TV shows set in cities that get city features horribly wrong

[roadman65]

Gunsmoke got Dodge City wrong. The real Dodge City Downtown is on a hillside. Not flat like the lot in Hollywood used to film it.

[CtrlAltDel]

The recent passing of Suzanne Somers reminded me of the opening sequence to Step by Step; a show ostensibly set in Port Washington, Wisconsin.  The whole title sequence takes place at some shore side amusement park that is definitely not in Wisconsin as one can clearly see at the end when the camera pans back so you can see the mountains in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g94bPMtxtM

I just realized that the title refers to all the stepsiblings and so on involved in the show.

[triplemultiplex]

Gunsmoke got Dodge City wrong. The real Dodge City Downtown is on a hillside. Not flat like the lot in Hollywood used to film it.

Of all the things to get wrong about a place in Kansas, "too flat" is the most ironic.

[RobbieL2415]

Any episode of the X-Files where there's an outdoor shot and you can see traffic signals with yellow backplates.

They shot the series in Vancouver. With an American setting.

[Rothman]

Any episode of the X-Files where there's an outdoor shot and you can see traffic signals with yellow backplates.

They shot the series in Vancouver. With an American setting.

The X-Files' original run was infamous for having a whole host of more obvious geographic gaffes than that.

[roadman65]

Gunsmoke got Dodge City wrong. The real Dodge City Downtown is on a hillside. Not flat like the lot in Hollywood used to film it.

Of all the things to get wrong about a place in Kansas, "too flat" is the most ironic.

Especially the Flint Hills Region East of US 81. In fact on my drive on NE Highway 8, I found the country that route traversed more like the rural surroundings on Gunsmoke than Kansas itself. All of Kansas west of US 81 is all open wheat fields, but Marshall Dillon on the trail when away from Dodge is what southern Nebraska is like.  Okay, maybe Southeastern Kansas or the counties east of US 75 might be like the areas Matt Dillon chased criminals through, but not around Dodge.

[Rothman]

Come to think of it, having visited Dodge myself, I am not sure historic Dodge sat on a hillside, per se.  It sat on a piece of land that was sort of raised above the rest of the modern town.  Still sat flat (i.e., the museum/entertainment venue).

There was a hill just outside of Dodge with a really stinky feedlot on it, though.

[Road Hog]

Stinky feedlot might be a bigger indicator of Western Kansas than flatness. At best it's a push.

[golden eagle]

There's a video on Facebook called Unraveling the Son in Law (which is also an audio podcast and on YouTube) and its set in San Clemente, CA. It's a real place, but the buildings make it seem as if it's a very big city. The population there is about 64K.

[Rothman]

Anyone bring up Who's the Boss, where Tony claims he took the Triborough to get to Queens by way of the Palisades?

[DSS5]

I haven't seen it but I remember when it came out the show Outer Banks got endless flak for mentioning a "ferry to Chapel Hill"

[D-Dey65]

I saw an LACMTA bus driving by the Bushwell Arms on "iCarly" despite the fact that the show took place in Seattle.

I've also seen their predecessor's bus on an episode of "That Girl" despite the Manhattan setting of the series, as well as that episode.

[3467]

In Gunsmoke they were constantly riding around In a chaperal landscape that looked like California not western Kansas.
I had a friend who lived the show and tracked the number of shootings. More people died in Gunsmoke than the population of the whole county.

[mikereaser]

Designing Women got so many "Atlanta" references so dreadfully wrong that it was almost a drinking game.

My fave was when they tried a triple-play of "OK, go from Buckhead to the Big Chicken, then turn left to head up to Chattanooga".

Er, um, no, turning left means you eventually end up in Gadsden, Alabama, darlin'. If you've reached the Big Chicken from Buckhead just keep going straight up US41 and you'll get to Chattanooga in an hour or three. Or bounce over to I-75, your preference. 

Of course, I now live in West Everywhere er Vancouver after 5 years in East Everywhere er Toronto.

[RoadWarrior56]

The most common TV Show/Movie geographic mistakes are the numerous TV and streaming movies that are actually shot in Canada (usually near Vancouver) that are supposed to take place in various locations in the US.  I presume that is why all of the outdoor scenery in these movies resembles the Pacific northwest.  The biggest tell for me are the street signs, that are Canadian style like the unlabeled One-Way signs, RR crossing signs, etc.  They never try to hide or alter them.  The most blatant example I ever saw was in a movie that was supposed to be taking place in Texas.  In one scene there was a Canadian metric speed limit sign that said "Maximum", not Speed Limit.  Nothing in that scene looked like a ranch, which is what it was supposed to be.

[roadman65]

I always laugh at some TV shows that feature LA scenes and peddle them off as somewhere in the Midwest or on the East Coast hence the Hollywood Hills seen on I Dream of Jeannie in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Another one, though not purposely done, was calling Cape Canaveral as Cape Kennedy. Many of you will say that it's a wrong reference to be using, but at the time of production of that sitcom, Cape Canaveral, Florida was indeed called Cape Kennedy before the name was transferred to the actual Space Center and the Cape reverted back to its original name in circa 1972.

