Question for the day: Why do all of the "Wisconsin" sitcoms have so many Italian characters?

Think about it: Happy days had the Fonz, Pinky Tuscadaro, some guys named "Malachi" (They were in the demolition derby episode" ( can't remember the characters last name) Luverne and Shirley had Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa (maybe a couple of others too. Hell even "That '70s Show" had the Pinciottis.

Not that they aren't ANY Italians in the upper midwest--I went to high school with one--his last name was Grossman!

Now, I don't want to suggest that the people who created these shows mis-spelled "New York" as "Milwaukee," but why else would Luverne and Shirley sing in Yiddish on their way to work?

A related topic for later discussion--why is there such a concentration of sitcoms in Wisconsin (and if you add in Mary Tyler Moore in MN) the Upper Midwest in general?

were German. Maybe the Germans don't make for good tv??

My theory is "Who wants to waste time doing research for a silly sitcom." By extension they show's creators either went with stock characters that they grew up with, OR went with stock characters they were familiar with from other TV shows and movies.

There aren't as many people here of Italian descent as German or Polish, but they were one of the major European immigrant groups. Also, at one time Milwaukee was one of the major centers of Yiddish culture and theater in the US. So, Laverne and Shirley may well have known some Yiddish words or songs.

It would make a lot of sense to have Italians on Happy Days. Plenty of Italian immigrants came to Milwaukee. They were'nt as prevalent as the Polish, Irish, and Germans, but they were there.

And Laverne and Shirley sining in Yiddish? Milwaukee had a significant Jewish population in the early 20th Century. The world-famous Settlement Cookbook? Originally put out by the Milwaukee Jewish community.

As for sitcoms set in Wisconsin? There aren't that many. I can only think of four off the top of my head. That 70s Show, (Fictional town of Point Place) Laverne and Shirley,(Milwaukee, eventually moved to Los Angeles) Happy Days, (Milwaukee) and Step By Step (Port Washington).

of at least one Milwaukee Jew: Prime Minister Goulda Mier. Her family settled there when she was a child.

They send Francis to Georgia and it's an eight hour drive to see him and they definitely don't live on the coast or in the south.

And it's high time all you coastal types figured that out. :)

Minimizing the intelligence of the "flyover states", yet maximizing their importance as to "what those people will watch" isn't just a random stereotyping of entertainment execs, that's for sure.

I always got a kick out of one X-Files episode that was set in Buffalo. The main detective working with Mulder and Scully had a thick, THICK NYC accent. Er...you're about 400 miles too far northwest for that--! :banghead:

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