There has been a wide range of films and TV series that have been shot in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Parts of the eighth episode "Business Trip" from the fifth season were set in Winnipeg.The NBC comedy is filmed in Los Angeles and due to their schedule/budget did not film scenes in Winnipeg. Though the series had shot scenes in New York City, they never left California for this episode. The episode did not call for any Winnipeg-specific locales. Los Angeles International Airport filled in for Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. A downtown hotel and bar in the Financial District were the other two settings. Characters Michael Scott, Oscar Martinez, and Andy Bernard visited Winnipeg in November. Michael was the only Dunder-Mifflin Regional Manager willing to visit Winnipeg in November. Andy was brought along mainly for being able to speak French, while Oscar is an accountant. They were there on a sales call to sell paper. While in Winnipeg, Oscar and Andy get drunk at a bar and become friends after limited interactions back at the office. Michael, with some help from Andy, hooks up with the hotel concierge at a bar. They go back to her room at the hotel. After having sex, Michael is kicked out of the room. The next day the three go to the sales meeting and secure the client for two years. However, Michael did not enjoy this stay in Winnipeg as it was not the "international" location he envisioned it to be and was still upset about his girlfriend being transferred in an earlier episode.
Destination Winnipeg sent the show Winnipeg items such as Old Dutch chips and Fort Garry Brewing Company beer bottles. The budget also limited the amount of fake snow used in the episode. Writer Brent Forrester explained in a CBC News interview that, "It seemed like Montreal was maybe too exotic and Vancouver also a little maybe too conventionally sexy, and Winnipeg seemed to strike the right balance between exotic and obscure."[1] Surprisingly, there was only one brief joke at the expense of Winnipeg, about traveling there in November. Canadian writer Anthony Farrell ensured the script was not filled with Canadian stereotypes.[2]
For the show’s 16th season, parts of the sixth episode, "Midnight Rx," took place in Winnipeg. The episode dealt with Homer Simpson and his dad traveling to Winnipeg to obtain cheap prescription drugs and smuggle them into the States. They become heroes back in Springfield, USA when they brought the cheap prescription drugs. Ned Flanders and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon later join the Simpson men on another trip to Winnipeg. Ned encounters a Winnipegger who talks and looks just like he does. Ned was upset to find out his Canadian counterpart was smoking medical marijuana, called a "reeferino." The four then drive to the Manitoba/North Dakota border crossing where their drug smuggling is discovered.
Instead of "Welcome to Winnipeg: One Great City!" the Simpsons drove by "We Were Born Here, What's Your Excuse" on the welcome sign.
The film's producers wanted to use Winnipeg's Exchange District, renowned for its wealth of turn of the century-era warehouses and office buildings, for scenes taking place in Helena, Montana. This plan was scuttled when several residents, and later city government, objected to the film crew's desire to remove several dozen trees growing along the sidewalks. Although TriStar offered to replant and/or replace the trees after wrapping, they were rebuffed.