One of the main things that allure us to a TV show or a movie is its misc-en-scene. Plot, characters, and dialogues may keep the story going, but the filming location is one of the most important yet underrated components of any production. Be it the beloved set of Monica’s apartment and Central Perk in ‘Friends’ or the MacLaren’s bar of ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ every element of the show’s backdrop plays a huge role in captivating the audience and ensuring the smooth flow of the narrative.
But not every filming location is the same as what is portrayed on the show. For instance, the plot of ‘Friends’ is based in New York, but not even one season was shot in the city! The entire series was shot in Warner Brother Studios in Los Angeles. Similarly, the plot of ‘Man With A Plan’ is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it has, in fact, not been filmed there!
Where is ‘Man With A Plan’ filmed?
The popular series starring Matt LeBlanc (Friends) and Liza Snyder (Yes, Dear) in leading roles and created by Jackie Filgo and Jeff Filgo, is a multi-camera comedy series that centers around a Western Pennsylvanian family.
Matt plays Adam Burns, an old-school father, and Liza plays Andi, his wife. The series follows Adam struggling to maneuver his home-life after Andi returns to work. A humorous spin on the challenges of balancing personal and professional life, while raising three handful kids, makes the series quite relatable for every family out there. The show’s comic dose is also added by Adam’s overbearing father Joe and his brother Don (Kevin Nealon), with whom Adam runs a contracting business.
Even though the series has always received mixed reviews due to the outdated concept of dysfunctional yet funny family dramas and regressive gender portrayals, the well-earned fan base of Matt LeBlanc keeps the series afloat with undying loyalty. His comic timing and dialogue delivery are still hard to beat, and his character arc has made the show worth watching.
The show airs on CBS, and although it is said to be based in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, it is actually shot at the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, California.
CBS Studio Center, California
The CBS Studio Center is the television production arm of the CBS network and has been a hotspot for the filming of many famous sitcoms like ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Will & Grace’, and ‘That 70’s Show’ to name a few. Movies like ‘Scream 3’ and ‘The Muppet Movie (1979)’ were also filmed in this studio. ‘This Is Us’ is another recent example of a new and popular series being based in Pittsburgh but being shot in and around the studios and public properties of Los Angeles, California.
CBS Studio Center is situated on 4024 Radford Avenue in Studio City, California. And as is the culture with most sitcoms, ‘Man With A Plan’ too goes through live tapings, i.e., the actors perform their scenes in front of a live audience. It takes a few hours for each episode to get shot. Filmed in a studio, the series usually takes place in Adam’s house, and the different rooms on the set serve as the necessary backdrop for the storyline for each episode.
The CBS Studio has a vast space for production. It consists of 18 soundstages and over 210,000 square feet of office space, making it one of the best studios in LA with top-class infrastructure and efficient facilities.
It comes as a big surprise that not many TV series and movies are filmed in Pittsburgh as Pennsylvania’s tax credit policies for filmmaking is deemed as one of the most lucrative in the USA. Even though big-budget movies like ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ witnessed their shooting in the state, the low-budget cinema and shows are yet to make an appearance on this land. Netflix’s ‘Mindhunter’ is filmed in Pittsburgh, and it received $18.7 million in film tax credits from the state.
Read More: Man With a Plan Season 4 Details
