This Is Our Minutiae Thread: For Those Pesky Job/Housing/Money/Geography Details

[Pallas]

16 hours ago, Cardie said:

In Breaking News: Several models of Instant Pot have been recalled for overheating and posing a fire danger. Crock Pot, you are no longer alone as a homicidal slow cooker.

Copycat killers. Just out for the attention. 

[chocolatine]

5 minutes ago, Pallas said:

Copycat killers. Just out for the attention. 

I'm sure there is already an action movie in the works - Crockpot vs. Instant Pot: Attack of the Killer Cookware.

[Pallas]

1 minute ago, chocolatine said:

I'm sure there is already an action movie in the works - Crockpot vs. Instant Pot: Attack of the Killer Cookware.

The Slow Killer Cookware...

[methodwriter85]

On 3/2/2018 at 3:46 PM, qtpye said:

Jack just goes to the college and tells the administration about how special his family is and they all get full scholarships.

I'm pretty sure Randall was on his way to a full scholarship no matter what, but I had to laugh my ass off at him wanting Kate to go to Berklee. Honey, that school is expensive as shit. Now it's 60k a year to go there, so in 1998 terms it was probably like 35k or 40k.

[laurakaye]

On 3/2/2018 at 8:47 AM, TwoGrayTabbies said:

I believe there have been two references to Randall’s apartment complex project as a “job.”  I can’t see how this venture could be bringing in any money for Randall; on the contrary, it seems like this is a massive cash hemorrhage.  Even if he obtained financing (which would take much longer than the time passed between episodes) he would probably have to personally guarantee the loan.  Randall was probably a diligent investor, but even seemingly infinite investment accounts can dry up pretty quickly when you’re withdrawing principal and incurring tax penalties.  Even if he and Kevin did all the work themselves, building materials and equipment rentals are not cheap.  This show isn’t aimed at kids.  It’s aimed at adults who know how things work in real life.  So I would really appreciate some explanations from the show.

But lest you forget...Randall can monologue.  He can simply sit down with the loan officer, deliver a multi-paragraph speech about his humble beginnings, being raised by The Perfect Father, his struggles with his brother, his bio dad, and his wife, and why he needs to revive this crumbling building for his foster daughter and her mother.  The loan officer, moved to tears, submits the paperwork and puts a rush on it.  Randall has his cash the next day and is able to hire 16 construction workers to turn the building into a gorgeous apartment complex with a heated pool and a coffee shop.  Because Randall.

 

On 3/2/2018 at 3:46 PM, qtpye said:

Jack just goes to the college and tells the administration about how special his family is and they all get full scholarships.

You beat me to it.  This. ^^

[Portia]

15 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I'm pretty sure Randall was on his way to a full scholarship no matter what, but I had to laugh my ass off at him wanting Kate to go to Berklee. Honey, that school is expensive as shit. Now it's 60k a year to go there, so in 1998 terms it was probably like 35k or 40k.

And there is more than just tuition to consider. Food, books, incidental fees, and of course housing, which is pricy on campus as well as off and is typically not included in a "full scholarship." Not to mention travel expenses if your fancy dream school is far from home. One of my daughters was a National Merit Scholar, so every school she was interested in was offering her full tuition plus housing, but we kept reminding her that if she picked a school on the other side of the country she wouldn't be able to just jump on a plane any time she got a little homesick. We had two other kids in college at the time, and we didn't have piles of plane ticket money lying around.

Pittsburgh is a nine hour drive from Boston, but I guess Jack would have magically bought a private helicopter for Princess Kate if he had lived and she had gone to Berklee. 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Portia
Typo

[bros402]

Okay, so here are college costs at the time:

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_330.10.asp

All of these figures are adjusted for current $

For all 4 year schools in 1998-1999, it was an average of $11,888 for tuition, fees, & room and board.

For public schools, it was $8,027.
 

For private schools, it was $19,929.

Randall probably had a full ride scholarship, they were banking on Kevin getting a football scholarship (Maybe he skipped college, followed Sophie to NYC?), and then there's Kate.

[Guest]

I actually don’t mind the college stuff.  If you’re going to make an investment in yourself college is a good one.  And there are loans and scholarships Kate could’ve gotten.  And she was just applying.  You never know what a school will offer.  I know people with kids at Harvard because Harvard wanted their kid and made it do-able.   

