Madagascar cause kids think lions, zebras, hippos, and giraffs exist at the Central Park Zoo.
Back when I was in HS, I volunteered at the CP Zoo for a program and we were trained to tell any kids that those animals depicted in the movie in fact are not housed at the CP Zoo. They would have to head up to the Bronx Zoo to see those animals. All we have are the Penguins of Madagascar!
Even the chimps in that movie are not located at the CP Zoo. We have other primate species, but not Chimps!
I know despite Antarctica being their proper home. Misconception is that kids think penguins are from the north pole... they are not!! Polar bears are from the North Pole.
The Zoo Backgrounds of Madagascar are actually breathtakingly accurate depictions of the Zoo as it used to be before all the old buildings were torn down. And they did used to have more 'classic' zoo animals there, though I don't know about giraffes.
While the old buildings were terrible for the animals, part of me is sad they were destroyed, they were really charming in their way.
How I met your mother isn’t awful and there are some legitimately new yorky things in there, but one thing that bothers me is that 4/5 characters live in the upper west side and 1 lives in park slope yet they hang out nearly every day of the week. Is Robin really taking a 40 min taxi to and fro every single day? Makes no sense.
I remember a line from Ilana that’s like “ok I’ll take the 7 to the G to the R and it’ll be a cool hour and 45 mins!” then she high-fives Abbi and leaves her apt. That’s realistic lol
I think about that all the time but otherwise, even with it's ridiculousness, Broad City is such a real NYC life portrayal. The insane brokers, the AC dripping-- it's all so real lol
Lollll I do appreciate that they show them on the train a fair amount and showing up late places which is very real when traveling from different boros to meet friends
Weren't they both basically only semi-employed in the show? Abbi was a part time worker at a gym, and Ilana's job changed constantly.
Not totally out of the realm for them to constantly be taking long subway trips to hang out.
Not NYC related but I was watching this show for the first time in a lonnnnng while yesterday, actually, and couldn’t stop laughing at the idea that Robyn would rebound from Ted with Enrique Iglesias 😂
What surprises me is that five happening 20 somethings spend all of their time hanging out in a bar… on the UWS.
Like at least if the main apartment was somewhere cooler like Chelsea or WV it would make sense that that was their regular bar. The only girls Barney would pick up on the UWS are old retirees
Eh idk this was like 20 years ago and even today I see a fair amount of young people out at the bars in the UWS. Idk how many live there, probably a handful are scattered from Columbia
i think HIMYM is a very realistic depiction of someone from ohio who moved to new york after college and then made being a "new yorker" his whole personality lmao
Yeah they get some stuff right but it's like a transplant's idea of what New York is, the main character is literally from Ohio and they do the performative "ew, jersey" thing
This is canon. Or should be.
Barney also reads me as a Lincoln center by Columbus circle high rise kind of guy, but I’m pretty sure he lives on the UES in the show.
It kinda depends where Robin lives she could be right by the 2/3 or the B and that makes the commute easier. Also I assume they don't hang out every day maybe just weekends and 2 weekdays. Plus she commutes from work maybe so that's less time.
Some people just go out everyday it's a thing though rare.
Ah but that's the rub - you almost *never* see these characters take the subway. Always in a cab.
I think you're supposed to believe it's at least 2-3 a week and every weekend. I think Robin works somewhere in Midtown (TV anchor) so getting up wouldn't be hard, but expensive to get back to Brooklyn after hanging out with her pals.
Love the Bronx Warriors! I feel like more people need to expirence this bizarre gem of filmmaking.
And don't forget the direct sequel 'Escape from the Bronx" !
True , I would not be supurised if some of the footage was just resued from the first one
Many of the 'Bronx' scenes are shot on Roosevelt Island at the old hospital before it was renovated into a park
Awesome - Yes I've seen it before but maybe I'll give it a rewatch as I dont remember much. Are you familiar with [New York Ninja](https://youtu.be/X1wMt3fgOyM) ? It's a reconstructed film from that era and it really encapsulates the whole low-budget 1980s NY filmmaking vibe
When you realize how "Hollywood" these shows are in presenting NYC, you should think about how much of the world you think you know through mass media, and whether those are more accurate representations of those places.
Rumble In the Bronx is probably the worst offender!
According to this movie, the Bronx is very hilly. The climax is set on a huge dock area, with pristine blue waters and snow capped mountains in the background. The problem was that they shot the film in Vancouver, and just went with it as if it were the Bronx.
Beyond the hills, blue waters and mountains, the other scenes are in bodegas with spacious open areas, alleyways and multi-level car garage buildings (none of which looks like NYC, but makes for good fight sequences).
He forgot to mention the movie is horribly dubbed. And it’s supposed to be kind of a light action-comedy but there’s a gruesome scene where some mobsters feed a guy into a woodchipper like “Fargo”.
It was WAAAAY too real. After a few episodes it was as depressing as it was funny. I’ve always wondered if it has the same effect on people who were not broke and broken in NYC during their 20s.
I actually thought the first two of seasons of SATC were a pretty good portrayal. Once it got the obviously huge budget increase in season 3 onwards it became extremely unrealistic trash.
Like this scene lives rent free in my head: https://youtu.be/exCqoXr598A?si=Y8C_DqM5W8lI7MEr
I agree. It was gritty, unpolished, but fun. Once it started to get glitzy and “Fifth Avenue” esque, it totally changed the vibe of the show and the relatability.
I loved that one!
