NBC spy drama 'Allegiance' slept here

* ALLEGIANCE. 10 Thursdays, NBC10.

NBC's "Allegiance" brings its reluctant Russian spies - and their CIA agent son - to Philadelphia Thursday.

Besides including a cameo for Mayor Nutter, the show, which filmed two episodes here in October, takes viewers inside a local landmark most Philadelphians have seen only from the outside.

The Masonic Temple on North Broad Street is the focus of a storyline in which the spies are racing the feds to retrieve something from City Hall on a Sunday without being detected.

The local Mason headquarters "was truly a fascinating place to be," said "Allegiance" star Scott Cohen, in an interview last month. "The history, No. 1, is phenomenal, and I'd never been in a Masonic Temple, ever. The secret passageways are what's most interesting."

Executive producer George Nolfi said he got the idea for the episodes, and especially for the Masonic Temple scenes, while in Philadelphia as a guest at meetings of the crime-solving Vidocq Society, whose members include former law enforcement officers, ex-prosecutors and others.

"They took me around and showed me the city, and I was like, 'This place is amazing, and underfilmed.' And City Hall was the most impressive city hall I've seen practically in the world. I mean, the only thing that compares to it that I've seen is the Paris city hall, and it's similar."

Cohen also was wowed.

"We were there for like three weeks," he said, and in his off-hours, he visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "which is amazing," and most of the other museums on the Parkway, including the Barnes Foundation.

As "the American" in the show - Hope Davis plays his Russian-born wife - the historic district had particular resonance for his character, Cohen said.

And then there was the Reading Terminal Market.

"Every day, I went there. . . . That ice cream shop is dangerous. It was difficult to stay away from."

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