[Good Queen Jane]

 I know not to expect the legal system to be depicted accurately on television, but you can't evict someone in one day no matter how much they owe in rent. You have to give written notice, then go to court, then there's a waiting period, and then you can bring in a bailiff to force them to leave. I don't know New Jersey law, but it has to take longer than they showed.

[meep.meep]

I'm in my 60s and I've never had to use a can opener like the one Deja pulled out.  That's from the 30's.  And you can't tell me a poor family wouldn't be eating a lot of soup.  Swingline all the way!

[Runningwild]

Also they wouldn’t remove Deja from the home just because the mom was unreachable for a couple hours and had alcohol on her breath!

[laserlady]

3 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

 I know not to expect the legal system to be depicted accurately on television, but you can't evict someone in one day no matter how much they owe in rent. You have to give written notice, then go to court, then there's a waiting period, and then you can bring in a bailiff to force them to leave. I don't know New Jersey law, but it has to take longer than they showed.

My parents are working (in a volunteer capacity) with impoverished families in East Orange, New Jersey, which is right next to Newark.  One of the families they work with is living in a condemned building and has been for something like ten years.  The landlord has been trying to kick them out for quite a while, but has been unsuccessful so far.  So yeah, reality is extremely different.

[bros402]

14 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I'm in my 60s and I've never had to use a can opener like the one Deja pulled out.  That's from the 30's.  And you can't tell me a poor family wouldn't be eating a lot of soup.  Swingline all the way!

I don't remember exactly what the can opener looked like, but I remember thinking when I was watching it that we had one in my house growing up (I was born in 1990)

14 hours ago, laserlady said:

My parents are working (in a volunteer capacity) with impoverished families in East Orange, New Jersey, which is right next to Newark.  One of the families they work with is living in a condemned building and has been for something like ten years.  The landlord has been trying to kick them out for quite a while, but has been unsuccessful so far.  So yeah, reality is extremely different.

Yeah, evicting in NJ is very hard, which is good for tenants. Three months without paying rent wouldn't be an instant eviction :P

[Blakeston]

19 hours ago, Runningwild said:

Also they wouldn’t remove Deja from the home just because the mom was unreachable for a couple hours and had alcohol on her breath!

I don't think they removed her just because of that.

Child services was called in because a child who was 12 at the oldest was injured while left home alone, and no parent or guardian could be reached. That's pretty normal. It doesn't mean that the child will be removed from the home.

It sounded like the actual removal happened because Shawna had a substance abuse problem and needed rehab.

[methodwriter85]

12 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I don't think they removed her just because of that.

Child services was called in because a child who was 12 at the oldest was injured while left home alone, and no parent or guardian could be reached. That's pretty normal. It doesn't mean that the child will be removed from the home.

It sounded like the actual removal happened because Shawna had a substance abuse problem and needed rehab.

I do think we have to remember that we're seeing things from Deja's point of view, and Deja doesn't want to believe her mother's substance problem is as serious as it probably is. There's some denial going on I think.

[MelGoLightly]

Noticed that Kate's car in the last episode had PA plates. There was a point in the episode showing specifically that Randall's car had Jersey plates. We know they live in Trenton/Central Jersey area based on older episodes. We know that Rebecca and Miguel live  nearby enough for drop in visits - which in the NE corridor could be anywhere from like DC to NYC burbs. We also know that the cabin is in the Poconos. 

Bottom Line: Was Kate's SUV a rental from PA or are she and Toby living on the east coast? 

[bros402]

1 hour ago, MelGoLightly said:

Noticed that Kate's car in the last episode had PA plates. There was a point in the episode showing specifically that Randall's car had Jersey plates. We know they live in Trenton/Central Jersey area based on older episodes. We know that Rebecca and Miguel live  nearby enough for drop in visits - which in the NE corridor could be anywhere from like DC to NYC burbs. We also know that the cabin is in the Poconos. 

Bottom Line: Was Kate's SUV a rental from PA or are she and Toby living on the east coast? 

I imagine it was a rental. But from where? Pittsburgh to the Poconos, is, what? A 5 hour drive? Maybe they rented a car somewhere in the Poconos.

[ShadowFacts]

On 3/14/2018 at 12:50 AM, MelGoLightly said:

Bottom Line: Was Kate's SUV a rental from PA or are she and Toby living on the east coast? 

