New York TV shows

[NYR2B]

Bubbling up are all the TV shows from the 70s and 80s I saw which were about NYC so I gotta ask you experts where they took place (supposedly).

I heard that "All In The Family" took place in Queens. Which part, I wonder?

Then there's "Taxi,"
"Barney Miller,"
"Who's The Boss?" (or was that in Jersey?)
"Night Court,"
"Welcome Back, Kotter" (in Brooklyn but where exactly?)
"The Jeffersons"

More recently "NYPD Blues" & even earlier "That Girl," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" & "The Dick Van Dyck Show."

I know I left out a lot. I am not a fan of "Sex and the City" nor "Friends" so it doesn't matter where they were located.

Thanks, New Yorkers.
8)

[STT757]

"Who's The Boss?" (or was that in Jersey?)

I think that was supposed to be the Poughkeepsie area, same as Facts of Life.

[Jack Ryan]

All In the Family was in Flushing, on 'Taxi', the Sunshine Cab Company's garage was and is still on Washington St. In the West Village, 'Barney Miller' was supposed to be the 10th Pct on West 10th St., Who's the boss, who cares, 'Night Court' took place at 100 Centre St., downtown, 'Welcome Back Kotter' was in Midwood and'The Jeffersons' took place in a dee-luxe apartment in the sky, of course (Upper East Side).

[ZippyTheChimp]

"Mary Tyler Moore" was nowhere near NY. She lived in Minneapolis, but in an earlier life, she was a housewife in New Rochelle, while hubby Dick Van Dyke got to commute to Manhattan (presumably to the CBS studios) to a job as a TV writer.

You left out "Seinfeld." The hangout called Restuarant is on Broadway and W112 (or nearby).

Jack, if I remember correctly, Inspector Luger used to reminisce about "the good times at the ol' one-twelve."

[NYR2B]

Hats off to you all, STT757, Jack Ryan and Mr. Z. Chimp!

When I get to Flushing, I will see if reality bears any resemblance to the old TV show of 30 years gone by, "All In The Family." I'll try not to act like a Meathead and stifle myself if I think of any un-PC jokes.

Anyway, it's gonna be interesting.

Peace!

[Clarknt67]

"Who's The Boss?" (or was that in Jersey?)

I think that was supposed to be the Poughkeepsie area, same as Facts of Life.

I'm pretty sure "Who's the Boss" was CT.

As was stated MTM was in Minneapolis, not NYC. Her best friend and upstairs neighbor Rhoda eventually moved back to NYC from whence she came for her spin-off "Rhoda." I don't remember where however, but I'm guessing it wasn't far from Zabaar's (upper west side).

[NYatKNIGHT]

I Love Lucy was of course New York. Excatly where? All I can recall is an episode where she gives her phone number as Murray Hill-5, something something.

The Odd Couple, also New York, switched around from Upper West to Upper East Side.

The Honeymooners lived in a Brooklyn Apartment.

The Cosby Show was the West Village (St. Luke's)

[JMGarcia]

The Taxi location has been torn down and is now condos.

[Jack Ryan]

In 'I Love Lucy' Im pretty sure that the address was 625 E.68th St. which I always thought strange because back before T.V. Land and Nick there was WNEW-TV that would broadcast the show and they were on E.68th Street. Of course 625 E.68th st. doesn't exist.

[VictorG]

The Honeymooners lived at 358 Chauncey Street in the Bensonhurst District of Brooklyn, New York. Jackie GLeason actually grew up at 358 Chauncey Street but in the Bushwick section.

Ralph Kramden works for the Gotham Bus Company and drives Buses #2969 and #247 along Madison Avenue.

[fisaga]

The Cosby Show was the West Village (St. Luke's)
Nope, nope, nope. The Cosby Show was set in Brooklyn Heights
right across the bridge probably near montague st. where alot of
the brownstones are.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The story-line neighborhood was Brooklyn Heights, but the Huxtable house was (still is) on St Luke's Pl in the Village.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Oh, right. That's right.

