Why is it that LA is romanticized/set in legal TV shows?! Forum

[apollo13]

Just out of genuine curiosity.
If you look at Franklin and Bash or the recently cancelled show The Deep End, its setting is in "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey" LA, California.
Any speculations as to why?

[Bildungsroman]

Solid thread for the Law School FAQ. Next time I watch a Law and Order rerun and have a mindless observation I'll be sure to start one of my own.

[apollo13]

Sure, go ahead

[Heartford]

LA is romanticized/set in tons of TV shows and movies because they're made in LA and people from LA are too lazy to bother imagining someplace else... except maybe that weird Hollywood version of New York City where everyone can afford a 3,000 square foot apartment on a barista's salary.

[Hannibal]

LA is romanticized/set in tons of TV shows and movies because they're made in LA and people from LA are too lazy to bother imagining someplace else... except maybe that weird Hollywood version of New York City where everyone can afford a 3,000 square foot apartment on a barista's salary.

All of this.

[notanumber]

Scouting local locations is cheaper than moving the talent and crew.

[Sentry]

Because they have ties to LA.

[Hannibal]

Also, the idea that anybody has fun in the New York legal culture is beyond anybody's ability to suspend disbelief.

[bgdddymtty]

Just out of genuine curiosity.
If you look at Franklin and Bash or the recently cancelled show The Deep End, its setting is in "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey" LA, California.
Any speculations as to why?

A. Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the U.S. TV shows tend to be set in big cities.

B. As opposed to most other large American cities (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc.), L.A. is temperate, amazingly sunny (nearly 300 total days of sunny/partly sunny weather per year), and surrounded by gorgeous beaches. It also gets the runoff of the glitz and glamour associated with Hollywood. It's therefore pretty easy to romanticize.

C. This is no new phenomenon. See, e.g., L.A. Law.

D. You really mangled the context on your lyrical quotation, which points back to B on this list. All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray wherever John Phillips is, because it's a "winter's day." In spite of the season, however, he'd be "safe and warm if (he) was in L.A." Yucky weather is more or less unheard of in Southern California.

[Heartford]

Just out of genuine curiosity.
If you look at Franklin and Bash or the recently cancelled show The Deep End, its setting is in "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey" LA, California.
Any speculations as to why?

A. Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the U.S. TV shows tend to be set in big cities.

B. As opposed to most other large American cities (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc.), L.A. is temperate, amazingly sunny (nearly 300 total days of sunny/partly sunny weather per year), and surrounded by gorgeous beaches. It also gets the runoff of the glitz and glamour associated with Hollywood. It's therefore pretty easy to romanticize.

C. This is no new phenomenon. See, e.g., L.A. Law.

D. You really mangled the context on your lyrical quotation, which points back to B on this list. All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray wherever John Phillips is, because it's a "winter's day." In spite of the season, however, he'd be "safe and warm if (he) was in L.A." Yucky weather is more or less unheard of in Southern California.

LA is also one of America's least attractive cities (in terms of architecture, not tans n' boobs), also one of the most polluted, most pretentious, and most of all, most overrated. So again, I'm voting for the laziness/lack of creativity/More affordable explanations.

[bgdddymtty]

Just out of genuine curiosity.
If you look at Franklin and Bash or the recently cancelled show The Deep End, its setting is in "all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey" LA, California.
Any speculations as to why?

A. Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the U.S. TV shows tend to be set in big cities.

B. As opposed to most other large American cities (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc.), L.A. is temperate, amazingly sunny (nearly 300 total days of sunny/partly sunny weather per year), and surrounded by gorgeous beaches. It also gets the runoff of the glitz and glamour associated with Hollywood. It's therefore pretty easy to romanticize.

C. This is no new phenomenon. See, e.g., L.A. Law.

D. You really mangled the context on your lyrical quotation, which points back to B on this list. All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray wherever John Phillips is, because it's a "winter's day." In spite of the season, however, he'd be "safe and warm if (he) was in L.A." Yucky weather is more or less unheard of in Southern California.

