Film and television notables have been lobbying the administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to retain the tax credit for production companies. Everyone thinks that New Jersey, which is bleeding deficits, will eliminate the film and television production credits, which Christie recommended suspending. Of course they should be eliminated because they represent stupid tax policy and the state needs the money. Someone told me that Jack Nicholson, Bruce Willis, and Danny DeVito were all from New Jersey. But I don't think the tax credits had anything to do with where those actors were born. Representatives of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit were among those lobbying. That's odd because the show takes place in New York City. It's still a pretty good show, despite dealing with very depressing subject matter.

But lots of stuff was filmed in New Jersey. The Sopranos was filmed there, appropriately, because Tony was the boss of New Jersey. The Sopranos might be the greatest television show ever made. The Wrestler, a much underrated movie starring not-quite-washed-up Mickey Rourke, was filmed in Bayonne and Elizabeth. The movie is about an aging professional wrestler with heart problems and a bad back, who does a lot of drugs and dates a stripper. Julie & Julia, a movie about Julia Child, was filmed in the state. Child was six feet three inches tall and played basketball at Smith College. That's just some trivia, compliments of Wikipedia. She was also married to Stanley Tucci, at least in the movie.

Of course, some classics were filmed in New Jersey as well. Coneheads was filmed in Paramus. That movie has one of the greatest all-star casts since The Longest Day (which wasn't filmed in New Jersey). Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld), Michael Richards (also from Seinfeld), Sinbad, Adam Sandler (who sang the lovable Hanukkah songs), Chris Farley, Parker Posey, Tom Arnold, Jon Lovitz, and Ellen DeGeneres are all in Coneheads. It might be worth the bad tax policy to get all those folks in your state.

One more note: The original Friday the 13th with Kevin Bacon was filmed in New Jersey.