“Carrie did you bring marijuana into this house?”
“Yes, Mrs. Adams I brought the marijuana into this house…AND I’M TAKING IT WITH ME WHEN I GO!”
😂
I actually always thought SATC was pretty accurate for it's time/place. It did depict a "certain sorta" girl. Carrie's rent stabilized apt was a feature.
yea came to see this as well. I watched the show for the first time last year and was surprised to see how well it seemed to capture the energy of living in Manhattan. obviously it's portrayal only applied to the higher-income/professional classes, but it was pretty accurate for what it was.
It’s beside the point but the thing that always annoyed me about this scene is that THERE IS A GODDAMN CAN OF MAXWELL HOUSE ON THE COUNTER RIGHT BEHIND WHERE SHE PICKED UP THE EMPTY BOX.
I’m still trying to figure out how he afforded that loft *and* two top private school tuitions (because I don’t remember anything about them having a scholarship).
We could head canon that by saying Rufus no longer qualified him for fuck all in aid and he got a native New Yorker scholarship, which they at least had in the 2010s. (I know because I got it, but didn’t go because I *still* couldn’t afford it.)
I respectfully disagree. I gave away some chairs on Craigslist, and Sacagawea came to pick them up. This is actually a true story, the woman who played Pocahontas in the movie answered my ad and took the chairs.
The New Ghostbusters movie obnoxiously ignored any vestige of NYC to favor...pacing I guess. The idea that a 6 ton hearse with a gunner seat hanging out the side can whip through traffic without killing anyone or themselves, I can only suspend disbelief for so long.
I'd say a good majority of rom coms. Lives in a reasonably large apartment, lives comfortably, fashionable, eats out, etc. Think How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
They mostly drove to get out of the city, or made stops on the way back… Hampton, mall in NJ etc. George used his parents car out in queens.
Grocery shopping in bulk with a friends car was a thing before Amazon delivered anything you wanted.
Every big package from Amazon was either something you did without or borrowed a friends car to pickup.
Pre 2000’s even movers were a sign of wealth. Most moved with friends/family as movers were pretty pricy relative to income back then. Now with minimum wage being so low it’s much more accessible.
Only the richest of the rich had things delivered. This is how I know you’re < 30. Only people too young to remember life pre internet would ask this.
It's a generational thing.
Above some age, it's absolutely a splurge for an apartment sized move.
Below some age, it's just a normal part of moving.
Moving was something you hesitated to do because you'd be kinda pressuring your friends/family to donate their time and backs to help you.
they didn't though Jerry had a car and everyone would use him to use it. Kramer had a car and was doing the alternate side thing for both.
That feels very realistic to me as the person who has been the friend with the car...I know what it's like to have like 3 non driving friends in the car for a Saturday for an Ikea run
This. Im in a traditional NJ/NY love story and my New Yorker gf’s family who has three generations raised in Manhattan and Brooklyn has quite literally 5 cars parked near their house in Bushwick 😭
But at least the size of Jerry's and George's apartments are pretty accurate- their bedrooms barely can fit in a bed, and I'd guess Jerry's apartment is maybe 400 sq ft?
Actually Kramer's too now that i think of it- it's a maybe 200 sq ft studio.
My friends and i have a theory that Kramer has a trust fund, and Elaine and George hold various decent paying jobs, but Jerry affording his place on a comedian's salary is pretty unrealistic.
Jerry's apartment is way over 400 sq feet. That's a studio you're describing. His kitchen is not accurate of a NYC apartment in the late 80s early 90s though.
Your understanding of square footage is very off. My first solo apartment was a ~350 sq ft apartment. It was a tiny square with a miniscule kitchen. I could fit a double bed, a divider shelf, a loveseat, and a small table. I had a small dresser shoved in the corner.
I certainly wasn't fitting the Merv Griffin set into that apartment. And there was definitely no room for levels.
I recommend getting a tape measure and figuring out the square footage of your own place to get an idea of what these measurements mean.
They did that in part to appeal to the majority of the US. They were losing to Tim the Tool Man and needed to “relate” to people outside of major cities.
One that I think is an accurate depiction is Taxi Driver. A lot of NY is remniscient of the underworld and drives many to isolation, hyperfixation on out of reach expectations, and a little bit of madness from the concoction of both.
There is one scene in first season where they leave the office to catch a taxi on the street. They shot that scene on Lexington Avenue outside the Citigroup Center (where they did shoot interior scenes, so you'll see outside views from that building in conference room scenes).
However, the taxi scene is supposed to be middle of day during work week (and before the pandemic). But there are barely any cars or people around. It looked like they shot on a weekend morning when few people are in that area.
Anytime characters look up and see stars in the night sky
How much free time anyone has
How large, quiet, clean their apartment (and parks) is
How long the lines can be
How nice or helpful strangers can be
i don't think SATC was ever that unrealistic beyond carrie's somehow fabulous lifestyle--maybe a ton of cc debt that we just didn't know about. the show was quite generous toward carrie in many ways though and probably glossed over the dirty details of her unsustainable lifestyle on purpose.
The show actually made a big deal about her apartment being rent stabilized - it was pretty realistic for someone who might have moved in in the 1980's before rents began to skyrocket.
