The "ugly" American city that TV series are now reclaiming

BarcelonaWhen we talk about TV series and movies, New York City carries an aura of glamour that other American cities lack. This is the case with Los Angeles, which, despite being the heart of the film and television industry, always comes out worse in comparisons. In fact, browsing Reddit, it's easy to find the question, "Is Los Angeles an ugly city?" However, several series on streaming platforms are now championing the Californian city as a place where an interesting life is also possible. The latest release makes this clear in its title. And love LA [I love Los Angeles].

The HBO Max comedy, created by and starring Rachel Sennott, follows a group of friends living in the Californian city. They all have more or less creative jobs, obtained, more or less, thanks to their talents. In a metropolis where appearances are always said to be very important, the series shows the emptiness of the world of the influencers and mocks figures like the nepobabiasSennott has lived most of her life on the East Coast of the United States—she grew up in Connecticut and went to college in New York—but in the fall of 2020 she moved to Los Angeles, a city with which she has a love-hate relationship.

In an interview on Variety She explained that during her first three years in the city, she kept telling herself she would return to New York, something she ultimately never did. She admits that, despite not being a great driver—a necessary skill for surviving in Los Angeles—the city has ultimately seduced her, something she attributes to her own maturation process. "I've always had this thing where, if I'm unhappy, I think, 'I need to move and change everything.' Every time I went back to New York for work, I thought, 'This is what I have to do. I need to break up with my boyfriend and go back home and drink one—wait—and I'd drink it every night. And then I'd do it for a week, and then I'd do it for a week. I'd just be in my backyard," explains Sennott, who acknowledges that Los Angeles is the place to live if you want to make a career in show business. The actress's experience in the city is part of the series' plot, as her character, Maia, is also a girl who has traded New York for Los Angeles.

The other Los Angeles series

Meanwhile, it's airing on HBO Max And Love LAThe second season of Netflix is a hit Nobody wants this (Nobody wants this(as Netflix Spain titles it). It's a romantic comedy set in Los Angeles and starring a rabbi and an agnostic podcaster. The series, already renewed for a third season, is based on the experiences of its creator, Erin Foster, who was born in the Californian city. In this comedy, the houses are spacious and bright, and everyone dresses like they stepped out of a magazine. "We wanted the series to be almost a love letter to Los Angeles," she explained in the magazine. Beautiful House The comedy's production designer, Claire Bennett, explained that the idea was to showcase the real city, away from the tourist hotspots, which aren't always the most beautiful or interesting.

According to the show's creators, the characters' clothing also had to reflect the city's style. In this regard, costume designer Negar Ali Kline chose brands and labels born in the city, such as Reformation and Hey Gang. "We wanted to show that Los Angeles has a lot of style and is very multifaceted. The style of the East Side [of Los Angeles] is quite different from the style of the West Side, and we wanted to show a little bit of everything," she says. In fact, the series caused a garment closely linked to the city to sell out: the Casa Vega T-shirt, from one of the best-known and longest-established Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles.

Two recent series that also put Los Angeles in the spotlight are Platonic and The StudioBoth are Apple TV+ series and both star Seth Rogen. The Canadian actor, who is also the co-creator of the second show, has lived in Los Angeles for thirty years and has fiercely advocated for his television projects to be filmed in his adopted city.The Studio We wrote it in such a way that it was closely linked to the iconography of Los Angeles. One of the series' major inspirations was the documentary Los Angeles plays itself (2003), which captures all the history and grandeur of the architecture throughout the ages. It's one of the best historical views of the city. While making the series, we very deliberately tried to capture what we find beautiful about the city,” Rogen argued at a promotional event.

But if there's one series deeply connected to Los Angeles, it's InsecureThe series, which aired between 2016 and 2021 on HBO Max, starred and was co-created by Issa Rae. It depicted the lives of the African American community in the Californian city. Raised in South Los Angeles, the screenwriter wanted to show a different side of this area, which cinema has traditionally associated with violence. "I want to do the same thing Woody Allen has done for the representation of New York; I want to be the Woody Allen of Los Angeles, and specifically of South Los Angeles," she explained in an interview. Los Angeles Times.