Why are so many comedies in NYC?

[Trek4Ever]

This is something I've realized recently, many popular (and or else forgotten) TV comedies take place in or near New York City. Examples? I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Seinfeld, Friends, All in the Family, The Odd Couple, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, Welcome Back Kotter, Mad About You, Sex and the City...you get the idea.

Why is this so? Sure there are plenty of comedies that take place elsewhere and though I'm sure most probably don't take place in NYC, what is about the city that forces LA based writers/producers to set the show there?

 

[Christopher]

New York City is the largest and arguably most important city in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. A great many comedies and dramas have always been set there. It's the same reason Godzilla always trashes Tokyo and the Doctor always hangs around London. It's the biggest cities that get most of the attention in fiction. New York is also the city that features in the most disaster movies, police dramas, etc.

Also, a lot of writers come from or live in New York, because it's the heart of the American publishing and theater industries. It was initially the heart of the American film industry as well; the reason the industry moved to LA is because Thomas Edison had a patent on many early film technologies and other filmmakers wanted to get as far away from him as possible so they could avoid paying him royalties. New York is still a leading center of the television industry, almost as much as Hollywood; the major TV networks have their headquarters there, most TV news shows originate from there (or did until Ted Turner made Atlanta CNN's hub), plenty of shows are produced there, etc. The city has a well-established legal and financial infrastructure for supporting film and television productions, and plenty of talented film and TV professionals available for hire. There's also no shortage of actors there.

 

[JonathonWally]

Another big reason would be in a big city like NYC it's not hard to come up with a story-of-the-week plot convenience.

Seriously, if your show takes place in NYC Metro and you can't think of some kind story line to help fill out your 20 or 42 minutes of comedy then you need to get out of the writing business.

 

[JoeZhang]

Aren't most of those shows made in California? I know the 1950s ones are made in New York (except for "I love Lucy") but besides establishing shots do they make/did they make any of those things in NY - Sex and the city? what else?

 

[nx1701g]

I always thought NYC was used because it's a cultural melting pot.

 

[auntiehill]

Because all the cool, funny and interesting people in this country live either in New York or California. Haven't you heard?

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

Or it could be easy to create sets for the New York scene.

 

[Christopher]

Aren't most of those shows made in California?

Sure, but in terms of storytelling, the tendency is to default to New York and LA, because of their prominence and familiarity. NY is just the quintessential American city in popular culture. That's why most Marvel superheroes are based there, and why the DC universe has not one but two New York stand-ins, Metropolis (representing the positive aspects of the city) and Gotham (representing its negative aspects).

 

[Sephiroth]

Because all the cool, funny and interesting people in this country live either in New York or California. Haven't you heard?

thier all moving to New Mexico now, they have used up L.A. and now the leaches are coming here to do the same to us

 

[JonathonWally]

Because all the cool, funny and interesting people in this country live either in New York or California. Haven't you heard?

QFT

 

[Trek4Ever]

Maybe I should've named this thread Why are so many shows, movies, characters, etc. in NYC. I forgot about the Marvel heroes (if you think about it if so many heroes and villains operated in NY for real, no normal person would live there with all the structural damages) and the fact so many disasters flicks take place in NY. Though it can be tiring sometimes (and this is from someone who was raised in NYC and lived there for decades).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

but besides establishing shots do they make/did they make any of those things in NY - Sex and the city? what else?

These are hardly comedies, but... US Life on Mars and all three L&O shows are set *and filmed* in New York.

 

[Finn]

I think it was a mistake to have the third CSI in New York- too many law-enforcement related shows there already. I would have gone for one of the Mid-western cities or maybe even Denver or Seattle (I'd go for a colder city since Vegas and Miami are hot cities...). But again, the whole CSI thing is getting old.

 

[JonathonWally]

I think it was a mistake to have the third CSI in New York- too many law-enforcement related shows there already. I would have gone for one of the Mid-western cities or maybe even Denver or Seattle (I'd go for a colder city since Vegas and Miami are hot cities...). But again, the whole CSI thing is getting old.

I would think it would be too expensive to make a show set in Seattle. You'd blow most of your budget on special effects just to make it rain all the time

 

[Trek4Ever]

I think it was a mistake to have the third CSI in New York- too many law-enforcement related shows there already. I would have gone for one of the Mid-western cities or maybe even Denver or Seattle (I'd go for a colder city since Vegas and Miami are hot cities...). But again, the whole CSI thing is getting old.

I would think it would be too expensive to make a show set in Seattle. You'd blow most of your budget on special effects just to make it rain all the time

Film the show in Vancouver or elsewhere in Canada, isn't the climate similar to Seattle? The 4400 was set in Seattle but I can't remember where it was filmed. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in Vancouver.

 

[Christopher]

^^Plenty of shows have been set in or around Seattle, including Frasier, Twin Peaks, Millennium, Dark Angel, John Doe, Dead Like Me, The 4400, and Kyle XY. This is usually because the shows in question are produced in Vancouver, which is right next to Seattle and has the same climate. Other Vancouver-produced shows have been set elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest, including The Sentinel and Eureka.

 

[Samurai8472]

If there's one thing New York set shows have shown us, is that you can get a studio apartment for cheap and it comes with wacky neighbor included.

 

[Rabittooth]

Because all the cool, funny and interesting people in this country live either in New York or California. Haven't you heard?

You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little f*cked up maybe, but we're funny how, I mean funny like we're clowns, we amuse you? We make you laugh, We're here to f*ckin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How are we funny?


-Rabittooth

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think it was a mistake to have the third CSI in New York- too many law-enforcement related shows there already. I would have gone for one of the Mid-western cities or maybe even Denver or Seattle (I'd go for a colder city since Vegas and Miami are hot cities...). But again, the whole CSI thing is getting old.

Pity that the rumor about a possible CSI: London didn't pan out. I would have watched that one.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I recently read in an interview with a literary agent who said that he's looking to read material that is set anywhere but New York. He was tired of getting manuscripts all set in that city and was ready to be taken somewhere, anywhere, but the Big Apple.