We haven't seen them move or talk about moving from their LA apartment, where we saw them before their Las Vegas parties.  I'm guessing she got the rental car at whatever airport they landed at, that's easiest to return when they go back. 

[biakbiak]

They definitely aren't living on the east coast because Toby talked about trying to get someone on task rabbit to fly the shirt cross country.

[ProudMary]

On 3/14/2018 at 1:50 AM, MelGoLightly said:

Noticed that Kate's car in the last episode had PA plates. There was a point in the episode showing specifically that Randall's car had Jersey plates. We know they live in Trenton/Central Jersey area based on older episodes. We know that Rebecca and Miguel live  nearby enough for drop in visits - which in the NE corridor could be anywhere from like DC to NYC burbs. We also know that the cabin is in the Poconos. 

Bottom Line: Was Kate's SUV a rental from PA or are she and Toby living on the east coast? 

Randall and Beth live in Alpine, NJ, which is the Northeasternmost community in the state.  It's right on the New York border.

[MelGoLightly]

2 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Randall and Beth live in Alpine, NJ, which is the Northeasternmost community in the state.  It's right on the New York border.

Oooo how do we know this? Nice. That's a notably upscale area, so that makes a lot of sense. 

I based my assumption on Deja being from Trenton, but that's relatively close to North Jersey so I'm sure they could travel to her for pick up/drop off, etc. 

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, MelGoLightly said:

Oooo how do we know this? Nice. That's a notably upscale area, so that makes a lot of sense. 

In the first season Beth gets a postcard from William after he has passed and it shows their address.

[ProudMary]

Beth received a postcard pothusmously from William showing their Alpine address.  You can see it 32 seconds into this video clip.  Also, Deja and Shauna lived in Newark.  Not around the corner from Alpine but close enough. 

[MelGoLightly]

18 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

Beth received a postcard pothusmously from William showing their Alpine address.  You can see it 32 seconds into this video clip.  Also, Deja and Shauna lived in Newark.  Not around the corner from Alpine but close enough. 

 

Call me impressed with that notice! 

Where did I get Trenton, I wonder.

 

Edited b/c I'm sure the wiki is posted in this thread somewhere and I am a good citizen. 

Edited March 15, 2018 by MelGoLightly

[ShadowFacts]

That clip above makes me realize how much more I liked last season's finale than the second one.  Just not in the same category, kind of like the season overall.  I know a lot of people didn't care for William, and don't love the Deja story now, but Randall/Beth/William's whole arc was much more interesting to me, and well done, than the how did Jack die/Kevin goes out of control/Kate gets married journey this season.  I'm just not as invested anymore. 

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, MelGoLightly said:

Where did I get Trenton, I wonder.

I'm not sure if this is where you got Trenton from but they did say Trenton was where Beth was trying to get a park and got a Costco instead.  And, to me, it was suggested that's where her office was, too, when Randall dropped by.  I suppose her office could be anywhere but he was in Philly and told her he was in the area of her office so he dropped by.  

[Neurochick]

I like this thread.  At first I thought I wasn't going to like it because I find nitpickers kind of annoying buzz killers, but this show has so many issues that just aren't brought up at all.  I don't need to have an entire episode of exposition, but sometimes I feel this show spends so much time on emotion and no time on real life at all. 

For example:  What does Kate do for a living?  When the show started, I think she was working for Kevin, then she got a job as a PA for a woman who had an annoying daughter, what happened to that job, did Kate give it up when she started singing, is she still singing? 

I know it's TV and not real life but sometimes when a person creates a show, they need to do some world building, i.e. "this is where these people live, this is what they do for a living, etc."

[Violetgoblin6]

16 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Randall and Beth live in Alpine, NJ, which is the Northeasternmost community in the state.  It's right on the New York border.

Yep. Right across from the GW bridge. I always think of it as the northern most nj suburb of NYC. 

[PRgal]

On 3/15/2018 at 11:50 AM, ProudMary said:

Beth received a postcard pothusmously from William showing their Alpine address.  You can see it 32 seconds into this video clip.  Also, Deja and Shauna lived in Newark.  Not around the corner from Alpine but close enough. 

 

I just looked up real estate prices in Alpine.  We're talking $5M or so here.  That's a whole different world from where Deja's from.

[Guest]

22 hours ago, Neurochick said:

For example:  What does Kate do for a living?  When the show started, I think she was working for Kevin, then she got a job as a PA for a woman who had an annoying daughter, what happened to that job, did Kate give it up when she started singing, is she still singing? 

