Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Short-lived TV shows made here

If Netflix's Ted Sarandos reads this...

He exploited the Prado’s architecture for a Hitchcocky tailing scene.
He exploited the Prado’s architecture for a Hitchcocky tailing scene.

Simon & Simon was a buddy detective series set in San Diego that ran for eight seasons on CBS during the ’80s. Veronica Mars put a teenage girl in a noirish milieu and managed three seasons. High Tide also made three, partly by casting heartthrob Rick Springfield. And there are more than a few San Diego detective shows that never made it past one season: Grand Slam, Coronado 9, Sarge, Harry OTerriers.

Sponsored
Sponsored

But it’s only that last one that regularly gets mentioned as revival material in the era of Peak TV. Co-creator Ted Griffin picked up the notion of a couple of down-and-outs investigating a wealthy man from the 1981 Jeff Bridges mystery Cutter’s Way. That was set in Santa Barbara; when it came time to find a home for Terriers, San Diego was cheaper. Craig Brewer, who directed the pilot (along with Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan), discovered the show’s spiritual home turf in Ocean Beach; at the time, Griffin’s knowledge of San Diego was limited to the Hotel Del, the zoo, and Del Mar. “Ocean Beach was a Bohemian, ‘Go fuck yourself, Starbucks’ neighborhood,” recalls Griffin, “which very much informed the series after the pilot.”

Once here, however, it didn’t take long for America’s Finest City to register. “We were in a building over ten stories high, shooting a scene for the pilot in an empty office space, and an airplane came in to land. It was so precariously close to the building that I stopped to look at it. That was my introduction to the San Diego airport, and that became the McGuffin for the first season” — a land-grab to build a new, less ludicrous place for planes to touch down. And when it came time to find a luxurious home for the fictional project’s developer, “we got a mansion in La Jolla, because the owner was, if not in jail, then in serious legal trouble for financial malfeasance. His wife — or maybe by that point, his ex-wife — was happy to rent out the house, just to make some cash that wasn’t getting seized by the federal government.” Naturally, the home’s views of the cove and Children’s Pool point were magnificent.

Along the way, Griffin worked with directors both nichey (John Dahl, Red Rock West) and not (Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi). “Rian got Star Wars off his episode of Terriers,” says Griffin, before continuing with, “That’s completely untrue, but let’s put it out there.”

He exploited the Prado’s architecture for a Hitchcocky tailing scene and got to pretend he ran the track at Del Mar while making a show that was “the closest of anything I’ve worked on to what I saw in my head or had in my heart. One of the few things I’ve really wanted to watch.” Season one endures on Netflix, and Griffin & Co. have raised their collective hand to say they’re willing to come back and make more. “If [Netflix CCO] Ted Sarandos reads this, I’d welcome his call.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Next Article

A poem for March by Joseph O’Brien

“March’s Lovely Asymptotes”
He exploited the Prado’s architecture for a Hitchcocky tailing scene.
He exploited the Prado’s architecture for a Hitchcocky tailing scene.

Simon & Simon was a buddy detective series set in San Diego that ran for eight seasons on CBS during the ’80s. Veronica Mars put a teenage girl in a noirish milieu and managed three seasons. High Tide also made three, partly by casting heartthrob Rick Springfield. And there are more than a few San Diego detective shows that never made it past one season: Grand Slam, Coronado 9, Sarge, Harry OTerriers.

Sponsored
Sponsored

But it’s only that last one that regularly gets mentioned as revival material in the era of Peak TV. Co-creator Ted Griffin picked up the notion of a couple of down-and-outs investigating a wealthy man from the 1981 Jeff Bridges mystery Cutter’s Way. That was set in Santa Barbara; when it came time to find a home for Terriers, San Diego was cheaper. Craig Brewer, who directed the pilot (along with Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan), discovered the show’s spiritual home turf in Ocean Beach; at the time, Griffin’s knowledge of San Diego was limited to the Hotel Del, the zoo, and Del Mar. “Ocean Beach was a Bohemian, ‘Go fuck yourself, Starbucks’ neighborhood,” recalls Griffin, “which very much informed the series after the pilot.”

Once here, however, it didn’t take long for America’s Finest City to register. “We were in a building over ten stories high, shooting a scene for the pilot in an empty office space, and an airplane came in to land. It was so precariously close to the building that I stopped to look at it. That was my introduction to the San Diego airport, and that became the McGuffin for the first season” — a land-grab to build a new, less ludicrous place for planes to touch down. And when it came time to find a luxurious home for the fictional project’s developer, “we got a mansion in La Jolla, because the owner was, if not in jail, then in serious legal trouble for financial malfeasance. His wife — or maybe by that point, his ex-wife — was happy to rent out the house, just to make some cash that wasn’t getting seized by the federal government.” Naturally, the home’s views of the cove and Children’s Pool point were magnificent.

Along the way, Griffin worked with directors both nichey (John Dahl, Red Rock West) and not (Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi). “Rian got Star Wars off his episode of Terriers,” says Griffin, before continuing with, “That’s completely untrue, but let’s put it out there.”

He exploited the Prado’s architecture for a Hitchcocky tailing scene and got to pretend he ran the track at Del Mar while making a show that was “the closest of anything I’ve worked on to what I saw in my head or had in my heart. One of the few things I’ve really wanted to watch.” Season one endures on Netflix, and Griffin & Co. have raised their collective hand to say they’re willing to come back and make more. “If [Netflix CCO] Ted Sarandos reads this, I’d welcome his call.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Hip-hop artist Don Elway makes movies for his music

Not Ordinary EP tells a story of life on the streets
Next Article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
June 25, 2018
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.