ABC’s ‘Nashville’ has filmed on location at the Ryman Auditorium more than once. Unlike the Bluebird Cafe, it’s not easily replicated on a sound stage. Credit: Flickr user cliff1066
If the ABC drama “Nashville” packs up its bags, moves to Austin and starts pretending Texas is home to Music City, at least we’d be in good company.
The TV show collected more than $13 million in subsidies from the state, city and visitor’s center this season, but as the Tennessean reported yesterday, that kind of incentive package is unlikely to remain because the state recently reduced the money in its film incentives fund. So the show is reportedly scouting locations in Georgia or Texas. (We should note, the show threatened this same thing last year. The Nashville Scene speculated that the threat was simply a negotiation tactic.)
While Nashville would still likely get the tourism draw from the show regardless of where its filmed, the show does spend dozens of millions of dollars in Tennessee. Here are five cities that lost their iconic shows to other production locales.
1. Dallas, “Dallas”
The prime time CBS show that ran throughout the ’80s shot its first season in the title city — but then moved most of the filming to Los Angeles. But Dallas finally got its reward in 2012, when TNT revived the show and began filming in Texas again. The Dallas Morning News reported in 2012 that the city was planning to spend $200,000 a season on incentives to keep the show from leave.
2. Memphis, “Memphis Beat”
While this TNT police detective show takes place in Tennessee, it was filmed in New Orleans — reportedly because of Louisiana’s tax incentives. But a USA Today review in 2010, when the show first came out, rebuffed the show’s attempt to “fake novelty,” saying that the “substitution … robs the show of its best chance of seeming both genuine and new.” It was cancelled a year later. Who’s laughing now, TNT?
3. Washington, D.C., “House Of Cards”
Netflix’s political drama following the life of a high-rolling Washington congressman, but all the plotting to become president is actually shot in Baltimore, Maryland. When the TV show threatened to leave Baltimore earlier this year because of (surprise!) unsatisfactory tax incentives, the mayor of D.C. wistfully suggested that maybe the show could actually film more in D.C. Unfortunately for him, the show just committed another season in Maryland.
4. Vegas, “Vegas”
Another short-lived show, the CBS period drama couldn’t shoot in its namesake because the city didn’t look like it did in the 1960s, according to the Washington Post. So instead, the show recreated an old-fashioned Vegas strip and mostly filmed in New Mexico and California. As the Post author wryly noted, “What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.”
5. Miami, “CSI: Miami”
The producers of the CBS crime detective series apparently thought beach homes and palm trees were enough to give a Miami feel: They filmed largely in Long Beach, California. Unlike the other shows in this list, however, it didn’t go there for the money. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Long Beach didn’t give out tax credits, but it was a popular filming spot because of its “ability to portray multiple cities.” And if that wasn’t enough to bring reality crashing down, remember this: The original “CSI,” which takes place in Vegas, and “CSI: New York” are also both filmed on the West Coast.
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