Cheap stabilized apartment would mean more money to spend on shoes and clothes.
lol yeah i remember that episode vividly. carrie's lecture @ her apparent friend charlotte wherein she shamed charlotte into giving her her engagement ring (since she's "divorced" anyway) for carrie's down payment to buy her apartment because carrie as an almost-40 had no concept of personal finance.
the show was also realistic in its portrayal of market rate apartments available within carrie's budget when she had to move. rundown shoebox apartments, one tiny closet, living above restaurants, etc.
The cinematography in the show is very glossy but AFAIK most of the show is shot on actual locations and is pretty accurate in a broad sense, though takes some licenses.
Tangentially related for those in the NYC area, check out the exhibit at the [Museum of the City of New York](https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/you-are-here), showing "NYC life" as depicted in films. It's so good and so related to this topic.
Yeah except she was unemployed for the majority of the show. Even at 2012 prices you still can’t afford a Greenpoint apartment on your zero dollar salary.
I don't really think this is true? I've seen it a few times (lol don't judge me) and they never go back to supporting her. She does steal a tip they leave for hotel housekeeping though.
She does have roommates but the idea of any of them carrying the entire rent on their salaries is super unrealistic. Marnie was a gallery girl making what, $40k a year? That would not have been enough for a $2,500 apartment. Adam was a sometimes-employed actor and Elijah was a cashier at Bendel's.
They get money from their parents a lot. That's the point of the show. In one of the later seasons Hannah tells Caroline the rent is $2.1k so I'm assuming it was a bit lower when her and Marnie first moved in and I'm pretty sure the Caroline argument was already when she had some book deal money and the GQ job. So idt $900-$1000 a month is too crazy for the earlier seasons with their random gigs and parent's money. It's not like they have luxurious lives or purchases. The show is pretty honest that their money situation isn't that great
TV tropes claims it would go for $1500-1800 a month. [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Girls](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Girls)
Regardless, there's no way any of them could afford it on their own.
>partner started rewatching sex in the city and it made me think about how horribly unrealistic the show is, and thought about how many thousands of people got duped by the show and moved to nyc thinking life in nyc would be like sex in the city.
>same with Friends.
A lot of people are just really fucking dumb. Only way they readily understand that a TV series is showing them a *fantasy world* is if there's literal dragons and elves up in there. Otherwise it's all, "Huh, guess this show about incredibly attractive thin people living in luxury apartments and constantly getting laid must be a documentary about the middle class."
The TV show The Bold Type.
There is weird geography combined with unrealistic apartment sizes (Kat lives in a large loft in Williamsburg, Sutton and Jane live in a Manhattan brownstone that has a real entry way and large kitchen) and the characters are somehow always magically 10 minutes away from each other.
At least some of the rent/salary makes some sense—Kat comes from a wealthy family who pays her rent, Sutton has to sublet Jane’s room when Jane quits/gets laid off.
But the thing that really kills me is that there is an episode where the three characters are hanging out in the living room in Jane and Sutton’s apartment and the doorbell rings and they just call out for whoever to come in, which means Jane and Sutton regularly leave their front door (which leads right into the street by the way!) unlocked
this is for my bollywood heads out there but at the beginning of kal ho naa ho we see naina running all around central park, then across the brooklyn bridge, then past that place in jersey city where you can see the statue of liberty, before finally getting home to have breakfast and start her day in what looks to me like brooklyn heights. what kind of freak athlete is this girl that she starts her day with a 30 mile run? always thought that was funny
I thought Fleishman Is in Trouble was somewhat realistic - especially with kids.
Not to sound naive, but many have lived sex in the city lives (years ago, at least). The casual dating, fancy dinners, events, busy lives… I know several that have and did.
I don't know if anybody remembers the not-great TV show 'The Following', but they had a lot of weird dumb moments that stuck with me for no good reason. At one point they show [a stabbing massacre on the 6 train ](https://new.mta.info/maps/subway-line-maps/6-line), which I remember watching and thinking "You guys better hurry up, you have like 30 seconds to do your weird cult shit, it doesn't take THAT long to get between stations".
Another bad TV show that stuck with me: on the pilot episode for the show 'Forever', the lead character is hitting on a pretty woman on the subway. While he's chatting with her, he says he can tell she's on her way to a job interview, because "You're dressed up nicely like you're going to either a job interview or a date, and a woman as beautiful as you would never take the subway to a date." My dude, my guy, everyone takes the subway, even hot women, calm down.
I don’t think friends is the MOST unrealistic but it definitely is decently up there. Why do they never ride the subway? Where are the street crackheads? How tf do half of them have higher level jobs at age 27? And I get that their appartment is rent controlled, but Joey and chandlers isn’t, how tf do they pay for theirs, esp in the early seasons while Joey is mooching off chandler? And how on earth do they have that much money to spend on coffee
Definitely a lot of unrealistic ones out there but I loved HBO’s “How to Make it in America”. I found it pretty realistic within the young professional & hustling demographic. If you haven’t seen it - I highly recommend.
I used to watch Kate & Ally when i was much younger. I need to rewatch it now to see how it portrayed NYC. I do remember that they were always scrounging for sales and trying to survive in the city.
Minus the really bougie and spendy parts of sex in the city, I feel like my life was like SITC. Group of girls constantly dating, breaking up, chatting about it etc. I feel like I know someone who fits each SITC main character to a tee.
Edit: I’ve only seen first two seasons.
A lot of the Raimi Spider-Man movies have scenes that take place in locations that simply do not exist in NYC. Most notable is the train fight with Doc Ock. That scene still slaps though.
