Wisconsin

‘That ’90s Show’ and 26 other TV shows set in Wisconsin places (some of them fictional)

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Level Place is again on the map — properly, again on tv’s map, anyway.

The fictional Wisconsin metropolis that was the “setting” for the long-running sitcom “That ’70s Present” is again within the sequel. Debuting on Netflix Jan. 19, “That ’90s Present” brings a brand new era — actually, as within the teenage youngsters whose dad and mom have been youngsters within the first present — to the identical city, and even the identical basement. However this time, the franchise offers its greatest trace ever about the place Level Place could be within the Badger State.

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However Level Place is only one Wisconsin locale, actual or made up, that serves because the setting for a TV present. Listed here are 20 cities, precise and imagined, which can be houses to TV applications.

TV exhibits set in precise Wisconsin cities

TV exhibits set in Milwaukee

‘Blissful Days’

Fonzie and buddies put Milwaukee on the map, TV-wise. From 1974-’84, Richie Cunningham, Potsie and all the remainder frolicked a backlot model of Brew Metropolis (although you may sometimes see a Milwaukee Braves pennant on the wall). However a number of the present’s creations have been impressed by Milwaukee; Arnold’s Drive-In was impressed by the Milky Manner, a drive-in on Port Washington Highway in Glendale (now the house to Kopp’s Frozen Custard), a favourite hangout of one of many present’s govt producers, Milwaukee native and Nicolet Excessive College grad Thomas L. Miller.

Thomas L. Miller, the TV producer whose Milwaukee upbringing impressed ‘Blissful Days,’ has died

Milwaukee filmmaker faucets nostalgia, and coronary heart, in ABC documentary ‘Blissful Days of Garry Marshall’

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‘Laverne & Shirley’

The primary “Blissful Days” sequel was, like the unique present, set in Milwaukee when it launched in 1976. Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney even had the last word Milwaukee job: They labored in a brewery. However at the beginning of the present’s sixth season (1980), Shotz Brewery let go its whole bottle-capping division, so the ladies (and, weirdly, all of their buddies) moved out to California, the place they held on for 3 extra seasons.

‘A Complete New Ballgame’

Corbin Bernsen, who performed overpaid prima donna Roger Dorn within the filmed-in-Milwaukee baseball comedy “Main League,” performed a former big-leaguer turned broadcaster employed by a Milwaukee TV station on this short-lived midseason substitute that aired on ABC for eight episodes in 1995.

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‘Patriot’

On this Prime Video collection, Michael Dorman performs a barely unhinged intelligence officer who has been charged with nothing lower than stopping Iran from attaining its nuclear goals. The agent builds his cowl story by working for an industrial piping firm based mostly in Milwaukee, which splits time with all types of unique locales on this collection that first streamed from 2015 to ’18.

‘Dahmer: Monster — The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’

The 2022 miniseries in regards to the serial killer is about in Milwaukee, with a variety of precise metropolis places talked about. Nevertheless it was shot in Los Angeles.

Additionally: Milwaukee is a vacation spot, and an occasional plot level, in a handful of episodes of each “Marvel’s Brokers of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Supernatural.”

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TV exhibits set in Stevens Level

‘Liv and Maddie’

The Disney Channel collection about twin sisters — one’s a toddler star who has come again house after years in Hollywood, the opposite’s a sports-happy tomboy, each performed by Dove Cameron — is about in Stevens Level. The present’s govt producer, Andy Fickman, knew Stevens Level as a result of his grandparents lived there, and he needed a small-town setting for the present, which ran from 2013-’17.

TV exhibits set in Port Washington

‘Step by Step’

Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers play the dad and mom of a newly blended household dwelling in Port Washington on this sitcom, which aired from 1991-’98.

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TV exhibits set in Wisconsin Dells

‘American Dreamer’

Robert Urich performed a globe-trotting community TV reporter who, after his spouse dies, decides to pack up the youngsters and pursue his model of the title dream by heading to a small city — Wisconsin Dells, to be precise — and write about “actual folks” for a Chicago newspaper on this short-lived NBC sitcom. Regardless of a solid that included Carol Kane and Milwaukee Repertory Theater alum Jeffrey Tambor, it lasted just one season, in 1990-’91.

TV exhibits set in Madison

‘The George Wendt Present’

Former “Cheers” barstool veteran and Chicago comedian actor George Wendt inexplicably moved to Madison — properly, his character did — on this sitcom a few pair of brothers who personal an auto restore store and have a “Automobile Discuss”-type radio present on the aspect. The present lasted simply eight episodes in early 1995.

‘Battleground’

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Set principally in Madison, this faux-documentary collection goes behind the scenes of a Senate marketing campaign race in Wisconsin. Streaming service Hulu’s first scripted collection, “Battleground,” with Madison native Marc Webb (“500 Days of Summer time”) amongst its govt producers, ran for 13 episodes in 2012.

TV exhibits set in Verona

‘Adventures in Dairyland’

Mouseketeers Annette Funicello and Sammy Ogg traveled to a farm in Verona to movie an eight-chapter serial that first aired on “The Mickey Mouse Membership” in 1956. The Disney-produced serial was partly funded by the American Dairy Affiliation.

TV exhibits set in Racine

‘Elevating Miranda’

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James Naughton performs a building contractor in Racine struggling as a single dad to boost his 15-year-old daughter Miranda on this 1998 sitcom, which lasted simply 9 episodes.

TV exhibits set in La Crosse

‘Off Pitch’

This 2013 VH1 actuality collection offers the highlight to the Grand River Singers of La Crosse, “the one all-adult ‘Glee’-inspired group present choir within the nation.”