I know it's TV and not real life but sometimes when a person creates a show, they need to do some world building, i.e. "this is where these people live, this is what they do for a living, etc."

I totally agree about the world building.  I guess in their defense they felt it was more important to jam in the twists and the tears than flesh out jobs and locations.  

I think Kate worked for Kevin then had the PA job for like one day, and quit or assumed she was fired when she stood up to the bratty teen.  Then she chose singing and is still pursuing that.  And between her savings and Toby's IT income that's enough.  

I haven't really been bothered by these sort of issues since they quit flitting to Manhattan and back like Randall had a helicopter, and since they gave Toby a job.  Well, I'd like to know how Kate paid for a month in a swanky fat farm but it's not going to happen.  

[ProudMary]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

I just looked up real estate prices in Alpine.  We're talking $5M or so here.  That's a whole different world from where Deja's from.

Absolutely.  Alpine is one of the richest zip codes in the United States.  All I meant was that it's geographically within reasonable driving distance to Newark, probably about 45 minutes.  In every other way?  Worlds apart.

[Moxie Cat]

I am constantly wondering about the location magic in this show and am so glad I found this thread!

So Randall's family lives in Northern NJ (which I am familiar with) but isn't William's apartment building, that Randall bought, in Philly? (Which is where I live now.) That is one heck of a drive -  at least 2 hours without traffic! And to manage an apartment building on a regular basis?

I remember also being confused about the locations in the episode where Kevin went back to his high school, because didn't he show up at Rebecca's shortly after? (Central NJ at least a 6-7 hour drive from Pittsburgh.) During the entire first season, I thought Rebecca and Miguel still lived in Pittsburgh!

Poconos is also a pretty decent drive from Pittsburgh.

As far as airports, maybe Toby's parents flew into Scranton or more likely Lehigh Valley, which would have entailed a doable drive for Toby.

IMO, a rough point of this show is keeping the two halves of the family that live on different coasts in the same scenes. There is just little reason for Kate and Toby to be in New Jersey, or Randall's family to be in LA. You can feel them making up excuses to put the cast in the same location, like Kevin's play or the Vegas trip. Maybe Kate and Toby will move to NJ next year.

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, Moxie Cat said:

So Randall's family lives in Northern NJ (which I am familiar with) but isn't William's apartment building, that Randall bought, in Philly? (Which is where I live now.) That is one heck of a drive -  at least 2 hours without traffic! And to manage an apartment building on a regular basis?

I always thought it would be hilarious if Randall accidentally gentrifies the apartment building and the surrounding neighborhood. Philadelphia gentrification is a hot-button topic right now, and it seems to be happening in all parts of the city.

[Violetgoblin6]

4 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

I am constantly wondering about the location magic in this show and am so glad I found this thread!

So Randall's family lives in Northern NJ (which I am familiar with) but isn't William's apartment building, that Randall bought, in Philly? (Which is where I live now.) That is one heck of a drive -  at least 2 hours without traffic! And to manage an apartment building on a regular basis?

I remember also being confused about the locations in the episode where Kevin went back to his high school, because didn't he show up at Rebecca's shortly after? (Central NJ at least a 6-7 hour drive from Pittsburgh.) During the entire first season, I thought Rebecca and Miguel still lived in Pittsburgh!

Poconos is also a pretty decent drive from Pittsburgh.

As far as airports, maybe Toby's parents flew into Scranton or more likely Lehigh Valley, which would have entailed a doable drive for Toby.

IMO, a rough point of this show is keeping the two halves of the family that live on different coasts in the same scenes. There is just little reason for Kate and Toby to be in New Jersey, or Randall's family to be in LA. You can feel them making up excuses to put the cast in the same location, like Kevin's play or the Vegas trip. Maybe Kate and Toby will move to NJ next year.

I grew up in suburban Philly and my dad commuted to NYC. My brother in law commutes from Trenton area to north Jersey burbs everyday. My own commute is an hour. :0( it's just awful. 

[bros402]

6 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

Well, I'd like to know how Kate paid for a month in a swanky fat farm but it's not going to happen.  

Let's just say Kevin paid her generously and she had it saved up.

Or maybe her insurance paid a chunk of it and she paid the rest - since didn't her doctor recommend it?

