Real NY on Classic TV

1. The all-time great is I Love Lucy. Is there anyone on the planet who hasn’t watched it? Probably not, since it was simply that funny. Our parents laughed at it when they were young, and we laughed at it when we watched as kids. It’s amazing that so much laughter came from a brownstone on E. 68th St., Lucy & Ricky’s fictional address. (Most of the shooting was done in Los Angeles.)
2. Remember The Cosby Show? Of course you do; that’s one we all grew up with. They were the perfect family, enjoying life & making each other laugh while living on fictional 10 Stigwood Avenue in Brooklyn Heights.
3. When we got in late at night, we’d put on channel 11 to catch a late-night rerun of The Honeymooners. Jackie Gleason’s defining role was Ralph Kramden. His schemes to make it big & get out of his cheap little tenement set a new standard for TV comedy. The Kramdens’ address was 328 Chauncey St. (They were supposed to be in Bensonhurst, but Chauncey Street is really in Bed-Stuy.)
4. Oh, how we loved All In The Family. We laughed at Archie Bunker’s bigotry, liked him in spite of his prejudice; they always made it clear he was a good guy in the end. That show is probably the only place you can still hear that old-school New York accent. Their address was 704 Hauser St., in Queens - don’t look for it, there’s no such street.

5. Seinfeld, the “show about nothing.” Four goofballs hanging out and doing selfish, weird things — we’ve all done that, but we never thought to make it into a show. His TV address was 129 West 81st Street; that’s a real building but Jerry’s apartment (5A) doesn’t exist. Incidentally, the diner they’d all hang out in was also real - Tom’s Restaurant, on the corner of 112th and Broadway.
6. Law & Order. Lots of comedies are set in New York, but it ain’t all fun and games around here. Lots of bad stuff happens in the big city, and this show gave us all an inside look at how city government deals with it. The show’s edge comes from its brutal honesty, with several episodes written around real criminal cases.
7. Friends. We were never huge fans, to be honest. But it was a major show and it was set on 495 Grove St. in the Village. The apartment building they lived in isn’t really there, and that street doesn’t go up to 495 anyway. Still, not a bad show.
8. NYPD Blue. Easily one of the best cop shows ever. The show usually covered a day in the life of a New York cop, which is far from easy (see #6). The hard decisions that cops have to make are showcased here, along with the close (but tense) relationships that develop on the job. The show took place in the fictional 15th Precinct; much of it was shot in (and based on) the real 19th Precinct at 321 East 5th Street.
9. Sex In The City. The show responsible for clueless suburban college girls visiting city bars & ordering Cosmos, to look like Carrie & her friends. To be fair, it also made women in their 40s seem sexy, instead of housewives & soccer moms like they were on most other TV shows.
10. King Of Queens. The life of a delivery guy in Rego Park doesn’t seem like a source of humor, but this shows proves otherwise. Which explains why we never made it as screenwriters.

You can pick up any of the shows at their respective links.

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I Love Lucy The Cosby Show The Honeymooners All in the Family Seinfeld Law Order Friends NYPD Blue Sex In The City King Of Queens New York

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