There at nine other Alaska Reality shows in addition to “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” No doubt all receive film tax credits by the same law that helped Sarah:
Alaska State Troopers
Flying Wild Alaska
Gold Rush Alaska
Ice Road Truckers
Deadliest Catch
Alaska Wing Men
The Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod
Tougher in Alaska
Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment
http://www.adn.com/2011/02/14/1699528/alaska-based-shows-what-do-the.html
A state that is friendly to tv show producers is a good thing.
Maryland had a good industry going for local actors, crew, drivers, caterers, etc with the several David Simon series -
Homicide
The Corner
The Wire
One of the characters came too close to the real life Baltimore mayor who was running for governor, so when the real life man became governor, he stopped the subsidies that had made the productions possible.
So he stopped the jobs of hundreds of skilled workers in MD, because his petty revenge was more important than jobs.
Actually the film credits helped Alaska more than anything else.