Here it is, No. 10 St. Luke's, it's the one to the left of the white one.

http://galleries.soaringtowers.org/albums/NYatKNIGHT/st_lukes_4.sized.jpg


Now there's that new show - King of Queens. Never seen it, but it gets good ratings, and it's in New York.

[Clarknt67]

The Cosby Show was the West Village (St. Luke's)
Nope, nope, nope. The Cosby Show was set in Brooklyn Heights
right across the bridge probably near montague st. where alot of
the brownstones are.

Just like the Patty Duke show (which I've never seen, but I understant it mentions Brooklyn Heights in the jingle). :)

[Marty]

This is a cool post!

Do any of you remember the Equalizer? That was a lamoid show in the mid 80’s about some old private investigator running around NYC fighting crime only lamoid 80’s television did.

My all time favorite show L;aw and order but prior to that does anybody remember “Hill Street Blues”! I’ve asked so many times with a multitude of different answers! Where was this show shot? Was it a ghetto in NYC???

[ZippyTheChimp]

The Hill Street Blues city was never named. Location shooting for the series was done in Chicago. The Hill Street police station is actually the Maxwell Street Station in Chicago.

You may be thinking about another Steven Bochco series, NYPD Blue, which was shot in NYC.

Kojak began location shooting in NYC in the 1976 season. Good scenes from the more gritty city.

[Hof]

I think "Hill Street Blues"was filmed in several cities,including Buffalo and Pittsburgh.The producers tried to find suitable locations that were properly urban and gritty.They never actually said WHERE the fictional precinct was,but the implication was New York.
On one show,there was a character who was described as being..."From Upstate--Rochester".
It was the closest the producers came to putting a location on where they were supposed to be.
Also,didn't Archie Bunker live on Howser Street?Where's THAT?

[ZippyTheChimp]

704 Hauser St in Astoria, but I think the actual house is in Corona.

What always bothered me is that the house in the opening credits does not have a front porch, but the studio house does.

[Clarknt67]

704 Hauser St in Astoria, but I think the actual house is in Corona.

Yes, that would be the correct address. Producer Norman Lear dusted off the set for a "sequel" of sorts, which involved a multi-ethnic family moving into the same house. It lasted only 6 episode, but featured the gorgeous & talented Maura Tierney (now on ER after a run on Newsradio).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108682/plotsummary

[Marty]

Hill street was always a tough one seeing that the opening shot was taken high above the city, we always saw an EL train go by. So this brings many cities out of the equation. Chicago. NYC, Boston and St-Louis I think are the only ones with an el. Pls correct me if I’m wrong

The opening scene briefing always included crime hotspots and mentioned avenues and street numbers including 116th or 135th making an assumption it was set in NYC. No palm trees in any shots, so not filmed in L.A.
The producers really did a good job hiding the real identity of the city they portrayed. Even on this board we are getting different answers and opinions.

[TLOZ Link5]

Philadelphia, Baltimore, and I think Cleveland also have els.

[Clarknt67]

I've always been curious about where HBO's Oz (Oswald Correctional Facility) was set. I don't believe they ever said. It was filmed in Chelsea for the first few seasons, then they moved to a studio in NJ.

It definately seemed to be upstate New York, as it drew it's population from a large and culturally/ethnically diverse City, but was a bus ride away from that City. I guess it was outside fictionalized New York (maybe Gotham City?).

[asg]

Ha,ha,ha!Who's the boss, who cares,

[Ninjahedge]

Oh, right. That's right.

Here it is, No. 10 St. Luke's, it's the one to the left of the white one.

http://galleries.soaringtowers.org/albums/NYatKNIGHT/st_lukes_4.sized.jpg


Now there's that new show - King of Queens. Never seen it, but it gets good ratings, and it's in New York.

Is that right next to the park?

If so, they are CONSTANTLY filming stuff there. I walk by it every day on the way to work (375 Hudson)...

