TV Is Finding Out About West Michigan!

Matt Hendricks and I were talking about this the a couple of weeks ago. TV shows and where they take place. Some are easy. Friends was in New York. Cheers in Boston. Home Improvement in Detroit. We were wondering why West Michigan (and Grand Rapids in particular) was not featured on a TV show. Of course the American Pie movies were based in East Grand Rapids, but it wasn't called that. That might be changing soon, at least the West Michigan part.

A script reading over the weekend was held in Chicago for a new project called "I've got a Life in Kalamazoo" It was sponsored by the Museum of TV History in Chicago and ME-TV, the classic TV over the air network shown in Kalamazoo, and on AT&T in Grand Rapids. The script reading was a fundraiser/experiment to see if any TV production company has an interest in creating the show.

It stars Vicky Lewis from Newsradio, Ed Asner from Lou Grand and Mary Tyler Moore, and Marion Ross from Happy Days. If it's picked up and created into a show, it's setting will be Kalamazoo. My Hometown! Too cool!

I also saw a new show on VH1 that "looked" like it was going to be set in Grand Rapids. It's called "Off Pitch" and it's a "Glee" ripoff. All the characters sing in a choir called the "Grand River Singers" Now where is a "Grand River" at? Grand Rapids of course! But upon further investigation, I discovered that "Grand River" is located in Wisconsin. Come on! Wisconsin already had "Happy Days" "Laverne and Shirley" and more recently "That 70's Show" Couldn't they give us "Off Pitch"?