# Largest City without a TV Show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2001, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011 "2001-08-13T09:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/41 "2001-08-13T22:30:14Z")
Thanks to all those who replied. We’ve got quite a list. I’m pretty sure there’s gotta be an Alabaman TV show, eh? Where was “I’ll Fly Away” set? About San Jose… I just realized that the WB’s Felicity began in Palo Alto, CA which is technically (or am I mistaken) a suburb of San Jose. Are we counting suburbs? I’m inclined to say “no”, but I haven’t combed the list with a fine-toothed comb. Hmmm… Memphis. Nope. Only memorable Memphis media production I can think of was The Firm. ---
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/42 "2001-08-13T22:32:33Z")
There was definitely, I feel, a TV show set in Salt Lake City. I don’t know why, I just feel that way. Now if only I can remember one… ---
**Author:** ![gorewonfla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@gorewonfla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gorewonfla)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/43 "2001-08-13T22:45:37Z")
I’ll Fly Away was in Georgia ([http://www.bayarea.net/~floor13/flyaway/flyawaytop.htm](http://www.bayarea.net/~floor13/flyaway/flyawaytop.htm)) As for Salt Lake City, I guess the Mormons haven’t gotten a foothold in Hollywood yet, because I didn’t see any TV shows on IMDB. There was SLC Punk, but that was a movie. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/44 "2001-08-13T23:02:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Arken \* > > \*\*San Jose - That 70s Show > > \*\* > > “That 70s Show” is set in the (fictional) Wisconsin city of Point Place. Although I can see how you might get the impression that they’re really from sunny CA, since the characters are always running around outside in the dead of winter with nothing but jeans and long-sleeved tee-shirts on. \*\* Point Place is a play on words for Stevens Point, Wisconsin, a pretty little city where the excellent Point Beer is brewed. I can’t believe nobody mentioned the huge metropolis of Port Washington, Wisconsin (population:7K:p: )the setting for the show “Step by Step” staring Suzanne Somers. At the begining of that show they always showed the family riding a roller coaster by the shores of Lake Michigan. I grew up in West Bend, 12 miles away from Port. There was no roller coaster there ever! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/45 "2001-08-13T23:19:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JS Princeton \* > \*\*Thanks to all those who replied. We’ve got quite a list. I’m pretty sure there’s gotta be an Alabaman TV show, eh? > Where was “I’ll Fly Away” set? > > About San Jose… I just realized that the WB’s Felicity began in Palo Alto, CA which is technically (or am I mistaken) a suburb of San Jose. Are we counting suburbs? I’m inclined to say “no”, but I haven’t combed the list with a fine-toothed comb. > > Hmmm… Memphis. Nope. Only memorable Memphis media production I can think of was The Firm. \*\* Palo Alto is “The Peninsula”. Whether it is a suburb of SF, a suburb of SJ, or an entity in its own right is open to question. “suburb” doesn’t seem right to me for places like Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Mateo, etc, since a large number of people actually work in industrial parks there and commute INTO them from elsewhere, up the Peninsula, down the Peninsula, across the Bay and from regions further out. PA actually has it’s own downtown, too, as do many of the places along the 101 corridor between SJ and SF. They defy easy categorization. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/46 "2001-08-13T23:30:52Z")
There were several episodes of “Dukes of Hazzard” where they talk about going, or, sometimes, actually go to Atlanta to fetch authorities, or take someone to the hospital, or something. My vote’s for Georgia as well. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/47 "2001-08-13T23:35:53Z")
I’m in Memphis, but I can’t think of any fictional tv shows set here. For movies we’ve got Castaway, the Firm, and the Client. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/48 "2001-08-13T23:53:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*There were several episodes of “Dukes of Hazzard” where they talk about going, or, sometimes, actually go to Atlanta to fetch authorities, or take someone to the hospital, or something. My vote’s for Georgia as well. \*\* See [http://www.angelfire.com/hi/hazzard78/covington.html](http://www.angelfire.com/hi/hazzard78/covington.html) for a link to the real Hazzard County in GA. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2001, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/49 "2001-08-13T23:58:13Z")
Buffalo, New York is the setting for … _Buffalo Bill_ _Jesse_ _Hill Street Blues_ _Port Charles_, which is supposedly between Buffalo and Rochester, on Lake Ontario) _Some very short lived series whose name I can’t remember_, that took place in a barbershop. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/50 "2001-08-14T00:04:51Z")
You folks are going to have to find another show for Dallas, because the show “Dallas” is actually set in a ranch in Parker TX (unfortunately I know this because the ranch is about 5 mi from my house). I don’t think they ever calimed the ranch was IN Dallas, but that it was NEAR Dallas. Another one “Home Improvement” was actually set in a suburb of Detroit (they never specified which one) ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/51 "2001-08-14T00:08:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > Palo Alto is “The Peninsula”. Whether it is a suburb of SF, a suburb of SJ, or an entity in its own right is open to question. For the purposes of this discussion, I’d lean toward lumping Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Milpitas, San Jose, Los Gatos, and probably some others into one contestant named Silicon Valley. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/52 "2001-08-14T00:24:27Z")
