I’m telling you I’ve seen this somewhere before, I just can’t remember where! (btvs 4:11)
When I was watching the Bones episode "The Man in the Wall" I suddenly realized that the exterior of the hip hop club was very very familiar. There may have been a yelp of excitement when I realized that the warehouse on Bones is the very same warehouse that Spike, Drusilla and Angel (played by David Boreanaz who is also, coincidentally, one of the stars of Bones) lived in during Buffy season 2!! It was a very weird mixing of tv worlds.
The more television-obsessed that I become, the more I start not only to recognize tv actors, I'm also starting to notice when television sets are repeated. I think it's because I love how sets - when properly dressed - really help create the fictional world of a television show. Buffy wouldn't have been nearly as effective without the darkened cemeteries and alleys contrasting with bright school hallways. Veronica Mars has great details like the stained glass in the Mars Investigations office and the picture of Lilly in Veronica's bedroom which add texture to the fictional world. On this week's Grey's Anatomy sets were used to differentiate between Christina and Burke's personalities (his perfectly decorated and organized apartment compared to her really really - horrifying to a neat freak like me - messy apartment).
Some sets can really become a part of the show. On Firefly the ship, Serenity, was such a lived-in space that it was another character on the show. The island on Lost is a significant presence and is basically at the heart of the show's main mystery, "Where are we?" The show also has almost entirely outdoor sets (except for the hatch) on the island which contrast with the large amount of indoor shots in the flashbacks. Although Central Perk was a huge presence on Friends, Monica's apartment was the heart of the show. Almost every major event happened in that apartment and, in one of the best episodes ever, it was fought over by Rachel & Monica and Chandler & Joey. It was fitting that Friends ended with the gang leaving Monica's apartment for good and that the final shot was of the closed apartment door.
I don't know that much about costs surrounding exterior shots/exterior shooting but I suspect that it can be expensive. I'm basing my theory on the fact that so many shows use the same studio backlot for outdoor scenes which leads me to believe that it's cheaper to film in the backlot of the studio that the show is affiliated with.
Paramount definitely has the most prominent backlot on television. They have this New York street set that's used in many many television shows and commercials. I clued into this because the building that was the exterior for Angel Investigations in season one of Angel, a really large old-style office building, keeps popping up on other shows. It's Chris' school on Everybody Hates Chris and is frequently in the background of Charmed episodes. Charmed, which is set in San Francisco, always uses the New York street set as downtown San Francisco, although one time they did use the same streets actually as New York city.
There's also this bridge, which I believe is also part of Paramount's backlot, which has been prominently featured in Angel (Jasmine and Angel fought on it in "Peace Out"), 24, and Alias, to name just a few shows. This reminds me of how the high school used for exteriors on Buffy was also used for Beverly Hills 90210 and the movie She's All That.
My favourite exterior shot this season was in the Numb3rs episode "Assassin" when they used the Hyperion Hotel as the exterior for a senior's assisted living centre. The Hyperion Hotel was the home of Angel Investigations for seasons 2 to 4 on Angel. I just love that building (it's a historical building and is actually Los Altos Hotel & Apartments) so I was very excited to see it again. What made the experience even better was that Christian Clemenson (Abel Koontz on Veronica Mars) played a criminal living with his mother in the building. It was neat to see my television worlds converge.
Even though I've started noticing the same sets used in a different fictional worlds, it hasn't ruined my enjoyment of my shows. Because most of them effectively create a believable reality, I tend to have confused thoughts like:
"Oh wow, it must be really weird for Angel to be back in the warehouse he hung out in when he was evil. Oh wait, he's now Booth, so I guess it's not that weird. I wonder if it's odd for David Boreanaz or if he even noticed when he watched the episode?"
"Awesome. The Hyperion Hotel!! That makes me so happy that it's now a senior's assisted living centre, I guess that means that Angel made sure good people bought the building. What am I thinking?! This is a completely different fictional world. ... Oh my god!! It's Abel Koontz in Angel's old building!! My worlds collide!!!"
Well, at least I still have a firm grasp **cough cough** on reality!
The more television-obsessed that I become, the more I start not only to recognize tv actors, I'm also starting to notice when television sets are repeated. I think it's because I love how sets - when properly dressed - really help create the fictional world of a television show. Buffy wouldn't have been nearly as effective without the darkened cemeteries and alleys contrasting with bright school hallways. Veronica Mars has great details like the stained glass in the Mars Investigations office and the picture of Lilly in Veronica's bedroom which add texture to the fictional world. On this week's Grey's Anatomy sets were used to differentiate between Christina and Burke's personalities (his perfectly decorated and organized apartment compared to her really really - horrifying to a neat freak like me - messy apartment).
Some sets can really become a part of the show. On Firefly the ship, Serenity, was such a lived-in space that it was another character on the show. The island on Lost is a significant presence and is basically at the heart of the show's main mystery, "Where are we?" The show also has almost entirely outdoor sets (except for the hatch) on the island which contrast with the large amount of indoor shots in the flashbacks. Although Central Perk was a huge presence on Friends, Monica's apartment was the heart of the show. Almost every major event happened in that apartment and, in one of the best episodes ever, it was fought over by Rachel & Monica and Chandler & Joey. It was fitting that Friends ended with the gang leaving Monica's apartment for good and that the final shot was of the closed apartment door.
I don't know that much about costs surrounding exterior shots/exterior shooting but I suspect that it can be expensive. I'm basing my theory on the fact that so many shows use the same studio backlot for outdoor scenes which leads me to believe that it's cheaper to film in the backlot of the studio that the show is affiliated with.
Paramount definitely has the most prominent backlot on television. They have this New York street set that's used in many many television shows and commercials. I clued into this because the building that was the exterior for Angel Investigations in season one of Angel, a really large old-style office building, keeps popping up on other shows. It's Chris' school on Everybody Hates Chris and is frequently in the background of Charmed episodes. Charmed, which is set in San Francisco, always uses the New York street set as downtown San Francisco, although one time they did use the same streets actually as New York city.
There's also this bridge, which I believe is also part of Paramount's backlot, which has been prominently featured in Angel (Jasmine and Angel fought on it in "Peace Out"), 24, and Alias, to name just a few shows. This reminds me of how the high school used for exteriors on Buffy was also used for Beverly Hills 90210 and the movie She's All That.
My favourite exterior shot this season was in the Numb3rs episode "Assassin" when they used the Hyperion Hotel as the exterior for a senior's assisted living centre. The Hyperion Hotel was the home of Angel Investigations for seasons 2 to 4 on Angel. I just love that building (it's a historical building and is actually Los Altos Hotel & Apartments) so I was very excited to see it again. What made the experience even better was that Christian Clemenson (Abel Koontz on Veronica Mars) played a criminal living with his mother in the building. It was neat to see my television worlds converge.
Even though I've started noticing the same sets used in a different fictional worlds, it hasn't ruined my enjoyment of my shows. Because most of them effectively create a believable reality, I tend to have confused thoughts like:
"Oh wow, it must be really weird for Angel to be back in the warehouse he hung out in when he was evil. Oh wait, he's now Booth, so I guess it's not that weird. I wonder if it's odd for David Boreanaz or if he even noticed when he watched the episode?"
"Awesome. The Hyperion Hotel!! That makes me so happy that it's now a senior's assisted living centre, I guess that means that Angel made sure good people bought the building. What am I thinking?! This is a completely different fictional world. ... Oh my god!! It's Abel Koontz in Angel's old building!! My worlds collide!!!"
Well, at least I still have a firm grasp **cough cough** on reality!