TV Top 9: NYC Shows

Tonight is the night for 30 Rock!! (Unless, like me, you watched the sneak preview online). And quite possibly the greatest thing about 30 Rock are the NYC jokes. So in honor of Tina Fey and 30 Rock's NYC beauty, here are the top 9 NYC-based TV shows.

9. The Late Show with David Letterman

David Letterman has been on the air in the city that never sleeps as long as I've been alive. (That's 26 years for folks who need numbers.) Johnny and Jay may love Burbank, but for Dave, no La-La-Land magic competes with a basket of cantaloupe dropped onto 53rd Street from 20 stories up. And that's just fine by me. I may be projecting, but in my opinion Letterman's Big Apple locale lends itself to more gritty interviews (Madonna once used the word "fuck" 13 times in a single interview) and a vibe that screams "at any moment this 'orderliness' might turn to chaos." I love the devil-may-care attitude of The Late Show so much that I have a picture of myself and Rupert from the Hello Deli in a frame in my apartment (if you don't know who Rupert is, you haven't been paying very close attention to Letterman). If you want New York mystique, look nowhere else but to your TV screen at 11:35 every weekday night. Oh, and smoke a cigar through a broken window while you do it. -- dcg

8. All in the Family

One of the two shows ever to be rated #1 for five consecutive seasons (the other being The Cosby Show, another excellent NY sitcom) and the winner of four consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Comedy Series, All in the Family has made pretty much any and every list of influential moments in pop culture. Based around a typical Queens family, the show touched on topics most still considered taboo for the 70's. From racism to anti-Semitism to homophobia (they used every slur in the book) nothing was too controversial to come out of Archie Bunker's (Caroll O'Connor's) mouth. And when it was unusual to see a black customer at The Peach Pit or The Central Perk in the 90's, All in the Family had an entire African American family as supporting cast members, which, lest we forget, spawned one of the greatest spin-offs of all time (even better than Joey? But how!?), The Jeffersons. All in the Family wasn't just a television series, it was a cultural moment. It started the debate over whether comedy was the correct medium for discussing serious social issues and without it we wouldn't have shows like South Park, The Daily Show, or any other show that we take for granted. -- ab

7. I Love Lucy

In their Upper East Side apartment (the address would actually make it an underwater abode), Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) told one of the earliest and certainly most successful American immigrant stories. Ricky/Desi, the Cuban-American band leader was masterful at his job. In her effort to live up to her husband's success, the real humor came in Lucy's attempts to make a name for herself in the city. Whether it was the relationship with their neighbors (the Mertzes) in the apartment or the time when Lucy and Ethel Mertz were wrapping candies at the factory and it went really fast or when Lucy wanted to do a commercial for Vitameatavegamin, Lucy was pure sitcom perfection. The NYC setting added a nice exploration of the immigrant experience and the white-Latino marriage...and well, the all important neighbor relations. -- bjr

6. Sesame Street

There's a Sesame Street station of the New York City subway (on the show, not in real life). Many of its human inhabitants live on 123 Sesame Street (it's got a great stoop). Mr. Hooper's store has always been a mainstay. There's a homeless guy named Oscar who lives out of a trash can too. Sure there's a really big bird, an imaginary monster named Snuffy (Can we say hallucinatory drugs?), and the neighbors actually all talk (and sing) together, but Sesame Street IS a part of New York. Face it, most New Yorkers learned their ABCs and 123's on this very street. And Ernie and Bert are the cutest gays too, don't you think. I've just never seen a Chelsea apartment that looked so plain, guys. Or wait, did Ernie & Bert actually live on the street? -- bjr

5. The Cosby Show

If you think the Williamsburg insurgence popularized Brooklyn, you need to think again. For 8 seasons, millions of Americans were schooled outer-borough-style thanks to the Huxtable clan on The Cosby Show. Anomolous in many representational ways, The Cosby Show treaded incredible ratings success with finesse and care. Patriarch Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) was originally written as a plumber, but star Cosby thought the idea trite; he required that his character be a doctor and his wife, Clair (Phylicia Rashad), be a successful lawyer. As a result, The Cosby Show featured one of the first, upper-middle-class families of color on network television. And unlike the nouveau riche Jeffersons, the Huxtables weren't faced with a transition from working- to middle-class (and middle-class interactions). As such, the show fell very infrequently into the territory of "social issue"; this fact often provokes responses that the Huxtable family was unrealistic or, even worse, that they are black characters meant solely for the enjoyment of white people. Another angle: in its refusal to make a constant issues of its characters' race, The Cosby Show illustrated that representations of people of color with great educations and a lots of cash need not result in constant shock and awe. -- dcg