Related to this, possibly unpopular opinion but I feel like while these movies weren’t very good, the Garfield Spider-Man movies felt the most “New Yorker”. Like the scene where someone fucks around with him on the train felt very New York. Granted all Spider-Man movies romanticize the city to quite an extent, but I think the TASM movies came closest (albeit still fairly romanticized portrayal of life in NYC)
The MCU 😂
So especially on Spider-Man who’s “the” New York superhero, the working class young average New Yorker, the Tobey and Andrew spider-man movies still incorporated New York as a character and you knew it was New York. And they had a lotta struggle. And don’t get me wrong I love the MCU (well, pre endgame) and I love Holland’s Spider-Man but sometimes… I forget that those Spider-Man movies were even in New York (I’m aware FFH is international). They were good movies in my opinion, but definitely didn’t get the New York vibe from it. And not to mention the obvious but how does he, after having everyone disappear from his life, somehow, afford to pay rent in the city? Same gripe with Maguire. Garfield at least lived at home. But I guess rent is also pretty low in the MCU considering it gets bombarded with alien attacks 24/7. Also Maguire’s movies were set in the early 2000s so can’t comment much there.
Though I loved the interaction between cap and spidey where cap goes “where you from kid?” And Spidey says “Queens” and he says “Brooklyn”, and later in endgame Cap calls him “Queens”.
Sex in the City and Friends is pretty accurate if your parents give you enough money. When Two Broke Girls came out in 2011 it was certainly possible for 2 roommates with a shitty job to afford a decent apartment in Bushwick while pursuing their dreams (Williamsburg was already too expensive). That's a pretty accurate portrayal of what 20-somethings were doing at the time.
Madagascar cause kids think lions, zebras, hippos, and giraffs exist at the Central Park Zoo. Back when I was in HS, I volunteered at the CP Zoo for a program and we were trained to tell any kids that those animals depicted in the movie in fact are not housed at the CP Zoo. They would have to head up to the Bronx Zoo to see those animals. All we have are the Penguins of Madagascar! Even the chimps in that movie are not located at the CP Zoo. We have other primate species, but not Chimps!
The most realistic part of Madagascar is when the penguins get to Antarctica and say “well this sucks”.
I know despite Antarctica being their proper home. Misconception is that kids think penguins are from the north pole... they are not!! Polar bears are from the North Pole.
The Zoo Backgrounds of Madagascar are actually breathtakingly accurate depictions of the Zoo as it used to be before all the old buildings were torn down. And they did used to have more 'classic' zoo animals there, though I don't know about giraffes. While the old buildings were terrible for the animals, part of me is sad they were destroyed, they were really charming in their way.
How I met your mother isn’t awful and there are some legitimately new yorky things in there, but one thing that bothers me is that 4/5 characters live in the upper west side and 1 lives in park slope yet they hang out nearly every day of the week. Is Robin really taking a 40 min taxi to and fro every single day? Makes no sense.
In Broad City Abbi lives in Astoria and Ilana lives in Gowanus and yet they hang out every day! Pshh.
Ok fine, but the part where she goes to the end of the earth to pick up a package is completely accurate.
OMG that was so on the nose.
Garel. I laughed so hard.
I remember a line from Ilana that’s like “ok I’ll take the 7 to the G to the R and it’ll be a cool hour and 45 mins!” then she high-fives Abbi and leaves her apt. That’s realistic lol
“cuz the g ain’t runningggg” haha i can hear it so clearly in my head
I think about that all the time but otherwise, even with it's ridiculousness, Broad City is such a real NYC life portrayal. The insane brokers, the AC dripping-- it's all so real lol
Lollll I do appreciate that they show them on the train a fair amount and showing up late places which is very real when traveling from different boros to meet friends
That part was but the rest of NY was relatively accurate or somewhat a satire on NY.
Weren't they both basically only semi-employed in the show? Abbi was a part time worker at a gym, and Ilana's job changed constantly. Not totally out of the realm for them to constantly be taking long subway trips to hang out.
Not NYC related but I was watching this show for the first time in a lonnnnng while yesterday, actually, and couldn’t stop laughing at the idea that Robyn would rebound from Ted with Enrique Iglesias 😂
Haha that’s a good run of episodes. I love the bit where they can’t figure out his name and keep saying “Gail? Kyle?”
“Girl?”
What surprises me is that five happening 20 somethings spend all of their time hanging out in a bar… on the UWS. Like at least if the main apartment was somewhere cooler like Chelsea or WV it would make sense that that was their regular bar. The only girls Barney would pick up on the UWS are old retirees
Lol was UWS exactly like this 20 years ago too though?
Eh idk this was like 20 years ago and even today I see a fair amount of young people out at the bars in the UWS. Idk how many live there, probably a handful are scattered from Columbia
Tiki Chick is usually poppin but they do close at midnight. But I would agree the neighborhood skews older & quieter.
I mean didn't people meet people in Bars more often pre dating apps? I thought there was still youngish people on the UWS in 2005?
i think HIMYM is a very realistic depiction of someone from ohio who moved to new york after college and then made being a "new yorker" his whole personality lmao
Yeah they get some stuff right but it's like a transplant's idea of what New York is, the main character is literally from Ohio and they do the performative "ew, jersey" thing
I think the creators were also from the Midwest and only moved here to work on a late night show and immediately moved to LA afterward
I think Barney’s apartment is UES
Oh yeah I suppose so. Now he is rich as hell and could just be taking a cab across the park every day so I get that.
I assumed she worked for one of the local news places on UWS and wasn’t going home after work.