LA is also one of America's least attractive cities (in terms of architecture, not tans n' boobs), also one of the most polluted, most pretentious, and most of all, most overrated. So again, I'm voting for the laziness/lack of creativity/More affordable explanations.

I agree with much of this. L.A. has no skyline to speak of (although it depends on what you mean by "architecture;" there are plenty of beautiful homes), there is a lot of smog, and it is plenty pretentious. As for overrated, it depends on what you're looking for.

None of this, however, changes the fact that it is extremely easy to romanticize L.A.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

LA is romanticized/set in tons of TV shows and movies because they're made in LA and people from LA are too lazy to bother imagining someplace else... except maybe that weird Hollywood version of New York City where everyone can afford a 3,000 square foot apartment on a barista's salary.

All of this.

[notanumber]

LA is also one of America's least attractive cities (in terms of architecture, not tans n' boobs), also one of the most polluted, most pretentious, and most of all, most overrated. So again, I'm voting for the laziness/lack of creativity/More affordable explanations.

LA probably has the most interesting architecture of any city save possibly New York or Chicago. Mid-century modernism is essentially a Los Angeles creation lead by L.A. architects like Eames, Kappe, Koenig, and Neutra. The case study buildings are, to a one, spectacular. Greene and Greene probably made the best examples of craftsman architecture in the country. LA also has dozens of the most interesting mission and Egyptian revival buildings in the world.

LA architecture gets a bad rap because it's not all clustered together like NY, SF, and Chicago (each of which has more than its share of ugly-ass suburban tracts). But don't hate on the design of the buildings because the urban planners fucked up.

/curmudgeonly rant

[monarchylover]

LA is also one of America's least attractive cities (in terms of architecture, not tans n' boobs), also one of the most polluted, most pretentious, and most of all, most overrated. So again, I'm voting for the laziness/lack of creativity/More affordable explanations.

LA probably has the most interesting architecture of any city save possibly New York or Chicago. Mid-century modernism is essentially a Los Angeles creation lead by L.A. architects like Eames, Kappe, Koenig, and Neutra. The case study buildings are, to a one, spectacular. Greene and Greene probably made the best examples of craftsman architecture in the country. LA also has dozens of the most interesting mission and Egyptian revival buildings in the world.

LA architecture gets a bad rap because it's not all clustered together like NY, SF, and Chicago (each of which has more than its share of ugly-ass suburban tracts). But don't hate on the design of the buildings because the urban planners fucked up.

/curmudgeonly rant

I think you can sum it up this way, for the price of a 3rd floor 1br 400sf walk up on the upper upper east side 100s in a building that looks worse than any project in east LA you can buy a 2-3br house in Burbank. I do say those shoe boxes are pretty though.

[Heartford]

LA is also one of America's least attractive cities (in terms of architecture, not tans n' boobs), also one of the most polluted, most pretentious, and most of all, most overrated. So again, I'm voting for the laziness/lack of creativity/More affordable explanations.

LA probably has the most interesting architecture of any city save possibly New York or Chicago. Mid-century modernism is essentially a Los Angeles creation lead by L.A. architects like Eames, Kappe, Koenig, and Neutra. The case study buildings are, to a one, spectacular. Greene and Greene probably made the best examples of craftsman architecture in the country. LA also has dozens of the most interesting mission and Egyptian revival buildings in the world.

LA architecture gets a bad rap because it's not all clustered together like NY, SF, and Chicago (each of which has more than its share of ugly-ass suburban tracts). But don't hate on the design of the buildings because the urban planners fucked up.

/curmudgeonly rant

Fine. It's not the architecture- it's the urban planning. Either way, LA is an ugly heap of strip malls and parking lots, and I always feel like I'm just on the outskirts of a real city, even when I'm downtown.