[Ninjahedge]

Also, where was the apartment n the Godfather 2 located (and don't say "little Italy" :p)

[Rem 311 JHF]

If you're a Fan of Both KOJAK and NYPD Blue,You Would Kind of Notice that you Look at Both of Those Cop Shows (which are Both on DVD),They Filmed The Exteriors of The Same Police Station House on The Lower East Side of Manhattan on The Street Which I Believe is East 12th Street (Correct Me if If I'm Wrong)!!

[NY_Yankees_1979]

Bubbling up are all the TV shows from the 70s and 80s I saw which were about NYC so I gotta ask you experts where they took place (supposedly).

I heard that "All In The Family" took place in Queens. Which part, I wonder?

Then there's "Taxi,"
"Barney Miller,"
"Who's The Boss?" (or was that in Jersey?)
"Night Court,"
"Welcome Back, Kotter" (in Brooklyn but where exactly?)
"The Jeffersons"

More recently "NYPD Blues" & even earlier "That Girl," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" & "The Dick Van Dyck Show."

I know I left out a lot. I am not a fan of "Sex and the City" nor "Friends" so it doesn't matter where they were located.

Thanks, New Yorkers.
8) Ok I'm going to make a go of this..All in the Family was suppose to be in the Corona section of Queens, which is roughly between Jackson Heights and the LIE and GCP near Shea Stadium. That is one that I know for sure..I did want to clear up that the Cosby Show was 10 St. Luke's Place in the Village even though it was suppose to be Brooklyn Heights..10 St. Luke's Place is where the actual house is located.

For I Love Lucy the address was 623 E. 68th instead of 625..funny because that would end up being in the East River just north of the Queensboro Bridge. When they moved out to the country during the show that address was in Connecticut. A lot of them I'm unsure of but I did know these 3.

[lizzied2003]

My friend told me last nite out of the blue that Rob and Laura Petrie (dick van dyke) hailed from New Rochelle. This is my first time on this site so it's funny that this was a post.

[stache]

Her official address in the first 2 seasons of the show is: Apartment 4D, 344 West 78th Street, Manhattan, New York. For the remainder of the series run, she can be found at: 627 East 54th Street.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Amos 'n' Andy, set in Harlem, early 1950s.

It only ran for two years (1951-53, 78 episodes), when it was pulled. I saw reruns in the 1960s. but they were finally taken off the air due to pressure from civil-rights groups.

The theme music was "Angel's Serenade," played during the opening credits against a backdrop of Manhattan's more romantic 1940s night skyline.

One of the funniest sitcoms I have ever seen. Rich characters expertly portrayed by an all-black cast.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2587/filmography.htm

[sorcerer666]

The opening scenes of All In the Family were shot in Rego Park, Queens, jsut about a block from the subway stop there. I've walked down the street myself. The show was supposed to be set in Astoria however.

I'd like to know where the opening shots of Welcome Back Kotter were filmed. Where is Buchanan High School, that elevated train, that Welcome To Brooklyn sign, that cool street corner, etc.

[NYatKNIGHT]

August 19, 2007

Where the Cameras Rolled

By SETH KUGEL

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/19/travel/19week190.1.jpg
Robert Caplin for The New York Times
ON LOCATION The building where “The Jeffersons” was set.


BEFORE you tear yourself away from the hotel plasma screen and embark on the tour proposed by this column, consider this: Do you find it impossible to dislodge a catchy tune from your brain? A television theme song, say, whose lyrics go, “Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again,” or “Well, we're movin' on up, to the East Side”? If so, proceed with caution — or nostalgic glee.

Forget about “Sex and the City” and “Law & Order.” New York is home to some of the greatest sit-around-one-side-of-the-dinner-table sitcom families that ever were. And their homes were shown during the opening credits or in an eye-blink between scenes. Use YouTube to bone up on your theme songs, then spend a Saturday or a Sunday on a self-guided tour of where New York's Funniest were said to live.

