Map of TV reality shows and filming locations in Louisiana ... see larger map below on this page |
Louisiana is a popular setting for the movie industry, and several hit reality TV shows on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E, CMT, and other cable networks.
The Bayou State has become an exciting location featuring a diversity of towns and subjects for reality television for three main reasons: 1) tax credits and incentives, 2) mild year-round weather, and 3) interesting, likable, real-world characters.
According to a report prepared by the Louisiana Office of Entertainment Industry Development, Louisiana has had five consecutive years of economic growth in the film and music industry. The report also recognizes Louisiana as ranked third in film and television production nationwide behind only California and New York. See map of Louisiana below showing TV show filming locations in Louisiana cities
 The Louisiana Alligator
(courtesy of the Louisiana Office of Tourism) |
Currently over 2,000 licensed alligator hunters harvest 30,000 to 35,000 wild alligators annually in Louisiana!
Today, the story of alligator hunting in Louisiana is being told on the TV series "Swamp People" on the History Channel. Swamp People debuted on August 22, 2010, and has become a runaway hit ever since, with the third season beginning in the spring of 2012.
Various segments of "Swamp People" are filmed around South Louisiana, including Bayou Sorrel, Pecan Island, Bayou Pigeon, Pierre part, Morgan City, Houma and other locales.
Several of the alligator hunters have become celebrities, including Troy and Jacob Landry, Elizabeth Cavalier Choate, Bruce Mitchell, Junior Edwards, Kristi Broussard, R.J. Molinere and Jay Paul Molinere, Joe LaFont and Tommy Chauvin, and others.
"Choot 'em" is a phrase heard often on Swamp People, voiced by gator hunter Troy Landry of Pierre Part, a small community in the swamp close to the cities of Donaldsonville and Thibodaux, and Lake Verret. To learn more, visit Troy Landry's website at ChootEm.com
Read more about Swamp People
On January 21, 2012, CMT launched the new show "Bayou Billionaires," meant for everyone who has ever dreamed of striking it rich overnight. The show focuses on the Dowden family of Shreveport who struck it rich from oil money from the Haynesville Shale natural gas play in northwest Louisiana.
The Dowdens' home sits right on top of this huge deposit of natural gas. They live on 80 acres of land off Fly Low Lane near the small town of Frierson, located south of Shreveport, off I-40 between Stonewall and Caspiana in DeSoto Parish.
The show features several members of the Dowden family, including the dad, Gerald Dowden and his wife Kitten. Also appearing are daughter Valerie, daughter Chantel and her live-in boyfriend Albert, son Gerald Jr. and his wife Peggy, and the youngest son Thomas.
Read more about Bayou Billionaires
CMT also launched another new series in January of 2012, "My Big Redneck Vacation," featuring several North Louisiana families. The script portrays a countrified, loud-mouthed family from Louisiana as they move into a $4 million home in the Hamptons of New York. Episodes include polo lessons, wine-tasting, and a wedding.
The families in the show are from the small town of Keachi, Louisiana, just southwest of Shreveport, and near Keithville and Stonewall. Cast members include couples Chris & Aimee Pitts, Doug & Wendy, Jared & Michelle, Tommy & Tammy, and other members of their families.
Read more about My Big Redneck Vacation
Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry Center on Lee Street in Alexandria Louisiana, site of the filming of the History Channel's Cajun Pawn Stars |
The new "Cajun Pawn Stars" series on the History Channel is being filmed in Alexandria at the Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry Center, and debuted on January 8, 2012.
"Cajun Pawn Stars" features Alexandria's Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry Center, and its owner Jimmie DeRamus and his family-owned business. Jimmie, also known as "Big Daddy", is joined on the show by his daughter Tammie and his younger brother Johnnie.
Several employees of the store are also featured on screen, including Louisiana bayou pawn brokers Robby Friend, Walt Piper, Tina Journet, and Fred "Yankee" Howell.
