Tag Archives: TV

Seattle Film Commission’s goal: more Love is Blind, 10 Things I Hate about You, and Singles in the city

Posted on by

Gasp! Clooney shot his UW-set Boys in the Boat in the UK… not Seattle

This spring brought cameras to Capitol Hill as a new season of the Love is Blind reality show filmed episodes in the neighborhood.

More drama could be coming.

Seattle is set to create a new commission to help attract new film, television, commercial, and streaming projects in the city.

The Seattle City Council this week signed off on a plan championed by citywide representative Sara Nelson to create a new 11-member Seattle Film Commission charged with helping make the city a more attractive setting for diverse and equity-focused productions: Continue reading →

Looking for love on Capitol Hill, Seattle season of Love is Blind reality show has been busy in neighborhood

Posted on by

Thanks to a CHS reader for the pictures

No spoilers but reality show Love is Blind has been busy producing a new season in Seattle with frequent sightings of the crew and contestants and takeovers of Capitol Hill venues.

Last weekend, the crew followed a couple around on the streets and inside northern Broadway’s self-pour wine and beer cafe Rapport. The production also tied up E Pine’s Fogon for a recent day of shooting.

The show’s premise seems likely to inject equal parts romance and cringe into Capitol Hill’s already hot and bothered dating scene. The Netflix series follows 15 men and 15 women who meet in the show’s custom “pods” — “where they can talk to each other through a speaker but not see each other,” Wikipedia reports — until someone pops the question and they get to meet. At that point, presumably, the show helps us collectively experience the triumph of love over beauty… right? Continue reading →

Top Chef Capitol Hill

Posted on by

Chef Shota Nakajima is reemerging from the pandemic without his Capitol Hill restaurants — Adana has closed permanently at 15th and Pine while E Pike while his Taku bar on E Pike which opened only days before the first lockdowns of the pandemic in 2020 is also currently temporarily shuttered — but with his positivity intact and a shot at reality TV stardom.

Top Chef returns for its 18th season in April with a season shot in Portland and Nakajima on hand to fight for the title on his home Pacific Northwest Turf:

“This season will welcome 15 new cheftestants vying for the coveted title of Top Chef in picturesque Portland, Oregon,” the hype begins. “These executive chefs and restaurant owners from all across the country each bring a unique set of skills and a diverse culinary point-of-view to the competition.” Continue reading →

CHS Pics | The Capitol Hill Friends couch will still be there for you

Posted on by

No complaining! You deserved that headline! (Image: Ada’s Discovery Cafe)

Hundreds of otherwise likable people lined up on E Thomas last Sunday for a few selfie-filled seconds on the couch from Friends.

Why was this particular orange couch in the middle of a Capitol Hill street so popular when so many others go unloved? CHS reported here on the nostalgia-rich marketing underway for the show’s 25th anniversary at The Lounge by AT&T project that has temporarily converted Ada’s Discover Cafe into the onetime hit sitcom and now top-streamer’s Central Perk.  Continue reading →

In a temporary tribute to Friends, Seattle now has a Central Perk coffee house on Capitol Hill

Posted on by

Thanks to a CHS reader for the pictures!

With big brands joining the carnival of all things weird and wonderful about Broadway and Capitol Hill, there are moments when it is gets harder and harder to believe your eyes. For example, this morning along E Thomas just off Broadway, you will now find the Central Perk coffee house and the famous orange couch that was a central setting for the ultimate saccharine sitcom of the 90s — Friends.

In a promotion for the 25th anniversary of the show’s first episode in what would become a decade-long run of pre-streaming cultural dominance, a work crew spent Monday night transforming The Lounge by AT&T and its Ada’s Discovery Cafe into “a full-size replica of the famous Friends’ coffee shop” that will reportedly be in place for “months.”

