It seems every time a TV series or TV movie is set in Charleston the network includes things that are stereotypical New Orleans. The producers and writers will often have things such as musicians playing in the street or street artists. Last night it was eating crawdads. We don't eat crawdads. We eat shrimp and grits. I know it sounds silly but for some reason it bugs me.
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son.
A quick Google search shoes that there are street musicians. In fact, the city recently passed an ordinance to keep them away from the entrances/exits of performance venues.
And people don't only eat crawfish in New Orleans. I live in the Northeast Corridor and they've started showing up in the supermarkets here (as they do every summer).
I lived in Charleston from 1998 to this past March, and while like any city we have street musicians and like any Southern place we do eat craw dads, neither is very common. I can assure you, it's not something higher class government guys are likely to sit around eating in their office, more like what you'd find in a slightly nicer Chinese buffet.
The street musicians are barely there. They usually just stick around King and Calhoun, where the old Millennium Music used to be. There were also recently some homeless (?) twenty-somethings with instruments who were hanging out in front of a store on King. That's all I can really remember. They show up other places, but it's pretty rare.
Honestly, I didn't notice the street musicians. I was too busy cracking up over the accents and strange "Southern" touches, like the European beer line. Also, "Chicargo" and Kim Wayans traveling all the way to Greenville. Oh, and when Sawyer told her to search the county. Charleston County is outrageously small.
I've lived in Charleston since 1990 and I've seen street musicians maybe 3 times. Chicargo bugged me too as well. Greenville is over 3 hours away. I was thinking "Does she have a rocket car or did she fly?"
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son.
I've lived in Charleston since 1990 and I've seen street musicians maybe 3 times. Chicargo bugged me too as well. Greenville is over 3 hours away. I was thinking "Does she have a rocket car or did she fly?"This is a recurring problem with the Yankee view of the South--I remember in "Hart of Dixie" a drive from coastal Alabama to Atlanta and back as being something you'd do in an evening with time to do stuff in Atlanta.Earth to Yankees--the South is big--you can drive 12 hours straight and still be in Florida. Charleston to Greenville is farther than New York to Boston. You don't just nip up to Greenville and back in an afternoon unless you own an airplane. share
TV shows bend travel times in all shows. For example any shows in the L.A. area may show a scene at Laguna Beach and 5 minutes later they are at the Airport and then another 5 minutes later you're Riverside, then back to the beach. That's a half days driving.
The New York cop shows have them in Manhattan and then in Brooklyn etc. On the shows it is 5 minutes from one location to another in rush hour traffic, but in reality 1 hour or more with traffic.
Many shows are now filmed in Toronto and they show you downtown and City Hall and then Scarborough next to Airport back to City Hall. In traffic 4 hours driving, on the show 15 minutes from location to location.
So get used to TV programs. If you live in an area that the show is filmed in then you see the reality of what the show is doing, cutting traveling times way down. Has to be done to keep the show moving.
I've lived in Charleston most of my life, went to College of Charleston and spent a lot of time downtown. I've also very rarely seen street musicians.
Full disclosure - can't get past the first ten minutes. Maybe it improves and I should give it a chance but as of right now, I'm noping out. The accents are killing me. Holy Dumbledore they're terrible. They wanted the Charleston scenery but also wanted to play it out like a small town backwoods courtroom drama. It's like they were inspired by A Time to Kill and wanted that atmosphere, sassy "Yankee" lawyer and handsome good-old-boy attorney that "gets" how to win over a southern jury.
I realize it's just a setting for a fictional show and it shouldn't irk me like it does but I'm feeling petty. I guess it's a good thing I don't live in New York, LA or DC where so many things are set. My tipping point was the fans in the courtroom. Just...why? I swear Atticus Finch's courtroom in Maycomb was more technologically advanced.
Starting off the show with a Creedence Clearwater song was pretty funny. Also, Charleston's government buildings do have air conditioners, so fanning or putting a cold can of soda on one's neck isn't exactly necessary.
Starting off the show with a Creedence Clearwater song was pretty funny. Also, Charleston's government buildings do have air conditioners, so fanning or putting a cold can of soda on one's neck isn't exactly necessary.That may not be the case. I work in a government building in Hartford, CT and sometimes fanning or putting a cold can of soda on one's neck feels pretty darned good. Thanks to government "energy-saving" policies government buildings aren't necessarily kept as warm in winter or as cool in summer as they could be. share
It's not a point of view it's a tv show it's for atmosphere.
shareI worked on this show and I can tell you the director, of twilight fame, was totally dumb about this. She SPECIFICALLY wanted all those fans all over the place and we all made fun of her for that. Most of the crew were Charleston locals who definitely made the comments that they'd had air conditioning for quite a while. The creative team behind this were all completely clueless of the south, LA a-holes
sharehahah. hilarious. great anecdote.
shareInteresting that a city repeatedly named "America's Most Friendly City" and "The Most Polite and Hospitable City in America" has people working in the entertainment industry that call their employers "LA a-holes."
Just because a city is voted friendly and hospitable does not mean that its residents want said city to be caricatured as backwards and stupid.
shareYou obviously have never worked in film or tv.
I'm probably hammered.