Fourteen 30-minute episodes of Cajun Pawn Stars have been ordered.
Read more about Cajun Pawn Stars
A&E Network has announced a new TV showed called "Duck Dynasty", premiered on March 21, 2012. The show features the Robertsons, a Louisiana bayou family living the American dream as they operate a thriving business while staying true to their family values and lifestyle.
A homegrown mom-and-pop operation, Duck Commander has become a sporting empire by manufacturing high quality duck calls and duck decoys out of salvaged swamp wood.
The company dates back to the 1970s, and is located in West Monroe, Louisiana.
The Robertson family has been in production for the new show almost constantly for the past four months, shooting at locations throughout Ouachita Parish.
This new multimillionaire family is kept in line by business-savvy Willie, who runs Duck Commander with the help of his brother Jase, their respective wives Korie and Missy, patriarch and founder of the company, Phil, and uncle Si. Together they run a booming business that employs half their neighborhood, but at the end of the day, you can find the whole family around matriarch Miss Kay's dinner table.
Read more about Duck Dynasty on this website, see links, videos at A&E
Baton Rouge ... site of the Sons of Guns TV Series on the Discovery Channel
(photograph by the author) |
Our former hometown Baton Rouge has received national attention as the locale of Red Jacket Firearms, the Baton Rouge business that is the subject of the exciting hit TV show Sons of Guns on the Discovery Channel.
The TV series centers on Red Jacket Firearms which builds and sells custom weapons such as the AK-47, and also deals in classic and historic weaponry as well.
Will Hayden is the founder and owner of the shop, and his daughter Stephanie Hayden manages the office as Business Manager. Will, a native of Baton Rouge, has been building weapons since the age of 17.
Read more about Sons of Guns
The Hotel Bentley in Alexandria was featured in the SyFy Channel's reality show Ghost Hunters TV series in February 2011.
 The Hotel Bentley in Alexandria ... haunted by ghosts, or not?
(photograph by the author) |
The first episode (701) of Season 7 of SyFy was entitled "Haunted Town", and featured several locations in Alexandria that were rumored to be haunted. As leaders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), stars in the TV series help those with questions about paranormal phenomena and ghost hunting.
This episode focuses on the Bentley and two other downtown Alexandria buildings where paranormal activities have been reported. Once the TAPS investigation is completed and the paranormal experiences captured, the reveal is presented in this episode of Ghost Hunters.
Also featured in the SyFy series was the Diamond Grill now located in the former C.A. Schnack Jewelry building on Third Street, and Finnegan’s Wake Pub.
Read more about ghosts in Alexandria and the Hotel Bentley
"Billy the Exterminator", the TV series, airs on the A&E Network, and showcases the life and work of Billy Bretherton, an expert in the field of pest control and the proprietor of Vexcon Animal and Pest Control in Benton, Louisiana, located in the Shreveport and Bossier City area.
Billy is a former Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Sergeant, where he gained his initial training in pest control. Today, he has nearly two decades of experience in pest management. Billy also spent two years studying entomology and advanced pest control at Purdue University, and is a certified master in termite control from Louisiana State University (LSU).
Read more about Billy the Exterminator
The cable reality TV series "Ragin Cajuns" debuts on the Discovery Channel on January 17. Working out of Venice, Louisiana, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, a group of bayou fishermen are ready to take on the 3-month long white shrimp season. After dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and then the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the shrimp boats and their crews are struggling for existence.
Other new shows are either planned or are now filming in Louisiana, including "Cajun Blue" which is scheduled to debut on the A&E Network in the April-June 2012 timeframe. Filmed in Terrebonne Parish, the show will feature Terrebonne Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois Jr. and his deputies.
The show, according to the cable network, is a “real-life series” in which Terrebonne sheriff’s deputies cover “2,000 square miles of Louisiana swampland as they investigate thousands of violent crimes every year in the creepy, eerie bayou."
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