Nov 20, 2019 · 11 min read
What’s your favorite NY-set or -shot show?
Once upon a time, New York was the center of TV production, until the latter half of the fifties, when those meddlesome film studios got involved and production moved west. Most television entertainment is still produced on the West Coast today, but the New York TV industry is doing just fine, thank you, courtesy of, among others, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, pioneered by Mayor John V. Lindsay in 1966 to encourage local production.
Dick Wolf, the uberauteur behind the Law & Order franchise, receives much of the credit for New York’s resurgence, though others have contributed mightily as well. Tom Fontana, along with the late Bruce Paltrow, insisted on filming Tattingers in New York in the late eighties, after five season of St. Elsewhere in Los Angeles; the series never caught on, but Fontana has been based here ever since, producing Oz, among other shows. Michael J. Fox moved Spin City from LA to New York. Sarah Jessica Parker, Denis Leary, Aziz Ansari, Tina Fey, Kevin Bacon, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, Lena Dunham, Bill Cosby, Tracy Morgan, Julie Klausner, Billy Eichner— all New York-centric creatives compelled or inspired to produce on the home front.
There’s a second category: shows set in New York but shot elsewhere (couple of sitcoms come to mind — you might have heard of them: Seinfeld and Friends — but also dramas like Mad Men). These shows rarely if ever step foot in the city, yet are considered quintessentially New York because they so acutely capture some aspect of its identity: people, places, moods, even its very essence. Sure, you can argue that they are, to an extent, reinforcing stereotypes — New York is gritty, harsh, loud, expensive, fast-paced, glamorous; New Yorkers are rude workaholics who wear black (always) and sometimes — sometimes, on good days — reveal hearts of gold beneath those crusty exteriors — but the line between stereotype and reality can be a bitch to navigate.
Here we’ve assembled a virtual panel of distinguished New Yorkers to ponder numerous issues pertaining to the city’s image as promoted through narrative television fiction and comedy set and/or shot here. We invite you to compare their answers to your own — maybe even let us know what you think. Our panelists are Monica Castillo, writer, critic, regional director of National Association of Hispanic Journalists; Rachel Handler, staff writer, Vulture/New York; Caryn James, film and television critic, BBC; Krutika Mallikarjuna, senior editor, TV Guide; Michael Starr, TV editor, New York Post; Greg Young, cocreator, Bowery Boys podcast.
What best defines New York as a television character?
Monica Castillo: The show has to venture outside the main character’s home (or the show’s main setting) and have an influence in the characters’ lives. There has to be a sense of the city on screen and in the script. For instance, I Love Lucy is supposed to be set in New York City, but so much of it takes place in their apartment and feels divorced from what’s going on outside that it doesn’t feel like a New York story.
Caryn James: Glamour and grittiness come to mind, but most of all I think New York stands for possibility. New York is still the place where people come to make their names or, in a less glamorous scenario, to survive with a kind of steely determination.
Krutika Mallikarjuna: New York beats you down to build you back up. At best, she’s a whirlwind of chaotic good; at worst, she’s a puckish, ornery bitch who won’t let you live until you admit she was right.
Michael Starr: To me, it’s the city’s architecture and its neighborhoods, all so varied and singular in their own way. Those two elements help establish the mood of a particular scene (whatever the emotion — drama, comedy), particularly if the scene in question is actually filmed in the city.
What’s the greatest NY show of all time?
Rachel Handler: Somewhere between Sex and the City and Broad City is the perfect show about New York, a New York where men hardly exist except as foils to a group of interesting women who love to drink. I would also like to express my profound admiration for What I Like About You, starring Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth as sisters, which was filmed in a version of New York where one could support herself and her sister by running a cupcake business.
Greg Young: I think it must be a tie between Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live. Neither show films much on the streets itself, but the themes and philosophies of both shows are so defined by New York City life. Sesame Street expressed the diversity and reality of big-city life at a time when most Americans thought of New York as a dark, unsafe place unsuited for raising children. Saturday Night Live, especially in its early years, reflected the minutiae of New York’s weirdness, parodying — and in a sense honoring — local public-access and regional advertisements and presenting them to national audiences.
