Wahlberg confirms pilot will shoot here

All I could get was "not that we know of" from the Mass. Film Office. But Names & Faces buttonholed Donnie Wahlberg when he dropped by the KISS concert with the reunited New Kids on the Block, and he confirmed that the "Morse Code" pilot for TNT will shoot here (third item). Toldja so. He's been loyal to the old town consistently. However he can't promise the series will be shot here, or even that - given the demands of the NKOTB reunion tour - he'll even star. As we told you - first - the show is about a war hero who comes back to Boston to work for the DEA.

You'd think the tax incentives for movies and TV production, along with ample Names placements, would be enough to guarantee the series shooting here, of course. But a story elsewhere in the Globe this morning raises a few question about just what those incentives are accomplishing. "...a new government study suggests much of the money will go to high-paid Hollywood actors, raising questions about the value of the incentives," sez the story by Todd Wallack. One rep is quoted saying the subsidies are "not the best use of taxpayers' money." It's hard to imagine the hacks voting out a system that gives them the chance to meet Kate Hudson or Jennifer Garner, though.