"We chose Santa Clarita because there's a part of Santa Clarita where we're in that can match pretty closely to Laghman Province in Afghanistan."
— Tomas Voth, Production Designer
— "The Making of '68 Whiskey,'" released January 8, 2020
The part of Santa Clarita they're in is the Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in the rugged hills between Haskell and Bouquet canyons. The 250-acre ranch, which the producers refer to as
"Santa Clarita-stan," is home base for "68 Whiskey,"
a new series from Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Roberto Benabib (Imagine Entertainment and CBS) that premiered January 15, 2020, on the Paramount Channel.
If you thought you spotted up to three Black Hawk helicopters in the skies over Santa Clarita recently, you'd be right. Actual Black Hawk helicopters were rented for the show.
Inviting comparisons to "M*A*S*H" (1972-1983), "68 Whiskey" takes a comedic slant on a group of combat medics at a forward operating base in Afghanistan
nicknamed "The Orphanage." The series stars Sam Keeley, Gage Golightly, Cristina Rodlo, Jeremy Tardy,
Derek Theler, Nicholas Coombe, Lamont Thompson and Beth Riesgraf.
The designation 68W, pronounced "sixty-eight whiskey," is the Army code (Military Occupational Specialty) for combat medic.