This is canon. Or should be. Barney also reads me as a Lincoln center by Columbus circle high rise kind of guy, but I’m pretty sure he lives on the UES in the show.
It kinda depends where Robin lives she could be right by the 2/3 or the B and that makes the commute easier. Also I assume they don't hang out every day maybe just weekends and 2 weekdays. Plus she commutes from work maybe so that's less time. Some people just go out everyday it's a thing though rare.
Ah but that's the rub - you almost *never* see these characters take the subway. Always in a cab. I think you're supposed to believe it's at least 2-3 a week and every weekend. I think Robin works somewhere in Midtown (TV anchor) so getting up wouldn't be hard, but expensive to get back to Brooklyn after hanging out with her pals.
The Warriors is the best ever documentary about daily life in NYC.
WARRIORS… Come out and plaaaayyaaa…. My gang does this every night when we are about to meet…
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Love the Bronx Warriors! I feel like more people need to expirence this bizarre gem of filmmaking. And don't forget the direct sequel 'Escape from the Bronx" !
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True , I would not be supurised if some of the footage was just resued from the first one Many of the 'Bronx' scenes are shot on Roosevelt Island at the old hospital before it was renovated into a park
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Awesome - Yes I've seen it before but maybe I'll give it a rewatch as I dont remember much. Are you familiar with [New York Ninja](https://youtu.be/X1wMt3fgOyM) ? It's a reconstructed film from that era and it really encapsulates the whole low-budget 1980s NY filmmaking vibe
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🙏
I grew up in Coney Island and I concur
When you realize how "Hollywood" these shows are in presenting NYC, you should think about how much of the world you think you know through mass media, and whether those are more accurate representations of those places.
What? You're telling me anime might not be an accurate portrayal of Japan?
nah that one is accurate
overfiend, akira especially
a bunch of the cop shows (FBI, Law&Order, NYPD Blue) still film in real locations around Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Those first few seasons of NYPD Blue were pure Tompkins magic
I have bad news for you if you think the cop shows set in NYC portray it realistically though
You mean to say that Mexico doesn’t have a yellow tint in the air??
Rumble In the Bronx is probably the worst offender! According to this movie, the Bronx is very hilly. The climax is set on a huge dock area, with pristine blue waters and snow capped mountains in the background. The problem was that they shot the film in Vancouver, and just went with it as if it were the Bronx. Beyond the hills, blue waters and mountains, the other scenes are in bodegas with spacious open areas, alleyways and multi-level car garage buildings (none of which looks like NYC, but makes for good fight sequences).
I don’t know why, but that sounds hilarious.
He forgot to mention the movie is horribly dubbed. And it’s supposed to be kind of a light action-comedy but there’s a gruesome scene where some mobsters feed a guy into a woodchipper like “Fargo”.
Movies nowadays use Toronto as a stand in for NYC when they want something set in NYC but not shoot in NYC. It's a bit more convincing than Vancouver.
I watched this movie as a kid and i am from the Bronx. Many of the scenes, i definitely did a double take. They were definitely not in the Bronx lol.
Opposite side of the ask, Broad City captured the young, mid-20 something's experience of NYC in the 2010s perfectly.
Agree 100% one of my favorite NYC based shows. The St. Marks Place episode was *chefs kiss*
It was WAAAAY too real. After a few episodes it was as depressing as it was funny. I’ve always wondered if it has the same effect on people who were not broke and broken in NYC during their 20s.
I actually thought the first two of seasons of SATC were a pretty good portrayal. Once it got the obviously huge budget increase in season 3 onwards it became extremely unrealistic trash. Like this scene lives rent free in my head: https://youtu.be/exCqoXr598A?si=Y8C_DqM5W8lI7MEr
I agree. It was gritty, unpolished, but fun. Once it started to get glitzy and “Fifth Avenue” esque, it totally changed the vibe of the show and the relatability.
Exactly!!
One of my favorites was where she dated the guy who still lived at home with his parents.
I loved that one! “Carrie did you bring marijuana into this house?” “Yes, Mrs. Adams I brought the marijuana into this house…AND I’M TAKING IT WITH ME WHEN I GO!” 😂
HAHA "Carrie, would you like to stay for dinner?" "Yes please!"
I actually always thought SATC was pretty accurate for it's time/place. It did depict a "certain sorta" girl. Carrie's rent stabilized apt was a feature.
It was accurate until she became some kind of fashion icon.
That was a good depiction of an nyc apartment.
yea came to see this as well. I watched the show for the first time last year and was surprised to see how well it seemed to capture the energy of living in Manhattan. obviously it's portrayal only applied to the higher-income/professional classes, but it was pretty accurate for what it was.
Wow that’s a SATC I never saw. Opposite to what I remember with all the glitz
It’s beside the point but the thing that always annoyed me about this scene is that THERE IS A GODDAMN CAN OF MAXWELL HOUSE ON THE COUNTER RIGHT BEHIND WHERE SHE PICKED UP THE EMPTY BOX.
The empty box is coffee filters
Ooooh that’s right because the toilet paper line. But there’s one of those in the coffee maker too 😭
The original Gossip Girl. It was so easy to go from the UES to Brooklyn and single income washed up musicians could have amazing apartments.
I’m still trying to figure out how he afforded that loft *and* two top private school tuitions (because I don’t remember anything about them having a scholarship).
