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Filming Necessary Roughness; on location in Atlanta

Matt Rodriguez — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:30:07 +0000

Atlanta, GA is home to the typical types of sports teams. The Braves run the bases at Tuner Field, the Hawks shoot baskets at Phillips Arena, and the Falcons score touchdowns at the Georgia Dome. What you may not know is that another sports teams calls the Dome home; the New York Hawks, who coincidentally share the same name as the basketball team. If you haven't heard of them, they're the fictional football team at the center of USA Network's television drama series Necessary Roughness.

Starring Callie Thorne as therapist Dr. "Dani" Santino for the Hawks, Necessary Roughness films across various locations in Atlanta, including the Georgia Dome and Clark Atlanta University. Season 2 of the show will showcase more of the “New York” of the south, something that made perfect sense to producers when deciding on a location for filming.

“If you take photographs of Buckhead or Brookhaven here in Atlanta, it looks remarkably similar to all kinds of places along Long Island,” says Executive Producer Kevin Dowling. “When we looked for Dani’s house I had photographs of several places near Manhasset of Long Island and there were whole neighborhoods that you could have just transplanted, you know, a couple of different trees here and there. You know southern trees as opposed to northern, but the basic feel of the neighborhood and the basic visuals were really the same.”

Getting the neighborhoods right was important because one of the story arcs of season two involves troubled star wide receiver Terrence King, who now goes by K.T. this season instead of last season's T.K., returning to his old family's neighborhood in Newark. It was a difficult task finding the right decrepit look because Atlanta has been busy in reconstructing its buildings and streets, but the scouting crew managed to find a place.

“We went down to the Auburn Street area right near the highway where there are things still pretty old style, you know, early 20th century buildings that have maybe not been kept up all that well, and we used that area and then our art department which is brilliant has done some great things,” says Dowling. “They had to create an old hot dog place that TK went to and they truly recreated something that looked like it was out of the 1960's in Newark and hasn’t been changed since, and that’s funny because again in Atlanta it’s a newer city that’s been revitalized entirely and we had to build that.”

The suburbs aren't the only locations in Atlanta viewers will see, though. Once again, the Georgia Dome returns as the official playing field for the Hawks. Filming there has been an incredible opportunity and something that wouldn't have been possible in New York. “I think it would have been much harder in the New York area to do, to do that not only to mention that here you have the dome and when it rains you can still keep filming and a giant stadium, that wouldn’t have been possible,” says Dowling.

Being able to film inside a covered stadium is important, not only because of rain but the sweltering Atlanta heat as well. If you've spent a summer in Atlanta, you know just how hot the days can become. Unfortunately, Clark Atlanta University – the practice field of the New York Hawks – doesn't have the same cool conditions as the stadium. Heat temperatures can reach in excess of 100 degrees on some days and while the production crew is well prepared with water, fans, and tents, heat exhaustion is still prevalent, as evident from last season.

“We’re not going to be at Clark Atlanta for the last three, four weeks because we almost lost a few, in fact, last year when we did the golf episode, we lost eight crew members that day,” says Dowling. “Two to the hospital and six to the medic. And it wasn’t because we weren’t prepared. I mean we had Gatorade, so much Gatorade we looked like a commercial. We were out in the open on a golf course for 14 hours, so. We’re going to try not to repeat that one this year. As dramatic as it was uh we’re going to try not to lose anybody this year. We have cooling tents, we have all kinds of things and we have double medics this year.”

Judging from all the good things said about Atlanta so far, I think it's safe to say that the heat tradeoff is worth it. Necessary Roughness will be in Atlanta, filming through August for the second season, which has its season premiere on Wednesday, June 6th on USA Network at 10pm.

Check out the images from Shakefire's visit to the set of Necessary Roughness below!