[theatremouse]

On 3/7/2018 at 6:17 AM, Good Queen Jane said:

 I know not to expect the legal system to be depicted accurately on television, but you can't evict someone in one day no matter how much they owe in rent. You have to give written notice, then go to court, then there's a waiting period, and then you can bring in a bailiff to force them to leave. I don't know New Jersey law, but it has to take longer than they showed.

It bugged me even more than they can't possibly have lived there long enough for the landlady to even want to bother trying to begin evicting them. I thought Deja went back with her mother sometime in December. It was still winter-coat "we need the heat turned on" weather when they got the boot. So what did Shawna do, get the apartment somehow without paying first and last months rent, and showing no way to pay anything in between, and basically never made a payment at all? Didn't the landlady say something like she'd been not paying for "months".  They only lived there 3 months total. In the montage of them paying bills was that Day 1 of living together and having the box and then the descent to not paying anything was basically every subsequent bill of any kind? This show screwed up its timeline. If Randall hadn't said he was 37 in the finale I would've assumed that montage covered a whole year or something. Even if it had fast forwarded a year that still might not have been long enough to actually evict them, but it'd be much closer to reasonable.

[alexvillage]

Interesting topic and you guys do pay attention to details.

I just finished binging on this show and I really like it - something new to me since I don't like TV shows.

One thing that annoyed me is how Jack's death was shown. Anyone who hd been in a fire, inhaled the amount of smoke as he did would have been monitored, on oxygen, and not just siting on a hospital bed, casually using the O2 mask, all that AFTER they took the kids to Miguel's house. Paramedics would not just drop off some kids somewhere and then take Jack to the hospital.

 

The hospital scene was heavy on drama but the writers were lazy.

[methodwriter85]

On 4/25/2018 at 8:14 AM, alexvillage said:

The hospital scene was heavy on drama but the writers were lazy.

That seems to be the general route that the writers take- heavy drama but without much realism. Like was anything even remotely realistic about the Deja fostering storyline or Randall's adoption or Kevin's 5-second addiction to pills?

[CoolMom]

On 4/25/2018 at 8:14 AM, alexvillage said:

Interesting topic and you guys do pay attention to details.

I just finished binging on this show and I really like it - something new to me since I don't like TV shows.

One thing that annoyed me is how Jack's death was shown. Anyone who hd been in a fire, inhaled the amount of smoke as he did would have been monitored, on oxygen, and not just siting on a hospital bed, casually using the O2 mask, all that AFTER they took the kids to Miguel's house. Paramedics would not just drop off some kids somewhere and then take Jack to the hospital.

 

The hospital scene was heavy on drama but the writers were lazy.

The paramedics didn't drop the kids off to Miguel's house, Jack and Rebecca did.  He refused to be transported saying he'd go to the ER after they took the kids and got them settled at Miguel's house.  The paramedics cannot force you to be transported.  I am guessing that since he came in on his own not via the ambulance the ER didn't think he was as critical as he would have been if the paramedics had been monitoring him during the drive.

[methodwriter85]

I will give them this- I had a car that was originally licensed in PA and it had those windshield expiration stickers in the corner with the year, which you do see in the 90's episodes. 

Also the bridge scene where they've driving after Jack's death felt and looked like a Pittsburgh area town, so that's another "yea!" for them. The other two times I thought it really did look like Pittsburgh was the scene where pregnant Rebecca is waddling to a liquor store to try to get something for Jack's cake and the time Miguel and Jack were at a golf course with rolling hills in the background.

I'm also assuming that we got the scene of Jack taking a photo album during the fire because we got people who kept mentioning that the Pearsons had way too much stuff from their childhood given that their house got destroyed in a fire. Although I had always fanwanked that they kept a lot of stuff at the cabin, especially videos and board games.

[Good Queen Jane]

A carnival in Pittsburgh in December with everyone wearing light jackets? I don't think so. Now if they had done a Christmas carnival, I might have bought it.

[ClareWalks]

4 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

A carnival in Pittsburgh in December with everyone wearing light jackets? I don't think so. Now if they had done a Christmas carnival, I might have bought it.

Agreed. I have been to Pittsburgh at Christmas during mild winters, so I know it can happen, but they would never *schedule a carnival* outdoors for the winter months because the weather would be extremely unreliable. Or it might have been more Christmas themed, like you said, and probably wouldn't have had Ferris wheels and such.