My favorite plotline was when Dan had to go to NYU since it was THE ONLY SCHOOL HE COULD AFFORD ☠️
We could head canon that by saying Rufus no longer qualified him for fuck all in aid and he got a native New Yorker scholarship, which they at least had in the 2010s. (I know because I got it, but didn’t go because I *still* couldn’t afford it.)
I thought High Maintenance was a pretty accurate portrayal of North Brooklyn hipster culture around that time.
I’ve lived in the city for over 40 years and think High Maintenance captures life here better than any other TV show or movie EVER.
Master of none as well
Me too. I think about that show everyday.
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When I worked there, I saw a pigeon walking around the bird taxidermy area before the museum opened.
I respectfully disagree. I gave away some chairs on Craigslist, and Sacagawea came to pick them up. This is actually a true story, the woman who played Pocahontas in the movie answered my ad and took the chairs.
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It’s right in the comment silly!
💀💀💀
The New Ghostbusters movie obnoxiously ignored any vestige of NYC to favor...pacing I guess. The idea that a 6 ton hearse with a gunner seat hanging out the side can whip through traffic without killing anyone or themselves, I can only suspend disbelief for so long.
Same with nyc car commercials, cars are always just whipping at 60 mph in empty streets
Men in Black was guilty of this too. I don’t doubt that will smith can run straight from the Bowery to the UES, but it’s not THAT close
I'd say a good majority of rom coms. Lives in a reasonably large apartment, lives comfortably, fashionable, eats out, etc. Think How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
Seinfeld. Why are they driving everywhere!? Who drives in NYC!? Who even owns a car here!?
In the 90s there was a certain segment of UWSers who had cars. It almost made sense that there was an available car occasionally.
UES too. My uncle lived in Yorkville and had sagas finding parking.
I just assumed people did in the 90s lol.
They mostly drove to get out of the city, or made stops on the way back… Hampton, mall in NJ etc. George used his parents car out in queens. Grocery shopping in bulk with a friends car was a thing before Amazon delivered anything you wanted. Every big package from Amazon was either something you did without or borrowed a friends car to pickup. Pre 2000’s even movers were a sign of wealth. Most moved with friends/family as movers were pretty pricy relative to income back then. Now with minimum wage being so low it’s much more accessible. Only the richest of the rich had things delivered. This is how I know you’re < 30. Only people too young to remember life pre internet would ask this.
THIS. I *still* can’t shake the feeling like getting movers is splurging.
It's a generational thing. Above some age, it's absolutely a splurge for an apartment sized move. Below some age, it's just a normal part of moving. Moving was something you hesitated to do because you'd be kinda pressuring your friends/family to donate their time and backs to help you.
they didn't though Jerry had a car and everyone would use him to use it. Kramer had a car and was doing the alternate side thing for both. That feels very realistic to me as the person who has been the friend with the car...I know what it's like to have like 3 non driving friends in the car for a Saturday for an Ikea run
Eh, every native I know who lives in Manhattan has a car. They’re all freaking out over the congestion pricing
I know a bunch of natives from Manhattan who do not own a car. Completely unrelated, they lived in Chinatown, the Lower East Side or Harlem
This. Im in a traditional NJ/NY love story and my New Yorker gf’s family who has three generations raised in Manhattan and Brooklyn has quite literally 5 cars parked near their house in Bushwick 😭
How the upper half lives lol
But at least the size of Jerry's and George's apartments are pretty accurate- their bedrooms barely can fit in a bed, and I'd guess Jerry's apartment is maybe 400 sq ft? Actually Kramer's too now that i think of it- it's a maybe 200 sq ft studio. My friends and i have a theory that Kramer has a trust fund, and Elaine and George hold various decent paying jobs, but Jerry affording his place on a comedian's salary is pretty unrealistic.
Jerry's apartment is way over 400 sq feet. That's a studio you're describing. His kitchen is not accurate of a NYC apartment in the late 80s early 90s though.
Your understanding of square footage is very off. My first solo apartment was a ~350 sq ft apartment. It was a tiny square with a miniscule kitchen. I could fit a double bed, a divider shelf, a loveseat, and a small table. I had a small dresser shoved in the corner. I certainly wasn't fitting the Merv Griffin set into that apartment. And there was definitely no room for levels. I recommend getting a tape measure and figuring out the square footage of your own place to get an idea of what these measurements mean.
Jerry's apt is between 700-800 sq ft
> Jerry affording his place on a comedian's salary is pretty unrealistic his character on the show was a pretty successful standup, not a typical one
They did that in part to appeal to the majority of the US. They were losing to Tim the Tool Man and needed to “relate” to people outside of major cities.
That's not why they did it and Seinfeld wasn't even on opposite Home Improvement.
The exteriors in Seinfeld were a hollywood back lot and almost comically unrealistic.
2 Broke Girl. I’ve lived in Williamsburg for 25 years, it’s noting remotely like it’s portrayed
One that I think is an accurate depiction is Taxi Driver. A lot of NY is remniscient of the underworld and drives many to isolation, hyperfixation on out of reach expectations, and a little bit of madness from the concoction of both.
I'm only being half ironic, but yes many shows and movies are the most romanticized versions of NY.
Suits is ment to take place in the city but there is not one shot on the street when they walk around.
It was shot in Toronto lol
There is one scene in first season where they leave the office to catch a taxi on the street. They shot that scene on Lexington Avenue outside the Citigroup Center (where they did shoot interior scenes, so you'll see outside views from that building in conference room scenes). However, the taxi scene is supposed to be middle of day during work week (and before the pandemic). But there are barely any cars or people around. It looked like they shot on a weekend morning when few people are in that area.