4. Law & Order (and all subsequent spin offs)

You need only hear that classic double chime to know which show (or shows) you're watching. The reason I love Law & Order so much (and really, it's almost a crippling obsession) is that when I'm watching I know that anyone who isn't from New York is most likely missing something I'm seeing. Whether it was the occasional political guest star (Mayor Giuliani or Congressman Serrano to name a few), landmark reference (Yeshiva University and Queens College are both name dropped more than once – I'm a proud-ish alum of both) or the episode of SVU (my personal favorite of the franchise) where they investigate a Russian immigrant who, of course, lives in Rego Park (hell yeah!) Law & Order really was New York, it wasn't just filmed here. You didn't need to get the references to understand the show, but they added an extra layer for those of us who were aware. In fact, a street down by Chelsea Piers was even named after the show. If that isn't hometown love, I don't know what is. -- ab

3. NYPD Blue

From its jack-hammering, melancholy opening theme to its vérité brutality in formal execution and controversial content, creator Stephen Bochco's NYPD Blue is an exemplary representation of its setting: New York City can be gritty, random, beautiful, or rhythmic, but it's rarely boring. NYPD Blue introduced primetime viewers to Detective-cum-Sergeant Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), a trash-talking, fallable drinker and rager--the serial drama's answer to Archie Bunker. Featuring partial (male and female) nudity, bloody violence, and the crudest language ever aired in scripted network television, NYPD Blue was canned from many of ABC's Southern US affiliates before the premiere of its first episode (which was preempted, as all episodes were, by the warning that "This police drama contains adult language and scenes with partial nudity. Viewer discretion is advised.")--what could be more New York than that? The program ran for 12 seasons. It also, unfortunately, enabled David Caruso's acting career. I suppose no show's perfect... -- dcg

2. Seinfeld

Let's admit it, there isn't one of us who doesn't have ONE episode of Seinfeld we love. Sure, there was a moment where Kramer thinks that he's reached the apex of the universe when he finds the intersection of 1st Ave and 1st St. If you're a real New Yorker, you know that the real apex of the universe is the point at which West 4th St meets West 4th St. Seinfeld has a spectacular reputation for using NYC as a punchline, nearly every episode. Before 30 Rock, there was Seinfeld. From the Soup Nazi to Babu to Newman to George Steinbrenner, there was a bit of New York in each episode (mostly the untrue mean, unfriendly side). Be careful, though, Tom's Diner (2880 Broadway) is not the set for the show, just the exterior. And the waitresses are mean in real life. -- bjr

1. Sex & the City

Well, the name says it all doesn't it? This show wasn't just about sex (though we all know there was plenty of it) it was also about the city where the sex happened. And not just any city – New York City. I once read an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker where she explained that the city was actually the fifth cast member. And that's extremely clear from the way the city, and all its many facets, are used. The show shot in nearly every single neighborhood (even venturing outside the city to show the gritty summer homes of Suffern and the Hamptons), popular New York hotspots were name dropped, Carrie even declared the city her true love in Season 5 ("Anchors Away"). From Park Avenue to the Meat Packing district, from Fleet Week to Art Gallery openings, from the opening credits of the skyline (that was quietly edited after 9/11 to remove the Twin Towers) to Carrie's biting but true one liners (one of my favorites – "No wonder the city never sleeps. It's too busy trying to get laid.") – we were exposed to every side of this wonderful city. I think that the feeling can be summed up in one simple conversation between Carrie and Miranda, who is preparing move to *shudder* Brooklyn –

Miranda: Why do I think living in Manhattan is so fantastic?
Carrie: Because it is. -- ab

-- bryce, arielle, and dana c. gravesen
Dana's blog can be found at http://714delawarestreet.blogspot.com/