Birth of Venice and early days
Actors, Filmmakers and Writers in Venice live or lived
Actors, Filmmakers and Writers in Venice hung out
Program of the 1978 Venice Festival at the Fox Venice Theater
Tale of the Fox
(from Free Venice Beachhead)
1981 Resistance Celebration Schedule
1981 Resistance Celebration Articles
Institutions, Organizations, Foundations
Paul Tanck on
Venice-related films
Venice on TV
This is the most disorganized and incoherent page so far - it‘s not even alphabetized! - mostly because when it comes to television, the Webslave is short on experience and long on ignorance. But what the hell. If there’s a chance somebody could find an interesting or useful tidbit here, might as well go for it. Additions and corrections are, as always, welcome.
Intruders
made-for-TV movie science fiction 1992 In Venice, Calif., a woman awakens
to spot odd workmen forcing their way into the house
Baywatch
Fastlane
Venice skateboarder Rich Zuccarello was in one episode; Philip Martin
played a Venice Beach cop in one episode
Real People
April 1981 featured Venice Beach including Susan Moscowitz the Doll Lady,
who had been dead more than a year, and Swami X
Salute to the Statue of Liberty
July 1984 TV special
About five minutes of Venice Beach footage at the very end: skaters, the
weight pen, some masters of break dancing, crowds applauding musicians,
etc. The narrator spoke of Venice as an example of freedom at work, and
said we have no problems here.
Three’s Company
beach footage under the credits
The Fugitive
some location work in Venice
Get Smart
some location filming
Simon & Simon
at least one episode with some Venice location work
CHIPS
probably more than one episode took place in Venice at least partly
The A-Team
some location work
Joe Millionaire
A Fox show where apparently, twenty women were taken to a French chateau
to meet a guy who supposedly just inherited $50 million. Fox publicity
claimed that the guy, Evan Marriott, was actually a construction worker
who made less than 20 grand a year. (Are you with me so far?) It would
take a wiser person than the Webslave to explain why this earned Fox "its
highest ratings ever outside of major sporting events." Then, some
newspaper revealed that prior to getting involved with this TV enterprise,
Evan Marriott had actually been renting a $1.7 million house in Venice,
not a situation you‘d expect for a construction worker.
Gilmore Girls
cast included a character named Jess, who was going to do a spin-off show
of his own, though whether this ever happened I can’t tell you. This
was early in 2003, the actor’s name was Milo Ventimiglia, and Jess
was going to move to Venice Beach where his dad Jimmy had just opened
a hot dog stand, and then get mixed up with a skater gang.
Gilmore Girls spinoff project - spring 2003 drama, something about a skateboarding crew and an estranged father.
Tom Green Show
one critic who listed the stupid things he’d seen on the show included
"a garishly painted dwarf in costume skateboarding wildly up and
down California's Venice Beach's boardwalk - and that's it."
Star Trek
"Future's End, Part I" shown in 1996
For purposes of the episode, it’s the 24th century and what used
to be Venice is a big coral reef, having been remodeled in the Hermosa
Quake of 2047.
Time travelers visit Venice Beach in 1996, encountering "bikini beach
babes, punkers on roller blades, admen on stilts, an infinite variation
of styles and outfits, and various stages of undress." One character
says "We could have worn our Starfleet uniforms and fit right in."
Pacific Station
early Nineties series about a "by-the-book police detective assigned
to the eccentric beat of Los Angeles' Venice Beach area" Robert Guillaume
was in it.
A Death in Venice CA
made-for-TV movie 1995, Mona Dickens
10-8
produced by Aaron Spelling, a columnist describes visiting the location
set on the sand.
Shasta McNasty
Sitcom meant to appeal to people who used to like the Monkees TV show.
Three young hip-hop musicians trying to get by in a loft apartment near
the boardwalk. An episode with Gary Busey is described thus: "A Thanksgiving
visit to a homeless shelter reunites Dennis with his deadbeat father Jack,
who moves in with the guys, prompting them to find a way to reunite Jack
with his stripper girlfriend in order to get him out of their pad."
Another episode, which seems to concern midget boxing, is titled "The
Menace from Venice."
The Menace of Venice
was the title of a 1965 cartoon show featuring Sinbad Jr. but I don’t
know which Venice and only assume it’s the California one.
Across America
HDNet series, episode 104: "Hanging out in Venice, California, is
more than just a day at the beach. From glass walkers to fast talkers…"
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment
Comedy "At Venice Beach, Calif., Jamie poses as a sketch artist who
draws revealing portraits of his subjects."
Lou Grant
Episode #4.15 titled "Venice," might be California
The Man Show
This appears to be a show where the crew goes around doing things in public
places for a goof, somewhat like the Cacophony Society. So they put up
a table on the boardwalk with signs exhorting passers-by sign a petition
to "End Suffrage of Women Now!" Like the people who don’t
realize an item from the Bill of Rights when they hear it, and guess that
it’s part of some Commie manifesto, apparently many people don’t
know that "suffrage" means women get to vote.
Ben Stein & Nancy Pimental
The 2001 season premiere shot at Venice Beach, also a 2001 episode with
Playboy centerfold models, and another that satirized "Survivor"
South Park
Production used to take place in Venice. In one episode, titled "Die
Hippie, Die": "Cartman tries to eliminate hippies from the face
of the earth ……. warns the citizens of South Park that it will
only be a matter of days before the town becomes the Hippie Capital of
the World…..the hippies plan to stage a weeklong music fest."
Sex Confessions: Venice Beach (18+)
"boldly goes where no TV show has gone before: directly to the core
of the largest sex organ in the human body: the mind. "
The Mod Squad
In the first episode, the Other Half were shown performing "No Girl
Gonna Cry" at the Cheetah.
Herb Alpert TV special
A segment was filmed in the ballroom of the Cheetah just before it opened
Just Legal
Only 3 episodes were made, starring Don Johnson as jaded lawyer who hires
teen-age law school graduate.
California Fever
ad for X-Box
shot on Ocean Front Walk
Pacific Blue (1990's)
Mountain-bike riding police officers patrol the ocean front. Quite a few
episodes of this program seem to take place on Venice Beach. In one the
villain is an unlicensed vendor called "Snakeman" and a female
officer accidentally wins a wet t-shirt contest. In #11, "The Phoenix,"
an arsonist believed to have perished years ago reappears. In #12 "The
Big Spin" the villains are a duo of Harley riders who rob merchants
and flee on their choppers. In #16, "Rapscallions," a boardwalk
building manager and skinhead friends try to make tenants move out of
apartments so the building can be demolished and pricey condos built.
Shore Things
PBS show included 10 or 15 minutes of Venice