Castillo: The Critic.
Starr: That’s a tough one, so I’ll break it up into several categories. If we’re talking about comedy, I’d divide it equally between The Honeymooners and Barney Miller. For drama, Naked City, which was shot at Biograph Studios in the Bronx and on location at other sites throughout the city (and occasionally North Jersey). You really get a sense of New York City life in the early sixties (in black and white!) when watching Naked City. There’s a lesser-known series from the late fifties called Decoy — starring Beverly Garland as a New York City policewoman — that’s also fun to watch, since it was filmed on location throughout the city. The plotlines are corny (it only lasted one season), but it’s like watching a time capsule of New York City circa 1957.
If you could be a character in just one NY show, who would it be?
Young: I’m tempted to say Grace from Will & Grace, because who wouldn’t want that amazing office in the Puck Building? But I’m going to say either Jermaine or Bret from Flight of the Conchords because they lived a Lower East Side life of music and just wandered around New York City doing nothing but getting into musical shenanigans.
Handler: Amanda Bynes in What I Like About You, who lives in a two-bedroom apartment and pays no rent and survives solely off of the proceeds from her sister’s cupcake business.
Mallikarjuna: I would definitely snatch up Aziz’s part in Master of None so I could watch that brilliant show in present day without cringing. Runner-up: any background character on Succession who only observes the Roy family and never directly speaks to them.
What’s the “most-NY” NY show of all time?
Starr: Barney Miller, hands down.
Handler: As an old millennial, I am contractually obligated to say Friends or Seinfeld, though the latter definitely does a better job of reflecting the “real” New York, while the former is essentially the Amanda-Bynes-cupcake-business version of New York previously mentioned.
Young: Seinfeld seems very “New York,” but it’s a myopic view of New York City. But I think you have to turn to a show like Taxi as being ‘authentic’ — perhaps not in the central sitcom plots, but in the contours, the ideas, even the humor. It says things about New York of the early eighties that went over the heads of many people watching in middle America.But that wasn’t filmed here (although plenty of great exteriors certainly were). Of those that are filmed here, it has to be Law & Order for the sheer volume of scenes filmed in New York City. You can probably piece together a pretty good snapshot of NYC in the nineties just by freeze-framing any random episode.
James: Law & Order. No other show is quite as rooted in New York, or captures the huge range of class differences so often.
Mallikarjuna: Russian Doll. It’s an existential mindfuck that leaves you questioning what it means to be a worthwhile person and eventually turns into a full-throated treatise for friendship and human connection in one of the most isolating (but rewarding) places in the world. The fact that Russian Doll did all that while simultaneously spawning dozens of memes (sweet birthday baby!) and nailing an ending that literally no one predicted? Name one show that gives you bigger New York energy than that, I’ll wait.
What’s the “most NY” show set but not shot in NY?
Handler: As a Jewess who owns 200 shoes, I am contractually obligated to say The Nanny.
James: Seinfeld. The ultimate New York but not New York show.
Does it bother you when shows are set in NY but not shot here?
Handler: Yes, it’s annoying, but I still love The Nanny.
Mallikarjuna: YES, why even bother setting your show in New York then? Just set the show in Toronto and don’t subject me to any more fake subway stations please.
Young: The most historically detailed show about New York City — Mad Men — was not filmed here, and The Alienist did a fantastic job of showing a unique side of New York, so I don’t think it’s required anymore. Luckily, thanks to Law & Order and The Cosby Show, New York City is again opened up as a filming location, and most shows benefit from that. Period shows can re-create NYC, but its hard to re-create that certain something that is everyday life here. I can spot a New York set filmed in Toronto from a mile away! I want to give a special shout out to the TV show Elementary, which went out of its way to film in interesting places in the five boroughs. It gave it a true New York City feel that was also unique and special.
Starr: Not too much, unless it’s obvious when a lot of the show’s scenes are filmed outdoors. One example that comes to mind is the USA dramedy Suits, which I really enjoyed — but it’s obvious that it’s Toronto that’s standing in for New York City’s street scenes. The “establishing shots” of the New York skyline or yellow cabs planted on outdoor street scenes aren’t fooling anyone (at least in my opinion). Those shots just don’t have that New York City vibe.
