Monica Wesolowska Having a child is a life-changing event. But “having a child that is destined to die,” as Erica Jong writes in the introduction to Monica Wesolowska’s moving, lyrical memoir, Holding Silvan: A Brief Life, “must be more life changing still. How do we let go? How do we mourn?” Jong asks. In today’s […]
Parenthood
Posted inArts
‘He’s so hot’ — aka, the Tony Taccone adulation society
It seems the Artistic Director of the Berkeley Rep has something of a “following”. In fact, read the comments on a story we ran about him last week, and it becomes clear a certain group of fans is positively smitten with Tony Taccone, speaking with more than a little hyperbole of his brazen attractiveness, his warm […]
Posted inArts
Hollywood comes to Berkeley for TV show, again
Two Hacienda Heights actors make their way to the Keneuoe Vivere store on College Avenue. It isn’t only the people behind NBC series Parenthood who feel Berkeley is a choice spot to shoot a TV series. Yesterday, the Elmwood neighborhood paid host to a film crew shooting scenes for Hacienda Heights, a night-time drama (not a […]
Posted inArts
‘Parenthood’ works to up the Berkeley content
Bob Patterson yesterday came across a second unit film crew from Parenthood doing some shooting on Telegraph Avenue. Many locals have criticized the NBC series both for filming in Southern California and for representing a decidedly faux Berkeley. I wouldn’t count on a major change, but it’s nice that they’ll be interleaving some more footage […]
Posted inArts
Berkeley Girl transplanted to SoCal
Singer songwriter Harper Simon, who describes his music as “psychedelic country and rock”, has released a new video of his single, Berkeley Girl. It’s the tale of a woman from our fair city who has “the style of Paulette Goddard and a smile like Joan Fontaine”. But, just as in the television show Parenthood, Berkeley […]
Posted inArts, Community
Why isn’t more of NBC’s Parenthood filmed in Berkeley?
Every since NBC debuted its hour-long drama, Parenthood, people in Berkeley have pointed out all the ways it’s not, well, Berkeley. Complaints are many. There are too many white characters, and not enough people of color. No one is gay. There are too few Priuses in the show, and not nearly enough Peet’s Coffees. That […]
Posted inArts, Berkeleyside, Community
‘Parenthood’: Might Berkeleyside get a look-in?
I realize Parenthood has largely abandoned any attempts at credibility where its supposed Berkeley location is concerned. But how hard can it be for a production crew to get a copy of a real Bay Area newspaper on the set? On this week’s episode, character Adam is seen — very briefly — scanning the front […]
Posted inArts
Parenthood: Another season of NBC’s version of Berkeley
It still doesn’t feel completely realistic and there are occasional blunders, but NBC’s Parenthood apparently is doing well enough that it has been renewed for a second season. The show, which is set in Berkeley, stars Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepard, Erika Christensen, and Bonnie Bedelia. NBC entertainment chief Angela Bromstad […]
Posted inCommunity
How Berkeley can you be on TV?
Parenting prevented me from attending the Parenthood premiere bash held in — oops — Oakland not Berkeley. So instead of viewing the pilot with local luminaries at the beautifully restored Fox Theater in downtown Oaktown, I watched the start of the series from the comfort of my couch in a modest west Berkeley cottage. Berkeleyside […]
Posted inArts
Oakland dismayed at cut from NBC’s “Parenthood”
It turns out Oakland, not Berkeley, was the original setting for NBC’s new drama Parenthood, premiering tonight. And the lovely people of the city next door are not happy that Oakland will miss out on the prime time exposure. The lines in the pilot episode, “Berkeley is a living hell! I’m not moving there!” originally […]
Posted inArts
Berkeley is the star of new NBC drama ‘Parenthood’
“Berkeley is a living hell. I’m not moving there!” Such biting words, uttered by a malcontented teenager. But they are not real. They occur on TV. In a new drama. The city of Berkeley will get prime time exposure starting Tuesday night when NBC airs its new drama, Parenthood. It tells the story about the extended […]