Edited September 26, 2018 by ClareWalks

[Violetgoblin6]

5 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Agreed. I have been to Pittsburgh at Christmas during mild winters, so I know it can happen, but they would never *schedule a carnival* outdoors for the winter months because the weather would be extremely unreliable. Or it might have been more Christmas themed, like you said, and probably wouldn't have had Ferris wheels and such.

Exactly. My work has a Christmas/winter carnival on campus (residential school/facility) a couple weeks before Christmas. Hot cocoa, candied apples, carriage rides, crafts, food, music...but no rides. I'm in the Philadelphia area. But then again it's super bowl Sunday and Kate is under a leafy tree...

[DearEvette]

The set up for a ferris wheel and other bigger rides like that usually require the involvement of a midway rides carnie outfit or company.  Most of those companies have a very defined season that runs from about April to Mid-October in the Northeast.  Most of them close down and store all that equipment for the winter.  I'd be very surprised if any would put up those sorts of rides in a cold climate during the Christmas season.   If they have left it as some nice outdoor Christmas festival with hot cider and ice sculpture contests, that would be one thing but the big rides do make it a little --- not believable.

[bros402]

So, Deja said the Philadelphia apartment that Randall and Beth bought is an hour away? It's 2 hours from Alpine to Philly.

[methodwriter85]

Indiana has a "It's A Wonderful Life" parade in honor of their hometown boy Jimmy Stewart, but again, it's a parade. No big rides, just some the parade, carnival rides, and hot chocolate and roasted peanuts.

[doodlebug]

5 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Indiana has a "It's A Wonderful Life" parade in honor of their hometown boy Jimmy Stewart, but again, it's a parade. No big rides, just some the parade, carnival rides, and hot chocolate and roasted peanuts.

That's Indiana, PA, BTW. Not to brag, but I have actually been to the Jimmy Stewart Airport in Indiana and, as a child, my mom used to point out the location of Stewart's Hardware on Philadelphia Street and tell us how Mr Stewart used to have his boy Jimmy's Oscar in the window. In nearby Punxatawny, they celebrate Groundhog's Day with an outdoor event in February.  It's the carnival rides and such as well as having any sort of gathering and not having a Christmas theme of some sort that made the whole thing unbelievable.  If you really want the public to gather outdoors in the winter, there needs to be more than a simple carnival to draw them. Obviously, they wanted to tie the first date to the Immaculate Reception which put it in December, but surely there were other options for a date than an outdoor carnival in the winter and other ways to show Jack's lack of cash.

[ChromaKelly]

I honestly wonder if the writers have spent any time in the general PA/NJ/NY area. I'm from Maryland, have never been to the West Coast, so I kind of feel like this is as if I tried to write a show set in CA and thought everything was close together and had characters zipping between Sacramento and LA because hey, it's all California! and had everyone at the beach all the time.
There's nothing about this show that really says Pittsburgh except for the Steelers references and them saying it's Pittsburgh. And yeah, no outdoor carnivals in December.

[methodwriter85]

The landscape in general seems pretty flat as well.

I feel like My So-Called Life did a much better job with the Pittsburgh setting. And Adventureland and The Perks of Being a Wallflower did actual filming there (the tunnel scene in the latter movie is absolutely stunning because it nails what it's like to emerge from it into the city) and it was beautiful.

Indiana is such a beautiful town. It's kind of a shame the place fell on pretty hard times (the mall seems just about dead and the university isn't doing that great, either) because it really is a gorgeous place. If I could get a job offer there, I'd stay in a heartbeat.

Ironically, Philadelphia Street felt like it was in better shape than the mall was, at least in 2012. I haven't been back sense, but yeah. Lots of restaurants around there.

Edited September 29, 2018 by methodwriter85

[bros402]

2 hours ago, ChromaKelly said:

I honestly wonder if the writers have spent any time in the general PA/NJ/NY area. I'm from Maryland, have never been to the West Coast, so I kind of feel like this is as if I tried to write a show set in CA and thought everything was close together and had characters zipping between Sacramento and LA because hey, it's all California! and had everyone at the beach all the time.
There's nothing about this show that really says Pittsburgh except for the Steelers references and them saying it's Pittsburgh. And yeah, no outdoor carnivals in December.

Yeah, seriously. They could just go to the NJ/NY/PA area, drive around for a week or two, to understand what the area is like. You don't drive from Pittsburgh for the day to go to a Broadway show... and you don't make a pit stop in Alpine, it is not on the way.