O.K., O.K., it's not high culture. Or ... maybe it is. Outside one famous fictional family's building is a sculpture by Botero. If your reaction is “What'chu talkin' about, Weekend in New York?” then you're on the right track. “Diff'rent Strokes” starred Gary Coleman as an orphan named Arnold, and he might have been cute back then, but the building shown in the opening credits was just another ugly high-rise.

These days, however, 900 Park Avenue, with its semicircular driveway where Arnold and Willis bounded from a limo in the opening credits, boasts the Botero, “The Cat,” a thick-whiskered, porky fellow who stands just where some other sculpture you can barely make out in the opening used to be.

While you're there, check out the neighbors on the next block over, between Madison and Fifth: The Iraqi mission to the United Nations, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese art galleries, among others. (The Met is around the corner.)

From 900 Park, it's just a few blocks to where Tony Randall and Jack Klugman shared an apartment as “The Odd Couple.” You can even try to pinpoint the exact location where Felix stabs Oscar's discarded cigar butt from the sidewalk during the theme music.

A few blocks east is the site of what's referred to in its show's theme as “a deluxe apartment in the sky.” “The Jeffersons” depicted an upwardly mobile black family who made it big in dry cleaning and who lived at 185 East 85th Street. Not exactly the loveliest building, but if it was good enough for George, Weezy, Mr. Bentley and the Willises, who's complaining?

Next on the itinerary is a trip out to Queens to visit the Bunkers' house from “All in the Family.” O.K., if you don't have a car — “Gee, our old LaSalle ran great” — it's optional, but one subway jaunt plus a short bus ride will get you very close. What the opening credits don't show you is that the modest house, now olive green but still with a flagpole just where it used to be, is across the street from St. John's Cemetery.

Is it worth a trip just for the Bunkers? Maybe not, but if you're in a car, you're two minutes from a neighborhood used to establish urban vérité in “King of Queens.” The neighbors around Penelope and 82nd Place will happily point you to the blocks shown in the show.

Even if you're on foot, there is a major reward a short distance from the Bunkers' domicile. La Tavernetta, owned by Mike Zampitelli is a darling of the Queens press and the Chowhound.com crowd. You'd never go there otherwise, but that pappardelle with parmesan, leeks and asparagus will overshadow any brief thrill you got from passing by the Bunker bunker.

Back in Manhattan, you have one more stop: The charming town houses of St. Luke's Place, a one-block stretch in the West Village Historic District. Unlike when “The Cosby Show” first aired in 1984, the Huxtable home at No. 10 is almost completely covered by a riot of vines. Yes, the Huxtables were supposed to live in Brooklyn, but the brass plaque that read “Clifford Huxtable, M.D.” was affixed here.

At this point, you might as well walk the three or four blocks to the “Friends” building. So recent a series, so cliché a tourist locale, you really almost don't want to be seen posing in front of it. A better idea: Eat in the Little Owl restaurant on the ground floor, the place where, as Matt and Ted Lee recently wrote in the Times's Dining section, “Joey Campanaro uses his grandmother's recipe for meatballs in the sliders, but the crispy, yeasty-sweet garlic-and-pecorino buns are an innovation he spent months perfecting.”

Unlike Joey Tribbiani, who, after all, was fictional, this Joey (or at least his meatballs) will really be there for you.


VISITOR INFORMATION

“Diff'rent Strokes” building: 900 Park Avenue at 79th Street. No. 6 train to 77th.

“The Jeffersons” building: 185 East 85th at Third Avenue. Nos. 4, 5, 6 trains to 86th Street.

“The Odd Couple” building: 1049 Park Avenue, between 86th and 87th Streets. Nos. 4, 5, 6 trains to 86th Street.

Bunker residence (“All in the Family”): 89-70 Cooper Avenue, between Metropolitan Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard, Glendale, Queens. M train to Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue, then take Q54 bus east to Cooper Avenue or R, V, G trains to Woodhaven Boulevard and take Q53 bus south to Cooper Avenue.

Huxtable town house (“The Cosby Show”): 10 St. Luke's Place, between Hudson Street and Seventh Avenue South. No. 1 train to Houston Street.

