TV Show Filming Locations from the Sky

Check out this beautiful aerial video of one of the best-known waterfalls in Hawaii, compliments of contributor and drone pilot pnoymavic30.  It's located near Lihue on the eastern end of the island of Kauai, the "Garden Island" of the Hawaiian archipelago.  The plunge-type waterfall has a total height of 26 meters (84 ft.) through two drops.  The falls, which feeds into Wailua River, appeared in the opening credits of one of the top-rated  television series of the 1980's: Fantasy Island.

The quaint seaside town of Monterey, California is one of America's most beautiful spots.  Situated on a prominent peninsula about 120 miles south of San Francisco, it was immortalized in John Steinbeck's classic 1940's novel Cannery Row.  Fast-forward several decades, and Monterey hit it big again as the location for HBO's popular TV series Big Little Lies.  In this drone video by caldroneflyer, you'll get a bird's eye view of the town, including the "real" Cannery Row, the Aquarium, and Lover's Point Park. 

The HBO hit show Westworld has inspired many creatives, including drone pilot Victor Metron who took his drone to Utah and Hawaii to create this short film. Westworld is about a futuristic park that is created for rich vacationers. The park is looked after by robotic “hosts,” that allow visitors to live out their fantasies through artificial consciousness. Hence the white robot featured throughout. Filled with time lapses and incredible landscape shots, it’s a drone video you just have to watch. This video was a DVOW nominee in June, 2019.

Minneapolis, Minnesota got got a huge boost to its national stature when it became the setting for a hit TV program called the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Broadcast on CBS from 1970 to 1977, the pathbreaking comedy depicted the life of a TV news producer named Mary Richards.  In 1999, Entertainment Weekly ranked the show's opening sequence as the second most iconic in the history of television.  In this drone video by gopherdrone, you'll see some of the spots shown in that memorable 60 second introduction.

San Juan del Sur is one of the main beach towns on the Pacific Ocean (western) side of the Central American nation of Nicaragua.  Once driven by fishing, it's been one of the prime beneficiaries of the increase in tourist traffic to Nicaragua in recent years (a phenomenon which has, often as not, been driven by surfers).  San Juan del Sur is also the home of what is perhaps the country's most well known landmark (the giant Christ of the Mercy statue) and has hosted the Survivor reality TV series.

Check out this awesome aerial video of Québec City, compliments of Qfsaviation and his DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone.  The province's capital city is set on the banks of the mighty St. Lawrence River.  At the 1:00 mark in the video you'll get an epic bird's eye view of  Château Frontenac, the city's most visible landmark.  Completed in 1893, the hotel was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway, it's one of the country's grand railway hotels.  The hotel was a filming location for Season 5 of the TV show the Bachelor.  

The California Institute of Technology (known informally as Caltech) is one of the world's most well-regarded research universities. It's situated in Pasadena, northeast of downtown Los Angeles.  As of late 2018, the school's alumni and faculty include an incredible 73 Nobel laureates.  While Caltech has historically kept a fairly low profile, its appearance on the hit comedy Big Bang TV series has elevated awareness of the school.  You can see the Caltech campus from above in this video by Mavictraveler.   

LKDWN created this beautiful drone video of a once-obscure shallow valley in Scotland.  Finnich Glen is located on the outskirts of Glasgow.  It's about 35 meters (100 ft.) deep, with walls covered in moss.  Glen Fiddich has recently seen greater attention for having joind the long list of Scottish locations which have been used to film TV shows and movies.  Glennich Finn was a primary location for the 2011 film Eagle starring Donald Sutherland and has also been used in the Outlander TV series.  

If you have seen HBO's Game of Thrones, you've likely seen the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río; this castle in southern Spain was the shooting location for Highgarden, seat of the house of Tryell, in the show's seventh season.  The 8th century Moorish (Muslim) castle is situated in the province of Cordoba, part of Spain's semi-autonomous Andalusia region.  In this video, contributor Eminorcks gives us an epic bird's eye view of this castle, which was an important center of rule during Spain's period under Islam.

Portland, Oregon has become something of a hipster-magnet in no small part due to the hit TV show Portlandia.   Created by and starred by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, the show ran for eight seasons on the IFC cable network beginning in 2011.  The show was a favorite among GenX'ers, and its use of quirky characters to show off a quirky city helped the already-hip city go from strength to strength.  For those who already miss the show, this short piece by mcQ shot from Portland will bring back fond memories.  

Contributor and drone pilot EdDrone created this beautiful aerial video of Point Dume near Malibu, California.  The point is a peninsula which sticks southward into the Pacific Ocean, and which defines the western extent of Santa Monica Bay.  In addition to being a filming scene for the movie the Planet of the Apes, Point Dume occupies a place in television history: this was the spot where an astronaut named Tony Nelson encountered something magical in the pilot of the hit 60's TV show I Dream of Jeannie. 

Bumble Bee Productions created this excellent aerial tour of Wilmington, North Carolina, the principal port of the Tar Heel State.  Situated in the southeastern part of the state, the city will forever be associated with two cultural phenomena: (1) National Basketball Association mega-star Michael Jordan, who grew up here before heading to the University of North Carolina, and (2) the WB Network's hit TV show Dawson's Creek, in which Wilmington stood in for the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts.  

Inspirecornwall created this drone video of a well-known landmark in southern England.  It's called the Wheal Coates Blow Hole, and it's an unusual rock formation in the southwestern county of Cornwall.  It's located next to the Wheal Coates mine, which was once one of the most important tin mines in the world during the 19th century.  The area appears in the British TV series Poldark, which is based on the novels of Winston Graham.  The blowhole and mine are now protected under the UK's National Trust.  

The Santa Monica Pier is one of the most recognized landmarks of Southern California.  Opened in 1909 with no amenities, by the 1920's it was one of the most popular getaway spots from nearby Los Angeles.  In addition to appearing as a filming location in numerous movies, the pier was used for the opening credits of Three's Company, one of the most popular TV shows of the 1970's.  Check out this drone video of the famous pier, compliments of Bumble Bee Productions.

The Thetford Forest is one of the legendary woods of England.  It's located in the East Anglia region, covering portions of Counties Norfolk and Suffolk.  The forest covers about 200 square km (around 75 square mi.) and is the largest pine forest in the UK.  The area was set aside for preservation after (the timber-devouring) World War I.  The forest has held a number of legendary concerts, and it was used as a filming location for the wildly popular Dad's Army TV series in the late 1960's and 1970's.