[vegas1962]

I recall a show from a few years ago called "Good Girls" that involved three suburban housewives with financial problems who resort to robbing a supermarket and then get mixed up with a local crime boss and the FBI. The show was set in the suburbs of Detroit, although I don't know where the show was actually filmed.

There was one early episode where the crime boss sent the three women to Canada to pick up a package for him.  The episode somewhat correctly depicted the women traveling back and forth across a sizable river on a lengthy bridge to cross between Detroit and Canada, but I distinctly remember that after crossing the bridge back into Michigan, they immediately were shown to be in a rural, heavily wooded area.  The reality is that the area of Detroit around the US side of the Ambassador Bridge is quite urban, with freeways and commercial development.

[GaryV]

^ They probably went south to get from Canada to Detroit too.

I had a colleague who was telling someone directions to go to Windsor (long before GPS):
"You get on I-75 south .."
"You mean north, right?"
"No, south."

The person didn't believe her. When she told us the story, she wondered if the questioner already knew what way to go, why was he asking for directions?

[Rothman]

I always laugh at some TV shows that feature LA scenes and peddle them off as somewhere in the Midwest or on the East Coast hence the Hollywood Hills seen on I Dream of Jeannie in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Another one, though not purposely done, was calling Cape Canaveral as Cape Kennedy. Many of you will say that it's a wrong reference to be using, but at the time of production of that sitcom, Cape Canaveral, Florida was indeed called Cape Kennedy before the name was transferred to the actual Space Center and the Cape reverted back to its original name in circa 1972.

See the palm tree in The Office (Scranton, PA).

[Scott5114]

I always laugh at some TV shows that feature LA scenes and peddle them off as somewhere in the Midwest or on the East Coast hence the Hollywood Hills seen on I Dream of Jeannie in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Another one, though not purposely done, was calling Cape Canaveral as Cape Kennedy. Many of you will say that it's a wrong reference to be using, but at the time of production of that sitcom, Cape Canaveral, Florida was indeed called Cape Kennedy before the name was transferred to the actual Space Center and the Cape reverted back to its original name in circa 1972.

See the palm tree in The Office (Scranton, PA).

It being The Office, one could imagine that it's a fake one put there for morale.

[Rothman]

I always laugh at some TV shows that feature LA scenes and peddle them off as somewhere in the Midwest or on the East Coast hence the Hollywood Hills seen on I Dream of Jeannie in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Another one, though not purposely done, was calling Cape Canaveral as Cape Kennedy. Many of you will say that it's a wrong reference to be using, but at the time of production of that sitcom, Cape Canaveral, Florida was indeed called Cape Kennedy before the name was transferred to the actual Space Center and the Cape reverted back to its original name in circa 1972.

See the palm tree in The Office (Scranton, PA).

It being The Office, one could imagine that it's a fake one put there for morale.

Nope.  They tried to hide it in exterior shots by panning the camera by it.

[The Nature Boy]

I recall a show from a few years ago called "Good Girls" that involved three suburban housewives with financial problems who resort to robbing a supermarket and then get mixed up with a local crime boss and the FBI. The show was set in the suburbs of Detroit, although I don't know where the show was actually filmed.

There was one early episode where the crime boss sent the three women to Canada to pick up a package for him.  The episode somewhat correctly depicted the women traveling back and forth across a sizable river on a lengthy bridge to cross between Detroit and Canada, but I distinctly remember that after crossing the bridge back into Michigan, they immediately were shown to be in a rural, heavily wooded area.  The reality is that the area of Detroit around the US side of the Ambassador Bridge is quite urban, with freeways and commercial development.

Similarly, I once saw an episode of Criminal Minds that depicted the Sarnia, ON/Port Huron, MI crossing as a land crossing.

[Bruce]

The most common TV Show/Movie geographic mistakes are the numerous TV and streaming movies that are actually shot in Canada (usually near Vancouver) that are supposed to take place in various locations in the US.  I presume that is why all of the outdoor scenery in these movies resembles the Pacific northwest.  The biggest tell for me are the street signs, that are Canadian style like the unlabeled One-Way signs, RR crossing signs, etc.  They never try to hide or alter them.  The most blatant example I ever saw was in a movie that was supposed to be taking place in Texas.  In one scene there was a Canadian metric speed limit sign that said "Maximum", not Speed Limit.  Nothing in that scene looked like a ranch, which is what it was supposed to be.

Definitely a case of budget constraints or lazy location scouting. There's parts of the BC Interior that could play drier climates with some creative angles and background editing.

[mikereaser]

I always laugh at some TV shows that feature LA scenes and peddle them off as somewhere in the Midwest or on the East Coast hence the Hollywood Hills seen on I Dream of Jeannie in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

A few years ago, one of the procedurals (Criminal Minds, maybe?) had its finale set in Tazewell County, Virginia, with which I have been intimately familiar all my life. The villain's subdivision was far too flat, not to mention the obligatory palm trees, yes plural. 

[RobbieL2415]

I know the title says TV shows, but the other day I was watching the subway explosion scene from Die Hard with a Vengance and the route that Carver takes to reach the Wall St. station doesn't add up. And also, the platform in the movie is wider than IRL, probably to accommodate the train when the explosion happens.