Rhode Island in popular culture

The state of Rhode Island is often depicted in popular culture, partly due to its natives the Farrelly brothers and former residence of the creator of the television show Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane. The following is a list of popular culture in Rhode Island.

Television

• The Showtime series Brotherhood is set in Providence.
• The Fox animated sitcom Family Guy (1999–2003; 2005–present) is set in the fictional town of Quahog.
• The NBC series Providence is set and named for Providence.
• Doctor Doctor was set in Providence.
• On FOX's popular X-Files (1993 – 2001) TV series, Fox Mulder's family lives in Chepachet, a small village in the northern town of Glocester, Rhode Island. His mother retires to Quonochontaug, an even smaller community in South County.
• Ghost Hunters is set in Warwick.
• Canterbury's Law is set in Providence and the surrounding areas.
• In the Star Trek universe, there exists a ship called the USS Rhode Island NCC-72701
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 Episode 2, one of the leprechauns says he is from Rhode Island.
• 30 Rock Season 5 Episode 3 introduces Queen Latifah as a State representative from Rhode Island, specifically mentioning Smithfield, Providence, and Brown University.
• In an episode of Phineas and Ferb, Ferb's name happens to be "Rhode Island Flecther".
• In an episode of Archer, Krieger is asked where he is from and answers "Brazistol County, Rhode Island" referring to Bristol County.
• In episode 6.13 of Supernatural, entitled "Unforgiven", Sam flashes back to a case he and his grandfather Samuel worked in Bristol, and he and Dean return there to find out what happened.
• The ABC Show Body of Proof took place in Philadelphia, but its first season was filmed in Rhode Island, mainly in Providence, with several episodes including scenes filmed at Johnson & Wales University. (Later seasons were filmed in Los Angeles.)

The origin for the show Scrubs is loosely based on Dr. Jonathan Doris' experiences as a resident in internal medicine at The Miriam Hospital, a teaching hospital at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, which served as inspiration for college friend and show creator Bill Lawrence.^[6]

Film

• Portions of the 2008 romantic comedy 27 Dresses were filmed in several locations throughout the state of Rhode Island, notably Mills Tavern in downtown Providence, Club Hell in Providence, the Beacon Diner on South County Trail and several beaches and mansions in Newport and Chepachet.
• Portions of the 2012 romantic drama Celeste and Jesse Forever were filmed in several locations throughout the state, notably on Middletown's Sachuest Bay shoreline off Tuckerman Avenue.
• The 1990 Academy Award-winning film Reversal of Fortune (Jeremy Irons - Best Actor in a Lead Role) told the true story of Claus von Bülow's trial for attempted murder against his wife, Sunny von Bülow. The events depicted in the film took place in Newport.
• The Academy Award-winning 1974 drama The Great Gatsby based on the classic American novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and starring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Bruce Dern, and Edward Herrmann was filmed in Newport, RI at the Rosecliff Mansion on Bellevue Ave.
• The critically acclaimed 2007 drama Evening, which featured an ensemble cast starring Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson, Hugh Dancy, Glenn Close, and Meryl Streep was filmed partially in Rhode Island. The film was primarily set in Newport and included large portions filmed at Gooseberry Beach.
• The 2005 romantic comedy Wedding Crashers portrays the character played by Keir O'Donnell as a future student of Rhode Island School of Design during the dinner scene.
• The 2003 independent film Getting Out of Rhode Island is set in Rhode Island.
• The 1994 film Federal Hill takes place in the eponymous neighborhood of Providence.
• The 1998 romantic drama Meet Joe Black starring Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt was filmed partially at Warwick's Aldrich Mansion.
• Most of the 2007 comedy Dan In Real Life starring Steve Carell and Dane Cook is set in Rhode Island.
• Scenes from the 1997 film Amistad were shot in Newport, Rhode Island
• The 2007 family film Underdog was filmed in Providence. Filming locations included Hope High School on the East Side of Providence. For the final theatrical cut of scenes in which Underdog flies through city streets, buildings in Providence's downcity district are combined with computer-generated buildings to create a completely original look.
• The 2009 documentary film Happy Endings?, filmed in Rhode Island, follows women in Asian massage parlors and the debate to change the prostitution laws in Rhode Island where prostitution is "legal behind closed doors".^[1]
• In 2008 the movie The Clique was filmed in Rhode Island
• Mr. North, a film based on the 1973 novel Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder, is set in 1920s Newport.

Many films by the Farrelly brothers are filmed and/or set in Rhode Island.

• 1999's Outside Providence was set in Pawtucket and filmed on the campus of the University of Rhode Island
• 1998's There's Something About Mary was partially set in Providence, Cumberland and Barrington.
• 1991's Providence was set in the eponymous city
• 1994's Dumb and Dumber and its 2003 prequel Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd are both set in Rhode Island.
• 2000's Me, Myself and Irene stars Jim Carrey as a Rhode Island state trooper with multiple personalities.
• 2011's Hall Pass starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate was set in Providence.

Literature and Gaming

• John Updike's novel The Witches of Eastwick, also made into a Jack Nicholson movie, is set in Rhode Island and its early pages include a brief, acerbic description of that State.
• Jincy Willett's acclaimed novel, Winner of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather, takes place during a Rhode Island hurricane.
• The Justice League of America's first headquarters was depicted in the comic books as being in a cave in the fictional district of Happy Harbor, in Rhode Island.
• The Providence Biltmore Hotel is the scene of a Brown University collegiate reunion in The Devil Wears Prada (novel) by Lauren Weisberger.
• The massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes is set in the fictional city of Paragon City, Rhode Island, on the state's coast overlooking the Atlantic.^[2] An expansion to the game also features another fictional Rhode Island town, Salamanca.
• The popular videogame Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is focused around the happenings in a mansion in Rhode Island.
• Caitlín R. Kiernan's dark-fantasy novel Daughter of Hounds is set primarily in Providence, but also features such other Rhode Island locales as Woonsocket and Kingston.
• Guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan has a song on his solo album named "Rhode Island Shred"
• The Eagles' song "The Last Resort", from their album Hotel California, opens with the line "She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island."
• Several books by young-adult author Edward Irving Wortis, better known by his pen name Avi, are set at least partially in Rhode Island. Something Upstairs, The Man Who Was Poe, and Newbery Honor book The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle are among these. Wortis himself lived in Providence until the mid-1990s.
• Keith Smith's autobiographical book Men in My Town is set in Rhode Island.
• Jodi Picoult's novel My Sister's Keeper was set in Rhode Island
• Many of the stories written by H.P. Lovecraft take place in Rhode Island.
• Bruce DeSilva's novels Rogue Island, Cliff Walk and Providence Rag are all set in Rhode Island.

See also

• Rhode Island
• Farrelly Brothers
• Seth MacFarlane

References