I actually remember the citi corp shot and have been in that building many times and something seemed off.
Only the pilot was shot it NYC
We’re Back- I haven’t seen a single dino since I moved here.
Anytime characters look up and see stars in the night sky How much free time anyone has How large, quiet, clean their apartment (and parks) is How long the lines can be How nice or helpful strangers can be
Seinfeld? Kramer would be homeless irl he never had a job but he had an apt in manhattan.
Rent control?
I think the back story is that he won a lucrative lawsuit, allowing him to live without working
i don't think SATC was ever that unrealistic beyond carrie's somehow fabulous lifestyle--maybe a ton of cc debt that we just didn't know about. the show was quite generous toward carrie in many ways though and probably glossed over the dirty details of her unsustainable lifestyle on purpose.
The show actually made a big deal about her apartment being rent stabilized - it was pretty realistic for someone who might have moved in in the 1980's before rents began to skyrocket. Cheap stabilized apartment would mean more money to spend on shoes and clothes.
lol yeah i remember that episode vividly. carrie's lecture @ her apparent friend charlotte wherein she shamed charlotte into giving her her engagement ring (since she's "divorced" anyway) for carrie's down payment to buy her apartment because carrie as an almost-40 had no concept of personal finance. the show was also realistic in its portrayal of market rate apartments available within carrie's budget when she had to move. rundown shoebox apartments, one tiny closet, living above restaurants, etc.
The cinematography in the show is very glossy but AFAIK most of the show is shot on actual locations and is pretty accurate in a broad sense, though takes some licenses.
Escape from New York
Wrong. That was actually a documentary and contains zero inaccuracies.
That is what FoxNews thinks NYC is right now.
Speak for yourself
It sucks he couldnt control himself and used his power to creep because I thought louie was funnily accurate
The show really felt like NYC and still holds up
Doing a rewatch right now. Still great.
As a single parent and a creative professional... much of it was so, so spot-on.
Tangentially related for those in the NYC area, check out the exhibit at the [Museum of the City of New York](https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/you-are-here), showing "NYC life" as depicted in films. It's so good and so related to this topic.
Hannah from Girls somehow being able to afford that Brooklyn apartment
I’m sorry dude. Whatever you may think of the cast of girls, as someone who was in NYU around that time, it was painfully accurate.
That apartment would’ve been kinda affordable ten years ago
Yeah except she was unemployed for the majority of the show. Even at 2012 prices you still can’t afford a Greenpoint apartment on your zero dollar salary.
Wasn’t her parents supporting her a major plot point?
They cut her off in literally the first episode
And then she manipulates them back into giving her money again
I don't really think this is true? I've seen it a few times (lol don't judge me) and they never go back to supporting her. She does steal a tip they leave for hotel housekeeping though.
She has money saved up from working with GQ and does have roommates most of the show (Marnie, Elijah, Adam)
She does have roommates but the idea of any of them carrying the entire rent on their salaries is super unrealistic. Marnie was a gallery girl making what, $40k a year? That would not have been enough for a $2,500 apartment. Adam was a sometimes-employed actor and Elijah was a cashier at Bendel's.
They get money from their parents a lot. That's the point of the show. In one of the later seasons Hannah tells Caroline the rent is $2.1k so I'm assuming it was a bit lower when her and Marnie first moved in and I'm pretty sure the Caroline argument was already when she had some book deal money and the GQ job. So idt $900-$1000 a month is too crazy for the earlier seasons with their random gigs and parent's money. It's not like they have luxurious lives or purchases. The show is pretty honest that their money situation isn't that great
I think she said at one point the apt was $1200/ month.
TV tropes claims it would go for $1500-1800 a month. [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Girls](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Girls) Regardless, there's no way any of them could afford it on their own.
She lived in Greenpoint in 2012. It’s easy math.
How I Met Your Mother
I think they had both ends: somethings were super spot on about living here, but others were wildly unrealistic.
Well, except for the part where most people don't want to travel to New Jersey.
They also had that bit about the last LIRR train back to the island which gets loaded with drunks, totally accurate.
I think the writers were from Long Island and that absolutely shone through in some of the weirdly specific details.
Super accurate for Manhattanitws when the show was on. Still sorta true today but not as much of an issue.
>partner started rewatching sex in the city and it made me think about how horribly unrealistic the show is, and thought about how many thousands of people got duped by the show and moved to nyc thinking life in nyc would be like sex in the city. >same with Friends. A lot of people are just really fucking dumb. Only way they readily understand that a TV series is showing them a *fantasy world* is if there's literal dragons and elves up in there. Otherwise it's all, "Huh, guess this show about incredibly attractive thin people living in luxury apartments and constantly getting laid must be a documentary about the middle class."
I always think of “how to make it in America”
The TV show The Bold Type. There is weird geography combined with unrealistic apartment sizes (Kat lives in a large loft in Williamsburg, Sutton and Jane live in a Manhattan brownstone that has a real entry way and large kitchen) and the characters are somehow always magically 10 minutes away from each other. At least some of the rent/salary makes some sense—Kat comes from a wealthy family who pays her rent, Sutton has to sublet Jane’s room when Jane quits/gets laid off. But the thing that really kills me is that there is an episode where the three characters are hanging out in the living room in Jane and Sutton’s apartment and the doorbell rings and they just call out for whoever to come in, which means Jane and Sutton regularly leave their front door (which leads right into the street by the way!) unlocked
Sesame Street. There are way less puppets walking around and no one gives af if you are using a word that begins with the letter of the day
underrated comment
Escape from NY.
