Minnesota is in the spotlight as the setting for a new national TV drama series and is actually being accurately portrayed... for once.

It's been a while since the North Star State has been the setting for a network TV show. Over the years, Minnesota has had its share of famous moments, courtesy of TV and movies, though. The classic movie filmed and set in our backyard-- Grumpy Old Men-- just celebrated its 31st anniversary over the holidays last year. As did another 90s classic, The Mighty Ducks.

There are also several classic sitcom characters that have been natives of the Bold North as well. In the 80s, the character Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls was from the fictional St. Olaf, Minnesota.

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Do you remember Brandon and Brenda Walsh from the 90's classic, Beverly Hills, 90210? The pilot noted how the whole series started when characters Jim and Cindy Walsh moved their family from Minnesota out to California.

Minnesota characters were also front and center in TV shows more recently too. If you watched the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which ran from 2005 to 2014, you already know that the character of Marshal Ericksen was a proud native of St. Cloud, Minnesota.

And now, the Fox series Doc, which premiered last month and airs Tuesday at 8 pm CST, is the latest show to be set here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. It's based on the adventures of Dr. Amy Elias, the Chief of Internal and Family Medicine at the completely fictional Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. (Sorry, Mayo Clinic!)

The show has aired a total of five episodes, and I've watched four (I haven't yet seen the latest episode that dropped on February 4, 2025.) and I have to say that, so far, it's been fairly accurate in its portrayal of our fair state.

While the show is actually shot on location in Toronto, it DOES contain the establishing shots of Minneapolis, which are used to give viewers a sense of place. I've seen both sweeping panoramic daytime and nighttime shots of the Minneapolis skyline used so far.

And a big plus in Doc's Minnesota localism column is that the characters DON'T talk with that over-the-top stereotypical "Oh, Gosh, Don'tcha Know!" Minnesota accent that other TV shows and movies set in Minnesota have used. (Looking at you, Fargo-- both the TV series and the classic Cohen Brothers movie from the 90s.)

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It also appears the Doc writing team has a Minnesota native on-staff, or someone familiar with the Bold North, who created several different local references that have been accurate to our state:

  • In Episode 4, the plot concerns the treatment of a Marine and included a reference to Fort McCoy, the US Army's Total Force Training Center near Sparta, Wisconsin.
  • In Episode 4, a conversation mentions not getting a reservation at Spoon And Stable, the downtown Minneapolis restaurant created by James Beard Award-winning chef Gavin Kaysen.
  • Also in Episode 4, a patient being treated says she's a professor at the University of Minnesota-- and the writers were familiar enough with Minnesota to call it the 'U of M.'
  • A flashback scene of a school field trip in Episode 4 shows a school bus with 'Minneapolis Public Schools' written on the side.

Doc does get a few things incorrect, however. In addition to creating the fictitious Westside Hospital, Episode 3 sees Dr. Elias travel to a warehouse in 'Dobbs, Minnesota' which is portrayed as a small town near the Twin Cities. But, there doesn't appear to be any actual city or town with that name in Minnesota.

And, in Episode 4, Dr. Elias and her ex-husband head to the museum where their son's field trip took place. The Museum is called 'The Franklin,' but again, there doesn't appear to be any actual museum in Minnesota with that name.

Overall, for a show that isn't filmed here and doesn't have any Minnesota natives in the cast, it's done a pretty good job so far portraying Minnesota. Our state does, though, have its share of famous residents, however. Keep scrolling to check them out and where they went to high school here in the Bold North!

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