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Necessary Roughness

USA Network

Callie Thorne

Mehcad Brooks

Kevin Dowling

Necessary Roughness

Matt Rodriguez — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:52:24 +0000

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(Set Shots Images)

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Necessary Roughness

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Suits: Season One

AJ Garcia — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:16:44 +0000

USA’s Suits is a show about two men, one a powerful attorney and the other a criminal. One day their paths cross and by some uncanny show of luck the lawyer, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht; The Spirit, Love and Other Drugs), hires said criminal, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams; LOST), to be his assistant. The truth is, even though Ross doesn’t exactly have a law degree to practice law, his mind is exceptional. The only real way to provide you with an accurate level of how exceptional would be to compare Suits to the film Catch Me If You Can (you’ll be thinking it anyway for the first couple of episodes). So will Specter’s gamble pay off or will Ross find himself in deep water, unable to take the pressure and prove useless as an assistant?

Take one look at the cover of the DVD release. There’s not much to it. You’d be surprised though, as I was, how rich the show actually is. Not only is it about an attorney and his criminal aid but there is office romances, intriguing questions, rivalries, run ins with the criminal world. Harvey Specter is a win at all costs power hitter and Mike Ross is a good hearted criminal and it’s entertaining to see them pull one another across each others spectrums. Can Harvey make Mike a no holds barred lawman who will win at all costs or will Mike bring out the humanity in Harvey and get him to care just one iota about the people he is representing rather then the cases?

Another cool aspect about the show is that it feels like there’s never really a star. Any episode can be a Mike episode or a Harvey episode or Jessica episode (she’s Harvey’s boss and owns the law firm he works at). Hell it can be a Louis episode as well (he’s Harvey’s rival at the law firm and reminds me of a weird looking Snape). Regardless of the fact that the show just seems to roll out with perfectly smooth enjoyment it’s never disappointing. The show has pop culture humor like Psyche, funny professional lingo like Royal Pains, and a bit of a criminal edge similar to White Collar. It’s a little bit of everything USA including the networks ability to offer up some great TV. Well worth picking up.

Bonus features include deleted scenes which can be accessed in the episode guide or the bonus features section, commentary tracks, Gag Reel, Alternate Premiere. You are also given a digital copy of the show via code through Ultraviolet.

Review:

TV on DVD

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Grade:

4.38

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comedy

drama

Lawyers / Legal Issues

Suits

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Gabriel Macht

Rick Hoffman

Patrick J. Adams

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Gabriel Macht

Rick Hoffman

Patrick J. Adams

Suits Season 1

AJ Garcia — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:16:44 +0000

Suits

Season: 1

Starring:

Gabriel Macht,

Rick Hoffman,

Patrick J. Adams

On DVD:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Discs:

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USA Network,

comedy,

drama,

Lawyers / Legal Issues

Suits

AJ Garcia — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:16:44 +0000

Suits

On DVD:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Starring:

Studio(s):

Genre:

Comedy,

Drama

Running Time:

702 Minutes

Discs:

Official Website

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USA Network,

comedy,

drama,

Lawyers / Legal Issues

USA Network Orders Two Comedy Pilots

Peter Oberth — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:00:00 +0000

USA Network is expanding its original programming with two comedy pilot pickups.

The top cable network has greenlit the following cast-contingent projects: the untitled Douglas McGrath project with Nathan Lane and Paging Dr. Freed.

The untitled McGrath project, previously known as On We Go, is a half-hour single-camera comedy about an unlucky actor whose Broadway dreams are put on hold when he returns to Texas when his father's health takes a turn for the worse. Two-time Emmy winner Lane is in negotiations to star in the project and will serve as an executive producer, along with McGrath, who will write for the Universal Cable Productions project.

Staying in the half-hour realm, Paging Dr. Freed is a comedy about two brothers who take over their father's medical practice after he suddenly dies. The Fox 21 project will be executive produced by Michael Feldman (That's So Raven, Everybody Loves Raymond), who will write. Unhitched's Katy McCaffrey and Brad Johnson (Clueless) will also executive produce.

“The pick-up of these half-hour comedy pilots underscores our commitment to broadening the appeal of USA’s entertainment brand,” said McCumber and Wachtel. "We're excited to be collaborating with some of the most distinct voices in the business as we open up to new genres.”

In its effort to enter the comedy space, the network will begin airing Modern Family repeats beginning fall 2013.

USA is coming off one of its busiest and most successful summer slates, with seven original scripted series airing at one point in time. It recently renewed rookie lawyer series Suits for a second season and picked up the Michael Ealy drama Common Law.

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