Hollywood, TX
This Is Series Business
Why don’t more TV shows filmed in Texas actually reflect our state?
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9 comments
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011, 10:25 am
Rick says:
Man, you need to get over yourself. It’s an entertainment TV show (to entertain), not a documentary (to inform). Personally, I’m entertained by it. Those who aren’t can turn to one of the other 400 channels available from their cable/dish providers.
Thursday, August 26th, 2010, 6:56 pm
ElvisLively says:
As a 7th generation Texan living in Chicago -- a city that most people around the world know only through TV and movies -- I have long pondered the manner in which Texas is portrayed on film.
Like Chicago, Texas has its own unique film culture. Texas, especially Dallas, on film is how most non-Texans prefer to think of the Lone Star State. And the culture of Dallas is almost exclusively known around the world for three things: an infamous assassination, America’s Team, and a second-rate ‘80s TV show.
On November 22, 1963 — nearly eight years before I was born — Dallas became known as the city where JFK was assasinated. That perception began to change in the 1970s thanks to the success and class of Tom Landry and his Dallas Cowboys. It changed even more in 1980 when Big D became the site of TV’s most popular evening soap: Dallas.
In the 1980s J.R. became America’s favorite villain, and every non-Texan assumed that all the denizens of Big D lived on ranches, wore cowboy hats and boots to the office, and owned hundreds of oil wells and cattle. (And of course, we all did, right? Didn’t you?) While traveling in British Columbia in the summer of 1980, just about every Canadian I met—upon learning that I was from Dallas—asked me, “who shot J.R., eh?†assuming that as a native Dallasite I must have had inside information. Since I didn’t actually watch Dallas but was vaguely familiar with the cast I made up a different answer each time, e.g. “it was J.R.’s brother Bobby, ehâ€; “it was Sue Ellen, ehâ€; “it was Cliff Barnes, ehâ€; etc. While the depiction of Dallas, as portrayed on my hometown’s eponymous TV show, was anything but accurate, at least the perception of my hometown in the 1980s was decidedly more positive than in the ‘60s and early-‘70s.
However, a mediocre 1980s TV soap opera set in Big D only skims the surface. Like Chicago, my adopted home, Texas is a setting that filmmakers employ time after time to examine the larger than life culture of the Lone Star State. In my opinion, the following represent the most iconic -- or at least recognizable -- movies and TV shows (for better or worse) about Texas: Giant; Lonesome Dove; Dallas, The Alamo; and Walker Texas Ranger (ughh...I know, but WTR was both popular and long-running, and, I am embarrased to say, like Baywatch and the entire Smokey and the Bandit canon, WTR has always been a guilty pleasure of mine if only to get a taste of home while traveling; whenever I’m traveling I look for WTR reruns on the hotel room TV, and usually I can find them).
Some of the best movies from the Lone Star State include (i.e. in this humble Texpatriate’s opinion): Friday Night Lights; Lone Star (my favorite movie about Texas, apart from Lonesome Dove, which is in a category unto itself); The Last Picture Show; Bonnie & Clyde; Hud; Dazed & Confused (another personal favorite); Slacker; The Rookie; Office Space; Trip to Bountiful; Tender Mercies; Crazy Heart; Blood Simple; Paris, Texas; Bottle Rocket; Fandango; North Dallas Forty; Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Local Hero (another personal favorite); Terms of Endearment; JFK; What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. (If you haven’t seen ‘em, check ‘em out!)
In truth, most non-Texans tend to think of Lone Star culture as an amalgam of various cowboy films coupled with the lifestyle of J.R. and the rest of the Ewing clan. And Texans gladly embrace these myths just as they wholeheartedly embrace the myth of the western frontier. On film and television, Texas is almost always bigger than life. And frankly, from the perspective of this Texpatriate living in the Windy City, Texas is indeed bigger than life. After all, behind the myth, there is a kernel of truth.
Like Texas many other places are best known to Americans through film. Consider the following movies and/or TV shows and the respective locales they made famous (or infamous): The Blues Brothers/Ferris Buehler’s Day Off/ER:Chicago; Happy Days/Milwaukee; The Mary Tyler Moore Show/Minneapolis; Rocky (I-V)/Philadelphia; Cheers/Boston; Mean Streets/Taxi Driver (and almost all Scorsese films)/Seinfeld/Hill Street Blues/Law & Order (and countless others)/NYC, M.A.S.H./picturesque North Korea; etc.
You get the picture. For more rants and views of Texas from abroad, check out: windycity-texpatriate.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 9:13 am
MC says:
Wow, how delusional are you? What shows on TV have any accuracy in reality? If you want to see programs about real life, then you have to watch it on PBS. "The Good Guys" with Colin Hanks is actually one of the tolerable shows and at least it is a comedy. If you want to see something better, then you need to write it and find funding for it. Texas has a terrific legacy of supporting the fine arts. Lets promote that area as culture and let’s allow TV to be entertainment. Anyway, I’d rather see a satirical send-up of cop shows than "CSI: Dallas".
Saturday, August 7th, 2010, 12:04 pm
Sarah says:
I agree with Janice-I never thought of Bradley in this role-I really like this show-it is quirky though.
Sunday, August 1st, 2010, 10:30 pm
Jonathan says:
I’ve watched at least one full episode of the guys. Thought it was fine. It tries a bit too hard to be quirky, but that’s not a bad thing. At least it isn’t "Dallas." For that, we should be thankful.
Monday, July 19th, 2010, 2:36 am
janice says:
I have only seen the opening episode of The Good Guys, and I laughed right through it. To see Bradley Whitford in this type of role is refreshing. Colin Hanks has his own charm, and while the premise is played for knee slapping guffaws, it's about time someone did a cop show that does not leave the viewer depressed or angry. While I do not live in Dallas, I have family in the area, and enjoy recognizing the local landmarks.
Saturday, July 17th, 2010, 12:14 pm
Susan says:
Christopher -
While you may or may not like The Good Guys, Matt Nix and the FOX producers chose Dallas over other cities and states like Atlanta,GA and Miami,FL where the incentives may be greater because they liked Dallas and what it offered them. Experienced crews, available equipment, a city government that was committed to getting its film crews back to work, and bringing income to scores of local businesses that are supported by the millions of dollars that are spent in production every week. This series also was instrumental in encouraging 2 other series, The Chase, and Lonestar to shoot in the Dallas area employing even more TEXAS residents. In this era of economic downturn, we are thankful for the resurge of the film business in Texas thanks to our Governor’s and State representatives support of the film incentives and the livelihood of their constituents.
13 episodes have already been shot and the show is slated to shoot 7 more episodes. FOX is remodeling a downtown warehouse to be another studio as well. They intend to stay in Texas and we applaud them.
On a content note, The Good Guys is a comedy, shoot-em-up, car chase, tongue-in-cheek.
Lighten up, have a beer and enjoy the show!!! At least it’s not another riduculous "reality" show for the summer season.
Friday, June 25th, 2010, 3:00 pm
Kim says:
Great article. One good guy point you did not mention. If you’re going to set the scene in Dallas, at least know the area. In the pilot they went from Dallas PF to Quana, (where the bad guys had gone) and it took a few minutes (as if it were a few miles) vs a few hundred...
Friday, June 25th, 2010, 10:53 am
Justin says:
My thoughts exactly, Christopher! Very good article.
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