“Designed to capture the excitement and nostalgia of the show’s milestone anniversary celebration, visitors will be immediately immersed in a world they had only ever seen through their screens,” AT&T promises. Continue reading →

The Real World ends production on Capitol Hill for show’s 32nd season

Posted on by
Cq9hmIiUkAAa08u

(Image: @mtvchallenge28 via Twitter)

The time has come for the Real World cast and crew to pack up and bid farewell to Capitol Hill. Filming has wrapped for the 32nd season of the reality TV show that will feature a group of strangers living and partying on Capitol Hill, according to fan sites tracking the production.

18 years after the first season in Seattle, Real World producers staked out a new set in the 12th Ave Ballou Wright building between Pike and Pine. The office space-turned-Real World house was previously occupied by digital design firm Creature, which filed for bankruptcy shortly after leaving the space in May.MTV representatives have not returned calls on the status of the production. A representative for building owner Hunters Capital told CHS the space will likely be put back into use as an office. The show’s production company leased the space through September.

Continue reading →

Design firm files for bankruptcy after leasing Capitol Hill office to The Real World

Posted on by

The Ballou Wright building on 12th Ave. (Image: Hunters Capital via Facebook)

The Ballou Wright building on 12th Ave. (Image: Hunters Capital via Facebook)

Facing around $2.6 million in debt, a Seattle digital design firm has filed for bankruptcy shortly after renting its 12th Ave office to serve as the reality TV home for the cast of The Real World.

According to documents filed in federal bankruptcy court, Creature owes money to 50-100 creditors, most of which are other media companies. ESPN Magazine, AOL, and Vox Media are each owed more than $100,000, according to Creature’s filings. Creature reported $8.6 million in gross revenue for 2015 and currently has $600,000 in assets.
Continue reading →

MTV asks Capitol Hill business owners to sign Real World filming agreements

Posted on by
Third season "star" and arguably part of the disturbing reason the show continues to be made Puck and MTV have aged (Image: CHS)

Third season “star” Puck and MTV have aged. We don’t know what the new cast looks like but we guarantee they look better than Puck. (Image: MTV)

As filming for the 32nd season of MTV’s The Real World has begun, several businesses near the show’s set on 12th Ave in the Ballou Wright building have already been asked to sign filming agreements. Some are hesitant.

Eltana owner Stephen Brown was approached with a contract, and said turning MTV’s request for filming down flat was an “easy call.” Brown threw out the filming contract, which he said was a one-sided deal.

“Even if it was fair we would not do it,” said Brown, describing the show as dumb, unpopular, disruptive, and off-brand. Eltana has no current plans to ban participants, however. Brown said Eltana “will let anyone in who is a customer and not disruptive.” Continue reading →

This design agency is renting out its Capitol Hill office to The Real World

Posted on by

The_Real_World,_SeattleMTV’s The Real World is returning to Seattle for its 32nd season with a new home on Capitol Hill. Producers for the reality show have already started building out the set at the 12th Ave Ballou Wright building between Pike and Pine.

The camera-saturated living quarters for a cast of 20-somethings will be inside a space recently vacated by the tech-savvy creative agency Creature. The company began subleasing the space to the show’s producers last month and has since moved its 15-member staff to a coworking space in Pioneer Square. Continue reading →

Washington’s Most Wanted? Show on hunt for Capitol Hill tagger

Posted on by

LOLCAM 20141006_005100_2 (2)The TV program Washington’s Most Wanted is leading the hunt for this Boylston Ave tagging suspect caught on surveillance video early Monday morning:

Justin Christie was in bed when the motion sensor on his surveillance camera set off an alert on his phone.

“As soon as I saw it, I jumped to the door and wanted to scare him away at least, but by the time the alert came through, he had already finished; he was pretty quick,” said Christie.

What the suspect left behind will cost the Home Owners Association between $300 and $500 to remove.

“I respect street art. I don’t think this is street art,” said Christie.

The video was provided to police who passed it on to the show’s producer who, in turn, shared it with us. The producer tells us police are looking for tips to help identify the tagging bandit. “[T]he tagging subculture responsible for millions of dollars in damage every year,” the show reports. You can call 1-800-222-TIPS with information or SPD directly at (206) 625-5011.