TV exhibits set in fictional Wisconsin cities

‘That ‘70s Present’ / ‘That ‘90s Present’ — Level Place

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Debate over the place the unique collection’ hometown, Level Place, actually was in Wisconsin has raged for the reason that present debuted in 1998 (it ran until 2006); contenders ranged from Stevens Level to Inexperienced Bay to Nice Prairie. However the sequel collection, which launched in January 2023 on Netflix, drops a serious that Level Place might be within the Kenosha metroplex.

‘The Younger and the Stressed’ — Genoa Metropolis

The long-running daytime cleaning soap opera has been set in Genoa Metropolis, Wisconsin, since its debut in 1973 — however not the precise Genoa Metropolis, Wisconsin. The actual deal is in Kenosha and Walworth counties, on the Illinois border. Reportedly, the present’s creators, William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, adopted the title after passing by the village going from their house in Chicago and their summer time trip vacation spot, Lake Geneva.

‘Picket Fences’ — Rome

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The city sheriff (Tom Skerritt) and his spouse, the city physician (Kathy Baker) had their arms full with the high-quirk quotient group of Rome, Wisconsin, on this offbeat, well-reviewed CBS drama. Regardless of a number of time-slot adjustments, the present held on for 4 seasons, from 1992-’96, and received 14 Emmys. However the present’s fictionalized Rome isn’t linked to both of Wisconsin’s precise communities named Rome — one in Adams County, the opposite in Jefferson County.

‘Aliens in America’ — Medora

A Muslim alternate scholar from Pakistan lives with a Christian household in Medora, Wisconsin, on this Fox sitcom, which lasted one season in 2007-’08. Oak Creek native Amy Pietz performed the household’s well-meaning mother.

‘Life With Louie’ — Cedar Knoll

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Comic-actor Louie Anderson dipped into his childhood for the tales on this animated collection, which ran for 3 seasons beginning in 1994. Anderson, who died in 2022 at age 58, was born in Minneapolis, however he set this collection within the made-up city of Cedar Knoll, in what seems to be northern Wisconsin.

‘The Waverly Wonders’ — Eastfield

Soccer Corridor of Famer Joe Namath performs, oddly, the winless basketball coach at Waverly Excessive College, in Eastfield, Wisconsin, on this 1978 sitcom. The NBC present was sacked after simply 9 episodes.

‘A Minute With Stan Hooper’ — Waterford Falls

Norm Macdonald performs a Manhattan-based TV newsmagazine commentator who, after years of doing minute-long options on “common” small-town folks, decides he desires to relocate to a kind of locations and work remotely. He chooses Waterford Falls, Wisconsin, a city he and his spouse drove by means of en path to their honeymoon. It seems the city isn’t as idyllic as he thought. Neither was the present; regardless of a solid that additionally included Penelope Ann Miller, James Whitmore, Garret Dillahunt and Fred Willard, the present lasted simply 13 episodes on Fox in 2003.

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‘The Brighter Day’ — New Hope

This inspirational-themed daytime cleaning soap opera, centered on the doings of the Dennis household, led by Rev. Richard Dennis. The present began on radio in 1948 and made the soar to tv in 1954. For a lot of its TV run — the daytime drama aired till 1962 — it was set within the small city of New Hope, Wisconsin.

‘Lifeless of Summer time’ — Stillwater

Camp Stillwater, a summer time camp within the fictional Wisconsin city of the identical title, is the setting for this Nineteen Eighties-set horror collection, which lasted only one season on Freeform in 2016.

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‘My Discuss Present’ — Derby

Cynthia Stevenson performs the host of a neighborhood cable speak present whose program — shot in her front room — unexpectedly will get a nationwide syndication deal on this quirky sitcom set in Derby, Wisconsin, “the hat capital of the world.” The syndicated present, launched in 1990, ran for 65 episodes.

‘Ladies in Jail’

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A comedy set in a girls’s jail? Certain. This 1987-’88 Fox sitcom follows a girl (Julia Campbell) who’s despatched to “Bass Ladies’s Jail” someplace in Wisconsin after her dishonest husband frames her for shoplifting. Even with a fairly spectacular solid — amongst them, Peggy Cass, CCH Pounder and Wendie Jo Sperber — the present lasted just one season.

‘Hoppity Hooper’ — Foggy Lavatory

A frog, a bear and a fox get into some sometimes-shady adventures on this animated collection by the good Jay Ward (“Rocky & Bullwinkle”), with an unbelievable voice solid (together with Paul Frees, Hans Conried and Invoice Scott). Sponsored by Common Mills, the Saturday morning cartoon present ran on ABC for 52 episodes over three seasons.

‘Araiguma Rasukaru’ / ‘Rascal Raccoon’ — Brailsford Junction

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Edgerton, Wisconsin, author Sterling North’s beloved e-book “Rascal,” a few small-town boy who adopts a child raccoon, was tailored for Japanese tv in 1977. Just like the novel, the animated collection is about in Brailsford Junction, Wisconsin, which relies on North’s hometown of Edgerton. The 52-episode collection reportedly has been blamed for an exploding raccoon inhabitants in Japan.

Sources: IMDb.com, “The Full Listing to Prime Time Community and Cable TV Exhibits, 1946-Current,” by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh; “Tune in Yesterday,” by John Dunning; Journal Sentinel information; The Younger and the Stressed Fandom Wiki; Soaps Fandom Wiki

Our subscribers make this reporting doable. Please contemplate supporting native journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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