Recently that gushing fountain of interesting stuff, the io9.com site, ran a piece on “the most popular television show set in every state.” The original list was developed by Business Insider magazine and considered show longevity, audience size, critical response, awards and cultural impact. The list included Bonanza in Nevada, Mary Tyler Moore in Minnesota, In the Heat of the Night in Mississippi and The Walking Dead in Georgia.
And for Alabama? Why, a show set
right here in Birmingham, Any Day Now. That
article started me thinking about other tv shows and films set in the Magic
City. Here’s what I’ve found so far.
One category of such productions that
may come to mind first is documentaries. Spike Lee’s film 4 Little Girls is a well-known example. Released in June 1997, it
chronicles the September 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist
Church and its aftermath. Produced by Home Box Office, the film appeared
briefly in theaters and has been released on DVD. The song “Birmingham Sunday”
by Richard and Mimi Farina and sung by Joan Baez [Mimi’s sister] is used in the
film. Sins of the Father, a
television docudrama based on the role of Bobby Frank Cherry in this event, was
first broadcast in January, 2002.
Source: Wikipedia
A “reality” television series set in
the area premiered on the MTV channel in August, 2006. Two-a-Days explored the on and off-field lives of players on the
highly-successful Hoover High School football team. The show consisted of 16
episodes; a second season began in January 2007. A third season was planned but
scuttled in the wake of problems that surfaced in the school’s athletic program
and in the personal life of head football coach Rush Propst. Both seasons were
released on DVD.
Other documentaries and reality shows
have featured Birmingham topics and people. The
Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement [2011]
focuses on the role of African-American barber Mr. Armstrong as he is inducted
into the Foot Soldiers Hall of Fame and reacts to the election of Barak Obama. Mighty Times: The Children’s March [2004]
chronicles an event in the city in May, 1963; the film won an Academy Award for
Best Documentary, Short Subject. A 1985
Canadian production looked at Jazz in the
Magic City.
The 2013 film Skanks tells the story of a local group of actors who produced an
original drag musical. She’s a Lady:
Memoir of a Downtown Theatre is a 2006 documentary about the Lyric. The Amandas is a 2012 Style Network home
makeover program featuring local resident Amanda LeBlanc and her team. The
A&E Network crime show The First 48 featured
the Birmingham Police Department in episodes beginning in February 2009. City
native Robert Clem released one of his documentaries, Jefferson County Sound, in 2012; it profiled several local gospel
quartets and has been shown on Alabama Public Television. No doubt many other
city people and topics have turned up in film and television documentaries.
Several fictional film and television
productions have also featured Birmingham. The earliest one I have been able to
find is Camp Meetin’, a 17-minute short
released in 1936. A church congregation has an open-air tent meeting to raise
money so their pastor can be sent to a conference in Birmingham. Acting in the
film are members of the African-American Hall Johnson Choir, a group famous at
the time. Johnson and his choir were associated with Marc Connelly’s play The Green Pastures, which had great
success on Broadway and in national and international tours. A film version was
released in 1936, and Camp Meetin’ may
have been made to capitalize on their fame. Since I haven’t seen this short, I
am not sure any scenes are actually set in Birmingham.
A film released in April 1976 has
plenty of Birmingham connections. Stay
Hungry is based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Charles Gaines, a
graduate of Birmingham-Southern. The film is entirely set in Birmingham and
extensive filming was done in the city. Jeff Bridges plays Craig Blake, a young
man who needs one more parcel to complete a shady real estate deal. He visits
the gym located there and is attracted to both the receptionist played by Sally
Field and the lifestyle of the bodybuilders including one played by Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who won a Golden Globe award for his acting debut. An article about the filming can be found here and of course at the Bhamwiki site.
Local filming was done around the
city and included such places as the Bank for Savings Building, a house on
Mountain Brook Parkway, Joy Young Restaurant, the Country Club of Birmingham,
Boutwell Auditorium and the fire escape of the Lyric Theatre. The movie’s
Olympic Gym was located downtown on 2nd Avenue North .
Sally Field has noted that the film
furthered her career by showcasing her talent beyond The Flying Nun sitcom and other tv work she was known for at the
time. Arnold Schwarzenegger has described how friendly his reception as “Mr.
Universe” was in the city. Other well-known people in the cast include Fannie
Flagg, Joanna Cassidy, Scatman Crothers, Robert Englund and Ed Begley, Jr. The
gym owner was played by R.G. Armstrong, born and raised in the Birmingham area,
who had a long career as a character actor in numerous films and television
episodes.
A more recent film is also set in the
Magic City. Clubhouse was released
last October and according to the Internet Movie Database description, “is set
in a stately old home in Birmingham, Alabama.” “Sinister characters” attempt to
take the home from its “humble” owner.
Unfortunately, the IMDb entry does not say where the movie was filmed.
Has anyone seen it?
And what about Any Day Now? As far as I know, it’s the only scripted television
series set in the city. The CW’s current series Hart of Dixie is set in a fictional small town in south Alabama.
These may be the only two scripted television series set in the state.
Any Day Now ran
on the Lifetime network from August 1998 until March 2002 for a total of 88
hour-long episodes. Annie Potts and Lorraine Toussaint played middle aged
versions of two childhood friends—one white, the other black—who grew up in
Birmingham in the 1960s. Potts’ character has remained in town, where she and
her husband and two children struggle financially. Toussaint’s character has
become a successful attorney in Washington, D.C., but when her father dies she
moves back, sets up a practice, and resumes the friendship.
Each episode featured scenes from the lives of the two women in both the past and present. The show ended after four seasons because Potts chose not to renew her contract so she could spend more time with family. According to the IMDb entry, at least some filming was done in Birmingham. The show does not seem to have been released on DVD but is apparently available on HuluPlus.
Each episode featured scenes from the lives of the two women in both the past and present. The show ended after four seasons because Potts chose not to renew her contract so she could spend more time with family. According to the IMDb entry, at least some filming was done in Birmingham. The show does not seem to have been released on DVD but is apparently available on HuluPlus.
This past spring Moms' Night Out appeared in movie theaters. The comedy was filmed in various locations around Birmingham and Shelby County.
If you have seen any of these
productions and have information or comments, please feel free to leave them below. I’m sure I
haven’t included some productions available, as well as single episodes of series
that were set in Birmingham. There may be an update posting in the future. And
then there’s a potential post on movies and tv shows filmed but not set in
Birmingham, and another one on novels
and short stories that take place here, and yet another one on the poetry about
Birmingham, and…who knows?
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