Shows like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica must really get your panties in a wad, seeing as how they're not shot in space... or even on real spaceships.
^But New York is a real place, so there's definitely a difference in how convincing a New York setting is depending on whether it's actually shot in New York. Same with any other part of the country. Most of the world doesn't look like LA or Vancouver.
^I'm just needling Mr. Laser Beam; this is an argument we've had since NYPD Blue was still on the air. Blue's limited use of NYC location shoots didn't make any difference in my enjoyment of the show, whereas it ruined it for him.
I can tell you, now that I live in Baltimore, that had Barry Levinson tried to film Homicide anywhere but Baltimore and then try to pass it off as Charm City, it wouldn't have worked. It so wouldn't have worked. So, I get where Mr. Laser Beam is coming from. Definitely.
What really annoys me is when a series is set in Seattle, but filmed in Vancouver (or LA, or elsewhere). Pasting the space needle on the skyline or overusing the same stock footage doesn't make the series look like Seattle. Millennium managed to get by because they allowed for it to rain so much on the series, but it still could have just as easily been set in Vancouver with no harm done to the narrative.
Laser Beam, when Billy Crystal made 61, Yankee Stadium no longer looked like the Yankee Stadium of old so they had to use another stadium that looked like a classic ballpark. Is that enough to boycott the movie? Or were you in fact the one who did boycott the movie when I mentioned that fact?
I haven't seen 61*. The crew shot in Tigers Stadium, in Detroit, according to IMDB. But, then again, they shot in that stadium (heavily re-dressed, with digital enhancements) because it was closer to old Yankees Stadium than the new one. So I don't understand your point.
Sorry, added who I was posting to in my post. And the worst Seattle offender has to be Grey's Anatomy -- the Space Needle on one side and the Pike Place Market sign is on the other. Is the hospital 2-3 miles long?
I don't know if Grey's Anatomy is the worst offender. They've been out here on location a few times, and their mastery of the geography goes beyond "hey, there's the space needle!" I hear all the movie Firewall did was paste the Space Needle onto the Vancouver skyline. Then again, that's more than Stargate SG-1 could bother when they "went" to Seattle. Canada was in on the Stargate project by the ninth season. There's no reason they couldn't have gone after Ba'al in Vancouver. Hell, give the city a shout-out. At least the X-Files bothered to go to Vancouver once.
I've never seen that film either. But I suppose if it was absolutely impossible to shoot in the real Yankee Stadium, then they get a free pass. That being said: As I read, extensive use of CGI was involved in that scene. They added a third deck, a Bronx skyline, and a whole lot of crowd. So if they're going to go through all that trouble, certainly a tiny amount of CGI alteration to the *real* Yankee Stadium would have also been possible? Hell, they could have just added the frieze and called it solved - it would have been no less, and perhaps actually more, authentic than what actually was done (since obviously Tiger Stadium and Yankee Stadium never looked anything alike). I mean, without having seen it, I can't judge, but what did it actually look like? In Tiger Stadium, there was no view of the outside - the second deck was all the way around. OTOH, in Yankee Stadium (both old and new), you could plainly see the 4 train beyond the outfield wall, complete with view of the city. Did they add that too? And as I said, if they're going to use all that CGI to do it, then surely it would have been less expensive to simply take the real Yankee Stadium and add the frieze. Obviously, whichever they do, they're not going to be 100% accurate anyway...
That reminds me of Highlander: The Series, which was also filmed in Vancouver. IIRC, in the first season they tried to make it look like MacLeod lived in Seattle, but after that they never bothered and just had MacLeod in some generic city in the Pacific Northwest (when he wasn't in Paris in the latter half of the season) that was apparently neither Seattle nor Vancouver. Eventually fans started to call the city Seacouver.
There was a Smallville episode that tried to pass off Vancouver BC for Detroit... by having black kids playing hoops. One of BC's sports arenas was clearly in the background.
So everyone left the show... hmmm... interesting.... I wonder if the show will still be filmed on Earth!
I wonder why they didn't just cancel the show and start a new L&O with brand new cast. It would have been a hell of alot easier to do. Better ratings because of people curious about it and cheaper cast.
To be fair to Billy Crystal, Yankee Stadium, at the time he was filming, looked almost nothing like it did in 1961. The renovations of the early 1970s vastly altered the interior of Yankee Stadium. It was easier to redress Tiger Stadium, and add CGI, than it would have been to try and film in Yankee Stadium. Frankly, I thought they did a fantastic job making Tiger Stadium look like the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium. It's not like The Natural, where the New York Knights are playing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field -- and Wrigley looks absolutely nothing like Wrigley has ever looked.
But neither did Tiger Stadium. Tiger Stadium looked no more like Yankee Stadium I than Yankee Stadium II did. Whichever option they chose, they were obviously not going to end up with something that was totally realistic. The best they could hope for would be something that vaguely resembled Yankee Stadium I. But given two choices - use a LOT of CGI on Tiger Stadium, or a tiny bit of CGI on Yankee Stadium II - then why choose the latter? If they just took Yankee Stadium II, added the frieze, and called it even, obviously that wouldn't look totally authentic, but it would be good enough. And they wouldn't have to digitally recreate the Bronx, either, since it would basically already be there. Of course the Bronx in 1961 would look different than the Bronx in (whatever year 61 was made) but, well, HOW different? For the small amount of time we see it in the film, I doubt it'd be that big of a deal.
They need more spin-offs Law & Order: Origins - Who wants to play a young Richard Belzer? Maybe that McLovin kid from SUPERBAD? Law & Order: Vampire Unit - Nick Knight joins the force. Above the Law & Order - There's an unseen part of the legal system, that answers to no one. Steven Seagal in his first t.v. series. Law & Order: Old Jokes - Crackdown on failed jokes, like potential L&O spin off lists.