# IMDB's list of "most popular show set in every state (plus DC)" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2017, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421 "2017-07-03T11:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/1 "2017-07-03T11:24:42Z")
Has anyone seen this? They list what they consider the most popular show housed in each state. Full list [here](http://www.imdb.com/imdbpicks/most-popular-tv-shows-set-in-every-state/ls063731415/?ref_=ls_mv_sm). I disagree with a few. For instance, “Stranger Things” for Indiana? I would have thought “One Day at a Time,” which spanned nine seasons, would have beaten a show with only two, totaling 17 episodes, would have been the obvious choice. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/2 "2017-07-03T11:38:22Z")
New York is Orange is the New Black? Not Law and Order, Seinfeld, Sex and the City or a 100 other shows? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/3 "2017-07-03T11:47:26Z")
Massachusetts: something called “Rizzoli and Isles” (sp). Because Cheers was set in Portsmouth or something… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/4 "2017-07-03T11:56:01Z")
I never even heard of maybe a third of those shows. And _The Real McCoys_ for West Virginia? While the McCoy family was originally from West Virgin, the show took place in sunny Cal-i-forn-i-a. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/5 "2017-07-03T11:59:07Z")
Note that in the opening image in that link it says: \> We took a hard look at IMDb user behavior and crunched the numbers to determine \> the most popular television shows set in every state of the USA, as well as the District \> of Columbia. So this is about how common it is for IMDb users to go to the show’s webpage, not about the popularity of the show at the time it was originally shown. Yes, it’s hard to see the opening image in that link. It shows for a few seconds and then is replaced with the first picture (which is a scene from _Hart of Dixie_). ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/6 "2017-07-03T11:59:58Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > New York is Orange is the New Black? > > Not Law and Order, Seinfeld, Sex and the City or a 100 other shows? I would go Barney Miller or The Dick Van Dyke Show for New York. But my real beef is with North Carolina: One Tree Hill. I’m grateful Aunt Bee isn’t alive to hear such nonsense. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/7 "2017-07-03T12:09:42Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > But my real beef is with North Carolina: One Tree Hill. I’m grateful Aunt Bee isn’t alive to hear such nonsense. I was curious what they would come up with for South Carolina, then noticed that “reality” shows were included and began to worry that it would be that show from the trailer park in Myrtle Beach. But it turned out to be a scripted show (Army Wives) that I’ve never watched and never knew was set in S.C. (Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any other shows that are.) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/8 "2017-07-03T16:06:41Z")
New York has several options. How about ‘That Girl’? Or ‘The Odd Couple’? ‘Mad Men’ or ‘NYPD Blue’. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/9 "2017-07-03T16:13:35Z")
Hawaii Five-O was the only show with a state name in it? SAD. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/10 "2017-07-03T16:16:26Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > New York is Orange is the New Black? > > Not Law and Order, Seinfeld, Sex and the City or a 100 other shows? Those are OLD shows. If it didn’t happen this year, it didn’t happen. Young people have the historical awareness of a potted plant. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/11 "2017-07-03T16:18:38Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > New York is Orange is the New Black? > > Not Law and Order, Seinfeld, Sex and the City or a 100 other shows? Here are some New York based shows that may be considered by some to be more popular than “Orange”: 30 Rock All in the Family Baretta Barney Miller Becker Bewitched Blue Bloods Boardwalk Empire Bosom Buddies Car 54, Where Are You? Caroline in the City Dr. Kildare Everybody Hates Chris Everybody Loves Raymond Family Affair Friends Futurama How I Met Your Mother I Love Lucy Just Shoot Me! Louie Mad About You Mad Men Make Room for Daddy NewsRadio Night Court Nurse Jackie Rescue Me Rules of Engagement Seinfeld Sesame Street Sex in the City Spin City Taxi That Girl The Cosby Show The Dick Van Dyke Show The Honeymooners The Jeffersons The King of Queens The Mindy Project The Odd Couple The Patty Duke Show Ugly Betty Welcome Back, Kotter Will & Grace ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/12 "2017-07-03T16:39:10Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Here are some New York based shows that may be considered by some to be more popular than “Orange”: > > 30 Rock > All in the Family > Baretta > Barney Miller > Becker > Bewitched > Blue Bloods > Boardwalk Empire > Bosom Buddies > Car 54, Where Are You? > Caroline in the City > Dr. Kildare > Everybody Hates Chris > Everybody Loves Raymond > Family Affair > Friends > Futurama > How I Met Your Mother > I Love Lucy > Just Shoot Me! > Louie > Mad About You > Mad Men > Make Room for Daddy > NewsRadio > Night Court > Nurse Jackie > Rescue Me > Rules of Engagement > Seinfeld > Sesame Street > Sex in the City > Spin City > Taxi > That Girl > The Cosby Show > The Dick Van Dyke Show > The Honeymooners > The Jeffersons > The King of Queens > The Mindy Project > The Odd Couple > The Patty Duke Show > Ugly Betty > Welcome Back, Kotter > Will & Grace Holy cow, there’s a lot of filler in this list. Nobody would seriously think that shows like Caroline In The City, Everybody Hates Chris, Nurse Jackie, Rules of Engagement, and Ugly Betty are anywhere near the most noted NYC shows. And Boardwalk Empire is set in Atlantic City. The only shows that are serious contenders would be shows that spent significant time at the top of the ratings. Those are: All In The Family Everybody Loves Raymond Friends I Love Lucy Seinfeld The Cosby Show Plus there’s a distinct set of “close, but no cigar” shows that were very popular, but not quite at the top echelon (Barney Miller, Bewitched, Car 54, Mad Men, Sesame Street, Sex And The City, Dick van Dyke, The Honeymooners, The Jeffersons, Patty Duke, and Welcome Back, Kotter). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/13 "2017-07-03T16:47:53Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Those are OLD shows. If it didn’t happen this year, it didn’t happen. Young people have the historical awareness of a potted plant. :dubious: When you have three young teenage girls singing along to “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” in your backseat while looking up Instagram fan accounts of the Beatles, it’s not that simple. They might not know about ALL the 1980s TV shows, but they sure watch them. Or, at least, clips on YouTube/Hulu/Netflix. They might never watch an episode of “Law & Order”, but they sure know of its existence and the meaning of the “doink-doink” sound, which is more than you could say of me in 1983 - I surely wasn’t watching “Ironsides” reruns from 1971, that’s for sure! But today’s kids do. They live in a world where the culture is far more timeless because so much of it is accessible. Frank Sinatra. Celtic music. 40s fashion. Mozart. LOTR. Back to the Future. Friends. All of these, and more, were fads that swept my daughter’s friends over the past 5 years (as well as the usual gaggle of boy bands, Katy Perry, etc). It was difficult and expensive to have a Sinatra collection in 1982 (when I was my daughter’s age). Nowadays, she has 20 services ready to give her all the Frank she wants to listen to. And, really, YouTube is the gateway for a lot of this. It’s free, it’s easily broken (from a “get around parental restrictions” standpoint), works on phones, tablets, and there’s videos on almost everything. But to say the “kids” have no “historical awareness”, especially of pop culture of years and decades and centuries past, doesn’t jibe with my experience. This is merely a list of those shows whom the most people clicked a link taking them from IMDB to that show’s website and really doesn’t have anything to do with “kids”. Kids aren’t going to look up “Rizzoli & Isles” or more than half these shows. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/14 "2017-07-03T17:27:58Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > But to say the “kids” have no “historical awareness”, especially of pop culture of years and decades and centuries past, doesn’t jibe with my experience. Well, I might have been a bit harsh, but that sentiment does jibe with my experience. In the 70s, my local album rock station (before the term “classic rock” was invented) used to have a yearly listener vote on the “greatest rock and roll songs of all time.” The top ten were what most would agree were “GOAT” songs, but then from 11 on things got weird. Songs that just came out that year started appearing in the top 50. However much you like it, AC/DC’s “Big Balls” is not one of the greatest R&R songs of all time. 🙂 But, it was fresh in the listeners’ minds. The whole list was like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/15 "2017-07-03T17:37:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Young people have the historical awareness of a potted plant. A fake potted plant. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/16 "2017-07-03T17:38:20Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Holy cow, there’s a lot of filler in this list. Nobody would seriously think that shows like Caroline In The City, Everybody Hates Chris, Nurse Jackie, Rules of Engagement, and Ugly Betty are anywhere near the most noted NYC shows. And Boardwalk Empire is set in Atlantic City. > > The only shows that are serious contenders would be shows that spent significant time at the top of the ratings. Those are: > > All In The Family > Everybody Loves Raymond > Friends > I Love Lucy > Seinfeld > The Cosby Show > > Plus there’s a distinct set of “close, but no cigar” shows that were very popular, but not quite at the top echelon (Barney Miller, Bewitched, Car 54, Mad Men, Sesame Street, Sex And The City, Dick van Dyke, The Honeymooners, The Jeffersons, Patty Duke, and Welcome Back, Kotter). You forgot to mention our mileage. And how it absolutely positively may vary. ETA: You are right about Boardwalk Empire, though. mmm ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/17 "2017-07-03T19:02:24Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > You forgot to mention our mileage. > > And how it absolutely positively may vary. > > ETA: You are right about Boardwalk Empire, though. > > mmm True, YMMV. I’d suggest someone do a list of California shows that are more iconic than American Horror Story, but I don’t know if the SDMB host has that much bandwidth. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/18 "2017-07-03T19:02:31Z")
It’s obviously skewed very recent. For Illinois, I expected to see “Roseanne.” Instead, I got “Shameless,” which I somehow never even heard of. Unlike some others, I don’t actively avoid pop culture, I’ve just somehow never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/19 "2017-07-03T19:20:37Z")
Popularity is entirely based on recent visitors to a shows IMDB page, so yeah, of course it’s going to skew recent. [http://www.imdb.com/chart/tvmeter](http://www.imdb.com/chart/tvmeter) GLOW is the second most popular show, and it just came out last week. Of course, the other fact that the number one way to get a lot of hits on a list on the internet is to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421/20 "2017-07-03T19:35:09Z")
IIRC _The Drew Carey Show_ (set in Cleveland) or _Family Ties_ (set in Columbus) were more popular in Ohio than _Glee_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdbs-list-of-most-popular-show-set-in-every-state-plus-dc/790421.md?page=2)