“Friends” building: 90 Bedford Street at Grove. No. 1 train to Christopher Street.

Little Owl, 90 Bedford Street, (212) 741-8695; www.thelittleowlnyc.com.

La Tavernetta, 75-01 88th Street, Glendale, Queens, (718) 896-3538.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/travel/19weekend.html

[BrooklynRider]

That's interesting info.

[abrahamtim]

my favorites are "law and order svu" and "csi new york" are they filmed in ny ?

[lofter1]

"L & O SVU" ( and lal the "L & O" shows ) are filmed in NYC.

"CSI NY" is filmed in LA :confused:

For any TV show that supposedly takes place in NYC keep your eye out for alleys -- chances are it wasn't shot in NYC as we don't have hardly any alleys.

Our crimes take place right out in the open here :cool:

[shocka]

"L & O SVU" ( and lal the "L & O" shows ) are filmed in NYC.

"CSI NY" is filmed in LA :confused:

For any TV show that supposedly takes place in NYC keep your eye out for alleys -- chances are it wasn't shot in NYC as we don't have hardly any alleys.

Our crimes take place right out in the open here :cool:


A lot of movies based in NY are now being in Toronto....

[Union_duty]

Now there's that new show - King of Queens. Never seen it, but it gets good ratings, and it's in New York.


"Doug", "Carrie" and "Arthur" live in Rego Park. What I found interets=ing about that tidbit is that Carrie metions riding the "F" train home. That is true, it does run near Rego Park, and she would have about a 5 minute walk from there. Also, she works in the Chrysler building, and the "F" also passes there.

Well done K of Q.

[BPC]

For any TV show that supposedly takes place in NYC keep your eye out for alleys -- chances are it wasn't shot in NYC as we don't have hardly any alleys.


Not necessarily. I arbitrate small claims cases on occasion, and one of them a few years back involved a fee dispute between an independent film company and the owner of an apartment building in Trbeca which made a good side income renting out its back alley for film and TV shots. Apparently, Tribeca is one of the few Manhattan 'hoods with alleys, lots of them. Since filmmakers love them, they are in big demand.

[lofter1]

Yeah, but here are like three of those NYC alleys ... and most of the supposed NYC alleys you see on TV shows are either in LA, Vancouver or Toronto (none of which look like NYC).

Much more likely to see NYC alleys in TV commercials (clients & crews love them because traffic can be stopped / controlled, unlike the real NYC streets).

[Radiohead]

For me, the TV shows with the strongest sense of being in NYC:

Seinfeld
Odd Couple
All In The Family
Jeffersons
Honeymooners
I Love Lucy
Kojak

I believe the Honeymooners was the only one of them that was actually filmed in NYC (at the Adelphi Theatre in front of a live audience). A friend once told me that many of the Honeymooners cast and crew used to go to a certain restaurant/bar in Bayonne after shooting was completed (I can't remember the name). I didn't really believe it until found out how much Jackie Gleason loved Bayonne.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/86899/jackie_gleason_to_bayonne_baby_youre.html

Wouldn't it be great to have a sitcom filmed entirely in NYC today.

[pianoman11686]

For me, the TV shows with the strongest sense of being in NYC:

Seinfeld

Certainly. But didn't it bother you that they always used this one "main street" set to portray a typical New York retail block? It looked incredibly fake.

Wouldn't it be great to have a sitcom filmed entirely in NYC today.

Maybe not sitcoms, but there is far more on-site filming going on for all sorts of TV shows today than there ever was.

[MagnusPym]

One of my favorite NYC-centered shows, "Tattinger's", aired on NBC back in 1988-89 and was from the bunch that created "St. Elsewhere". It was filmed in the city (unlike so many modern shows that shoot establishing shots on location and the rest in L.A.) and was well written and cast (Stephen Collins, Blythe Danner, Mary Beth Hurt, Jerry Stiller).

Great opening titles using Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, as I recall. It only lasted one season and then NBC morphed it into a sitcom. Shudder.