Here's where some of your favorite classic TV shows were filmed

No, Gilligan's Island wasn't filmed on location.

Image: The Everett Collection

Hollywood. It's a magical place where you can go from Korea to Mayberry in under an hour.

Of course, we're talking about all the film production studios and back lots that blanket the area. Our favorite shows do a great job at making us believe they really take place in their fictional settings. But in reality, most of them are filmed within a five mile radius in Southern California.

Here's where some of your favorite TV shows were filmed. You'll be surprised that a lot of them shared the same space. 

I Love Lucy

The classic sitcom made history as the first prime-time comedy to film in front of a live studio audience on the West Coast. The first two seasons were shot on Stage 2 of the Hollywood Center Studios. After the series moved to a different space in 1953, other classics like Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Perry Mason filmed there. 

Image: YouTube

The Andy Griffith Show

The fictional town of Mayberry became associated with RKO Forty Acres when the series filmed its outdoor scenes on the back lot. That's why when you watch other shows and movies filmed there, such as Star Trek and Gone with the Wind, you can spot remnants of Sheriff Taylor's cozy hamlet. 

Image: The Everett Collection

The Dick Van Dyke Show

When I Love Lucy moved after its second season, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz bought out Motion Picture Center and renamed it Desilu Cahuenga Studio. The Dick Van Dyke Show became the studio's first big hit of the 1960s, followed by The Lucy Show and Hogan's Heroes. Renamed Ren-Mar in the 1980s, the studio has hosted The Golden Girls, Seinfeld and Ally McBeal

Image: Worldvision Enterprises

Gilligan's Island

Sorry, the tropical sitcom wasn't filmed on location in Hawaii. (We're sure the cast was bummed about that, too.) Instead, Gilligan's Island was filmed at CBS Studio Center, which coincidentally caused problems because the lot backed up to a freeway. After the show ended, urban comedies like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show took over the studio. 

The Brady Bunch

No, The Brady Bunch wasn't filmed at the famous ranch house in Culver City, California. The sitcom was really located at Paramount Studios,the longest operating and only remaining major studio in Hollywood. The Bradys were in good company, too. Television shows like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley,The Odd Coupleand Taxi also filmed at the same place.  

M*A*S*H

California's Malibu Creek State Park, a common location for shooting Westerns, transformed into Korea in the 1970s to host the outdoor scenes for M*A*S*H.The rest of the series was filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios. The studio also served as Gotham City for Batman in the 1960s. 

Image: aftermash.blogspot.com

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Teddybtoronto 63 months ago
With respect to "The Brady Bunch", the now-famous house on Dilling Street that was used for stock exteriors of the family home is located in North Hollywood, not Culver City. And while exteriors for "The Andy Griffith Show" were, indeed, shot on the Forty Acres backlot, the interiors were filmed at the Desilu Cahuenga/Ren Mar studios used for most other Sheldon Leonard/Danny Thomas productions. The house used to portray the home of Andy Taylor's love interest, Helen Crump, was actually located across the street from the soundstages of the Desilu Cahuenga lot, on a sidestreet named Lillian Way, which is the north side boundary of what is now known as the Red Studios Hollywood lot. The house has since been torn down, and a parking lot now occupies the space where that row of bungalow homes once stood.
Teddybtoronto 63 months ago
With respect to "The Brady Bunch", the now-famous house on Dilling Street that was used for stock exteriors of the family home is located in North Hollywood, not Culver City. And while exteriors for "The Andy Griffith Show" were, indeed, shot on the Forty Acres backlot, the interiors were filmed at the Desilu Cahuenga/Ren Mar studios used for most other Sheldon Leonard/Danny Thomas productions. The house used to portray the home of Andy Taylor's love interest, Helen Crump, was actually located across the street from the soundstages of the Desilu Cahuenga lot, on a sidestreet named Lillian Way, which is the north side boundary of what is now known as the Red Studios Hollywood lot. The house has since been torn down, and a parking lot now occupies the space where that row of bungalow homes once stood. Also, the lagoon used for "Gilligan's Island" at the CBS Studio Center lot was drained some years ago, and a multi-story parking garage sits at that location now. The extensive western town sets used for filming classic CBS westerns like "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide" have mostly been demolished, and there is little left of the backlot outdoor sets. Almost all filming at that complex is done solely on the soundstages.
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