James: Yes! It probably isn’t a factor for most viewers, but if you notice details that are wrong it takes you out of the show. It always bothered me that Jerry Seinfeld had the West Coast edition of The New York Times. And as much as I love The Mindy Project, nothing after the opening credits seemed authentically New York.
What’s the most romantic/inspiring NY show?
Young: For me personally, it was the first season of The Real World. They were filming it the summer that I first came to New York City (from Missouri) as a summer intern in a magazine program. The season was broadcast on television when I returned to Missouri and I lapped up every second of it. I didn’t care about the characters. I was enjoying revisiting the city streets that I had just walked through. SoHo was so romantic and cool! I partially attribute this show to me moving here permanently.
Handler: I am extremely inspired by What I Like About You to open a cupcake business and become unbearably rich.
Castillo: 30 Rock.
Mallikarjuna: The Bold Type. I love watching a glossy version of my career unfold, complete with caring mentors and pay parity. Maybe one day it could be us gang!
What’s the most depressing NY show?
Young: Sex and the City. I feel like I’m watching the construction and glorification of the New Gilded Age in real time.
Handler: Law & Order: SVU.
Castillo: Law & Order: SVU.
Mallikarjuna: Friends. Imagine being a grown adult in NYC with grown, adult friends who do drink, but prefer to hang out in a coffee shop.
What’s the most realistic NY show?
Starr: In terms of drama, I’d go with any of the Law & Order-franchise shows, all shot on location in New York City with plotlines often “ripped-from-the-headlines” of the city’s tabloids. For comedy, it’s Barney Miller.
Young: Broad City built a lot of its humor from extremely realistic situations. You know Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (and the writing team) experienced variations of all of it.
Handler: Real to whom? For me, it’s Broad City, but for a detective working within the Special Victims Unit of the NYPD, it’s probably Law & Order: SVU.
Castillo: Broad City.
What’s the funniest NY show?
Young: 30 Rock. I can’t help it! It’s wonderful.
James: 30 Rock.
Castillo: The Nanny.
Starr: The Honeymooners (the original “Classic 39” from 1955–56). All in the Family runs a close second.
What’s the most iconic NY show opening title sequence?
Mallikarjuna: Sex and the City. There’s nothing more New York than really feeling like you’re hot shit only to be reminded by the city to stay humble. Carrie Bradshaw somehow had a journalism career lucrative enough for a West Village apartment full of Manolo Blahniks, and Carrie Bradshaw deserved to splashed by dirty sewer water from a bus with her face on it. Honorable Mention: How to Make It in America.
Starr: I don’t know about iconic, but The Odd Couple opening sequence is right up there — with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall walking throughout New York City streetscapes and landscapes (including Central Park).
James: The Odd Couple. Yes, it’s all about Felix and Oscar, but the backdrop — the streets with distinctly New York buildings, the park, midtown crowds, and traffic — makes the city vivid and unmistakable.
Castillo: Saturday Night Live.
Young: The Jeffersons without a doubt. The openings of Taxi and Sex and the City are beautiful looks at the city, but The Jeffersons — and that theme song! — really embody the New York City ideal of ambition and hope. Weezie and George looking out the window, gazing at New York City, as they head to their “deluxe apartment in the sky.” It’s iconic.
Seinfeld or Friends?
Young: Seinfeld, a million times over. Friends documents some of the most boringly nice people who could have possibly lived in New York City in the nineties. Who cares to spend a minute with them?! Seinfeld is full of unpleasant, disagreeable people and situations that make it an almost sadistic pleasure — and at the same time relatable, because we’ve all met those people and we’ve all even BEEN those people at some point.
Starr: If we’re talking “New York attitude,” definitely Seinfeld (but attitude only — they’re not fooling anyone with “outdoor” scenes obviously shot on a studio set in LA).
Castillo: Seinfeld.
James: I am agnostic on this. Guilty secret: neither one is among my favorites.
Handler: Friends, but only because of Rachel’s wardrobe.
Paley Matters is a publication of The Paley Center for Media.