What I’ve never understood is why try to redress the Virgin Islands as Bermuda (or LA as SF, or Vancouver as every other city)… why not just change one sentence in the script? “Oh, we crossed out the word Bahamas, too expensive to shoot there.” Wouldn’t that be so much easier? _[tangent]_ I still wish someone had said “Oh, we crossed out ‘French’, because we switched to a starship captain with an English accent.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/68 "2022-09-26T16:13:10Z")
If a French person learns English in England, would you expect them to have an American accent? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/69 "2022-09-26T16:20:05Z")
It’s set in the 24th Century. France had been a protectorate of Great Britain for centuries by then. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/70 "2022-09-26T16:32:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was thinking it will depend on how well the movie does. It could lay an egg, and no one would care one way or the other; or maybe it becomes a cult hit and people go out of their way to find it. When the owners of the “blue house” from _Lady Bird_ gave Greta Gerwig permission to film there, they reportedly thought “Oh, it’s just some small indie film, it won’t be a big deal.” Then when the film got a bunch of accolades they were suddenly inundated with a stream of people taking selfies in front of their house. Which they are cool with as long as you stay on the sidewalk. And it’s probably died down a but in the years since the movie came out. > [@digs](#): > > why not just change one sentence in the script? “Oh, we crossed out the word Bahamas, too expensive to shoot there.” Vince Gilligan did exactly that. _Breaking Bad_ was originally going to be set in San Bernardino. But it was cheaper to film in New Mexico. So he just changed it to Albuquerque. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/71 "2022-09-26T16:38:20Z")
The X-files was supposedly set in Washington DC (they are FBI agents after all) but none of the street scenes look close to DC streets. It was produced in Vancouver and Los Angeles. One of the X-files movies supposedly took place in West Virginia, but was obviously filmed in the Rocky Mountains. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/72 "2022-09-26T16:48:03Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > When the owners of the “blue house” from _Lady Bird_ gave Greta Gerwig permission to film there, they reportedly thought “Oh, it’s just some small indie film, it won’t be a big deal.” Then when the film got a bunch of accolades they were suddenly inundated with a stream of people taking selfies in front of their house. Which they are cool with as long as you stay on the sidewalk. And it’s probably died down a but in the years since the movie came out. The owners of the “Goonies House” in Astoria OR have had to ask the city for parking and driving restrictions on their street due to the incessant attention of fans. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/73 "2022-09-26T16:59:03Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > There are a couple places in Forks trying to make a buck off the movie. My niece and a few of her friends made a pilgrimage to Forks years ago. I just rolled my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/74 "2022-09-26T17:03:15Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > The X-files was supposedly set in Washington DC (they are FBI agents after all) but none of the street scenes look close to DC streets. _The Americans_ was set in Washington, DC, but mostly filmed in New York. But I’m not familiar enough with the DC area to say whether it looks right. Supposedly there are a lot of security restrictions that make it really difficult to film in Washington, DC. But _The X-Files_ was from before 9-11, so those restrictions may not have been in place at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/75 "2022-09-26T19:33:02Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > The movie Twilight was set in the town of Forks, Washington. Except for a few exterior shots of the high school, none of the movie was filmed in Forks. Most of it was shot in and around Portland, Oregon. The only thing they got right was a couple scenes shot in Port Angeles, the dress store and eating at a restaurant. There are a couple places in Forks trying to make a buck off the movie. My older granddaughter, when she was a tween, was very much into the Twilight books and movies. As part of a vacation to the Seattle area, we drove her out to Forks. The look of disappointment on her face as we drove into town was unforgettable. (On the other hand, she had a blast wading in the ocean near La Push.) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/76 "2022-09-26T23:53:23Z")
Oh, speaking of Indianapolis, there is a _Criminal Minds_ where the crime was supposed to have taken place on Christmas Eve, right after the family had been to one of those travelling parking lot carnivals. There aren’t any of those in the winter in Indianapolis. Another Oops! by writers who live in S. California. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/77 "2022-09-27T15:09:53Z")
People get New Jersey wrong 1.) In **The President’s Analyst** (James Cobern’s 1967 spy comedy) William Daniels’; character is supposed to b living in Seaside Heights, NJ. Seaside Heights is a beach community, built on a barrier Island. The MTV Beach house was located there, as were most of the scenes in _Jersey Shore_. But the scenes in the movie looked like some upper middle class suburban town nowhere near the shore. 2.) **The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai** has scenes that are supposed to be set in Grover’s Mill, NJ. (the premise being that the War of the World invasion that Orson Welles broadcast actually did take place, only it was Lectroids, not Martians. They established themselves, all taking the first name “John” and building the Yoyodyne company there.) Grover’s Mill is actually a section of West Windsor Township, and is REALLY small. I think it’s smaller than the Yoyodyne factory. In any event, there are no palm trees nearby, as shown in the film. (I should know – my wife grew up there, and her sister was instrumental in setting up the War of the Worlds monument in town). There IS a nearby building that has brightly colored conduits all over the outside (like the Parisian Pompidou Center), which my wife and her friends dubbed “Yoyodyne”. The movie’s scenes ostensibly set in New Brunswick, NJ, also pretty clearly aren’t. **Hocus Pocus** is set in Salem, Massachusetts. And some scenes actually were filmed there. But not most of them. Salem is a really small, cramped town, and looks nothing like what you see in the movie. I haven’t seen the new sequel, so I don’t know how that looks. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/78 "2022-09-27T15:12:54Z")
There was a popular ABC sitcom, _The Middle_, that went off the air a few years ago, which took place in rural Indiana. One bit that rubbed me the wrong way involved the family traveling from their home to a shopping center and on the way they crossed a covered bridge. Um, no. No one crosses covered bridges in Indiana just going from here to there. You have to make a special trip to cross one. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/79 "2022-09-27T15:35:16Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > The owners of the “Goonies House” in Astoria OR have had to ask the city for parking and driving restrictions on their street due to the incessant attention of fans. There is a sign welcoming visitors now. My wife and I stopped by a few months ago while we were in the area. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003/80 "2022-09-27T15:50:18Z")
There was a very funny Canadian espionage comedy called _Insecurity_ that aired for a few seasons; a friend of mine was actually one of the stars. It was set in Ottawa, which was a first in my memory, but was filmed in Regina, I think. Though there was a bit of a thrill in hearing, for the only time in my life I’m sure, lines like “He’s being held at a safe house in Orleans,” (my parents live in Orleans, suburb in the far east end). There were the pro forma establishing shots involving Parliament Hill, but most of the exterior shots were obviously shot nowhere near Ottawa. Another fun aspect of the Spot Toronto game is American shows ostensibly set down south but are shot in the winter. Both _Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye_ and _Hannibal_ took place in a Washington D.C. (and Baltimore, for the latter) that was seemingly always under a foot of snow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-shows-set-in-a-location-you-know-well-but-obviously-not-filmed-there-or-just-gets-something-wrong/972003.md?page=5)