New TV show Fargo (on FX) set in Bemidji (Minneapolis: 2014, house)

[601halfdozen0theother]

Did anyone else watch this? Cool that it is supposedly set in Bemidji - or the first episode was, anyway. Some scenes were supposed to be in Duluth. The show was actually filmed in the Calgary area, though. I was wondering if some of the exteriors were shot in Duluth or Bemidji? Nothing looked familiar.

For those who watched/will watch, what do you think of the accents used? I thought that the British actor Martin Freeman was doing a William H. Macy immitation rather than a real regional accent or behavior.

I liked the show, but I can see a bunch of people from other parts of the country asking us if we really talk that way and if Minnesota is really that cold and drab.

What did the rest of you think?

[Ghengis]

we really talk that way and it's really cold here

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

we really talk that way and it's really cold here

I second that.

[golfgal]

Why wouldn't they set the location of "Fargo" in Fargo???

[slamont61]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Why wouldn't they set the location of "Fargo" in Fargo???

The original Movie was set in Brainerd but the Cohen brothers thought the name FARGO would be better than BRAINERD.

Great start to this new series. So much better than I expected. If you liked the Movie it's worth the watch. It airs again tonight at 11:21 Minnesota Time on FX.

[shotz90s]

Billy Bob is great in this show. I'm liking it more than the movie (after 1 episode LOL)

[Radical_Car]

FX’s ‘Fargo’ Premiere Delivers 2.65 Million Viewers, 1 Million Adults 18-49 - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers

[xandrex]

I definitely like the show, but I think it lacks the nuance that the movie had. The movie was all in good fun, but you could tease out some meaning to it as well. So far the TV show has been a gore fest with the humorous addition that it's located in our backyards.

I found it sort of funny that they filmed it elsewhere, but were still able to get the include landmarks in scenes like the Lift Bridge in Duluth...except put it in the complete wrong place. I suppose nobody but natives to the Duluth area would realize that though.

[Unsettomati]

Originally Posted by xandrex

I definitely like the show, but I think it lacks the nuance that the movie had. The movie was all in good fun, but you could tease out some meaning to it as well. So far the TV show has been a gore fest with the humorous addition that it's located in our backyards.

I found it sort of funny that they filmed it elsewhere, but were still able to get the include landmarks in scenes like the Lift Bridge in Duluth...except put it in the complete wrong place. I suppose nobody but natives to the Duluth area would realize that though.

That's how filming works - establishing shots. A shot of the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House to establish the setting, even though all the filming might be done in Southern California.

As for the wrong place, remember the film? The two kidnappers are driving into the Cities from the north (the Brainerd area), and one of them comments on the IDS Center and how it's one of the tallest buildings in the Midwest. But the perspective of the IDS through the windshield was clearly shot on 35W, south (not north) of downtown, just before it jogs east and parallels 94.

The shot just worked better that way and it's fiction, not a documentary.

Also, in the movie the outside shots were mostly filmed in North Dakota due to a lack of local snow-cover during an unusually early onset of spring that year. Even the statue of Paul Bunyan was filmed in North Dakota. Interestingly, neither of the only two scenes actually set in North Dakota in a filmed called Fargo (the initial meeting in Fargo between Jerry and the kidnappers, and the late scene where Jerry is arrested outside Bismarck) were filmed in NE Minneapolis and Forest Lake, respectively. But as long as the scene is plausible for its setting, it matters not where it was shot.

[Campeador]

Originally Posted by xandrex

I definitely like the show, but I think it lacks the nuance that the movie had. The movie was all in good fun, but you could tease out some meaning to it as well. So far the TV show has been a gore fest with the humorous addition that it's located in our backyards.

I found it sort of funny that they filmed it elsewhere, but were still able to get the include landmarks in scenes like the Lift Bridge in Duluth...except put it in the complete wrong place. I suppose nobody but natives to the Duluth area would realize that though.

Definitely lacking in nuance. It also lacked enough plausibility to pull me in. The "bully" was so over the top and the protagonist was also lacking in real life layers--he was depicted as so exceptionally one-dimensional (the incompetent, loser, wimp). The whole episode felt rather amateurish to me. It's too bad, I was looking forward to this show.

It did make me recall my years in Fargo though. Brrrr!