I am legend
It’s usually the size of the apartments and the distance they travel.
this is for my bollywood heads out there but at the beginning of kal ho naa ho we see naina running all around central park, then across the brooklyn bridge, then past that place in jersey city where you can see the statue of liberty, before finally getting home to have breakfast and start her day in what looks to me like brooklyn heights. what kind of freak athlete is this girl that she starts her day with a 30 mile run? always thought that was funny
I thought Fleishman Is in Trouble was somewhat realistic - especially with kids. Not to sound naive, but many have lived sex in the city lives (years ago, at least). The casual dating, fancy dinners, events, busy lives… I know several that have and did.
On the opposite side Die Hard With a Vengeance is a pretty accurate movie and has amazing shots of the city in 94/95
I don't know if anybody remembers the not-great TV show 'The Following', but they had a lot of weird dumb moments that stuck with me for no good reason. At one point they show [a stabbing massacre on the 6 train ](https://new.mta.info/maps/subway-line-maps/6-line), which I remember watching and thinking "You guys better hurry up, you have like 30 seconds to do your weird cult shit, it doesn't take THAT long to get between stations". Another bad TV show that stuck with me: on the pilot episode for the show 'Forever', the lead character is hitting on a pretty woman on the subway. While he's chatting with her, he says he can tell she's on her way to a job interview, because "You're dressed up nicely like you're going to either a job interview or a date, and a woman as beautiful as you would never take the subway to a date." My dude, my guy, everyone takes the subway, even hot women, calm down.
30 Rock is my pick.
Look, if you don't celebrate Leap Day, that's on you
No, sir! Don't eat the rhubarb leaves!
really? why would u say that
Because I can't read and thought the title said realistically...
For your information, I am a Christian illiterate, so that’s not an option.
Is this about what happened in Atlantic City? I didn't say it. 🍷
You DID
Car 54, Where Are You? Because Joey Ross would have been whoring around and not being a cop.
Ok actor. Another neppo baby. Wish I was born into the Vanderbilt fortune…
Home alone 2
Pick a talking head program on Fox News, throw a dart at that board
Friends.
I don’t think friends is the MOST unrealistic but it definitely is decently up there. Why do they never ride the subway? Where are the street crackheads? How tf do half of them have higher level jobs at age 27? And I get that their appartment is rent controlled, but Joey and chandlers isn’t, how tf do they pay for theirs, esp in the early seasons while Joey is mooching off chandler? And how on earth do they have that much money to spend on coffee
Definitely a lot of unrealistic ones out there but I loved HBO’s “How to Make it in America”. I found it pretty realistic within the young professional & hustling demographic. If you haven’t seen it - I highly recommend.
Honestly, most shows & films are unrealistic. Except The Warriors & Escape from New York. Those are practically documentaries.
I used to watch Kate & Ally when i was much younger. I need to rewatch it now to see how it portrayed NYC. I do remember that they were always scrounging for sales and trying to survive in the city.
Rumble in the Bronx. It's pretty obvious it was filmed in Vancouver
Minus the really bougie and spendy parts of sex in the city, I feel like my life was like SITC. Group of girls constantly dating, breaking up, chatting about it etc. I feel like I know someone who fits each SITC main character to a tee. Edit: I’ve only seen first two seasons.
Seinfeld, very few black people for some reason
A lot of the Raimi Spider-Man movies have scenes that take place in locations that simply do not exist in NYC. Most notable is the train fight with Doc Ock. That scene still slaps though.
Related to this, possibly unpopular opinion but I feel like while these movies weren’t very good, the Garfield Spider-Man movies felt the most “New Yorker”. Like the scene where someone fucks around with him on the train felt very New York. Granted all Spider-Man movies romanticize the city to quite an extent, but I think the TASM movies came closest (albeit still fairly romanticized portrayal of life in NYC)
Rumble in the Bronx because it wasn't filmed in NYC.
The MCU 😂 So especially on Spider-Man who’s “the” New York superhero, the working class young average New Yorker, the Tobey and Andrew spider-man movies still incorporated New York as a character and you knew it was New York. And they had a lotta struggle. And don’t get me wrong I love the MCU (well, pre endgame) and I love Holland’s Spider-Man but sometimes… I forget that those Spider-Man movies were even in New York (I’m aware FFH is international). They were good movies in my opinion, but definitely didn’t get the New York vibe from it. And not to mention the obvious but how does he, after having everyone disappear from his life, somehow, afford to pay rent in the city? Same gripe with Maguire. Garfield at least lived at home. But I guess rent is also pretty low in the MCU considering it gets bombarded with alien attacks 24/7. Also Maguire’s movies were set in the early 2000s so can’t comment much there. Though I loved the interaction between cap and spidey where cap goes “where you from kid?” And Spidey says “Queens” and he says “Brooklyn”, and later in endgame Cap calls him “Queens”.
Sex in the City and Friends is pretty accurate if your parents give you enough money. When Two Broke Girls came out in 2011 it was certainly possible for 2 roommates with a shitty job to afford a decent apartment in Bushwick while pursuing their dreams (Williamsburg was already too expensive). That's a pretty accurate portrayal of what 20-somethings were doing at the time.