Let me throw in some Westerns. Dodge City, KS-Wyatt Earp, Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson Witchita, KS-Wyatt Earp Tombstone, AZ-Tombstone Territory, Wyatt Earp Prescott, AZ-The Rounders Carizozo, NM-The Tall Man San Francisco-Have Gun Will Travel Austin-Tales of the Texas Rangers Lorado-Lorado Virginia City-Bonanza Cheyenne-The Virginian What was that one with Earl Holaman? Sundance or something like that? Wasn’t that in Rapid City or something? Has anyone mentioned: Minneapolis-Mary Tyler Moore New Rochelle-Dick Van Dyke Miami-Golden Girls, Miami Vice, Surf Side Six Honolulu-Magnum PI, Hawaniian Eye, Hawaii 5-0 Boulder, CO-Mork and Mindy Las Vegas, NV-Blanski’s Beauties Santa Barbara-Santa Barbara Nothing in either Santa Fe nor Albaquerque although Route 66 spent a great deal of time in both places (Phoenix too for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![Evno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Evno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evno)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/53 "2001-08-14T00:30:22Z")
I don’t know about you people, but a running gag on The Simpsons has been to never tell where in the U.S. Springfield is [located](http://www.snpp.com/guides/springfield.list.html). And since Springfield is a town, and possibly part of a larger city, ANY city could contain Springfield, and therefore this forum’s solution is unachievable. Until the location of Springfield is known, we’ll never have the _real_ answer to this question. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/54 "2001-08-14T00:33:49Z")
North Dakota - You can make a case for [Young Pioneers](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0128014) in 1978, although they didn’t specify which Dakota. Maybe a dedicated Doper can rent the 1998 movie remake and hunt for clues. Or (scary thought) maybe someone already has the tape on their shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Evno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Evno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evno)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/55 "2001-08-14T01:11:13Z")
wondering why my links didn’t work…😕 ---
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/56 "2001-08-14T01:30:56Z")
Okay, excuse the tangentialism, but we have to get this straight. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evno \* > \*\* Springfield is a town, and possibly part of a larger city, ANY city could contain Springfield, and therefore this forum’s solution is unachievable. Until the location of Springfield is known, we’ll never have the _real_ answer to this question. \*\* Nope, not quite. First of all, Springfield’s a pretty bizarre place… it has to have three very tall mountains next to it (the highest of which is Mt. Springfield.) It can’t be in a capital city (then they’d be a part of capital city and it would make no sense for them to be “going to capital city” if they were already in it. It just wouldn’t make logical sense.) It has to be near the ocean with a boardwalk. It also needs to be in close proximity to a desert (or at least very stark, stark, landscape). Furthermore Mayor Quimby is a mayor of Springfield… thus ruling out the “part of any city” theory. Springfield is, in fact, the most common townname in the US… but that’s a hijack I don’t need to do to my own thread. It wouldn’t much matter anyway unless it were Springfield, North Dakota, Springfield, Utah, Springfield, Alabama, or one of the other “forgotten” states. I don’t want to get into Springfield semantics here, but we could look at things such as climate (it snows there ya know), ex-presidents Bush Sr. and Ford residing, and the unforgettable all-important nuclear power plant. Actually, this rules out any actual location at all in the United States. Springfield in the Simpsons is an impossibility (but then again, it’s fictional). Let’s just say that it’s location, being unspecified, is unspecified and therefore inelligible. Much the same way as Father Knows Best or Leave It To Beaver. (I must admit, I’m only guessing that Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver are located in “annonymous” suburban villas, but I leave myself to the mercy of the SDMB to correct this error if indeed it is one.) ---
**Author:** ![gorewonfla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@gorewonfla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gorewonfla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/57 "2001-08-14T01:41:02Z")
Well, I don’t want to have to watch Young Pioneers, and the web surely didn’t get us any clues. Don’t worry, once they change their name to Dakota the TV crews will pile into the state. ---
**Author:** ![Hilow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@Hilow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilow)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/58 "2001-08-14T02:57:21Z")
I don’t think any TV show has been explicitly announced as being set in Utah. The Donny and Marie show was filmed in Orem, Utah for its last few years and Touched By an Angel is currently being filmed in Utah, but I don’t think they are presenting the environment in the show to be Utah so I don’t think that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/59 "2001-08-14T03:28:36Z")
Seattle series, _A Year in the Life_(1987) ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011/60 "2001-08-14T03:51:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JS Princeton \* > \*\*Okay, excuse the tangentialism, but we have to get this straight. > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Evno \* > > \*\* Springfield is a town, and possibly part of a larger city, ANY city could contain Springfield, and therefore this forum’s solution is unachievable. Until the location of Springfield is known, we’ll never have the _real_ answer to this question. \*\* > > Nope, not quite. > > First of all, Springfield’s a pretty bizarre place… it has to have three very tall mountains next to it (the highest of which is Mt. Springfield.) It can’t be in a capital city (then they’d be a part of capital city and it would make no sense for them to be “going to capital city” if they were already in it. It just wouldn’t make logical sense.) It has to be near the ocean with a boardwalk. It also needs to be in close proximity to a desert (or at least very stark, stark, landscape). > > Furthermore Mayor Quimby is a mayor of Springfield… thus ruling out the “part of any city” theory. Springfield is, in fact, the most common townname in the US… but that’s a hijack I don’t need to do to my own thread. > > It wouldn’t much matter anyway unless it were Springfield, North Dakota, Springfield, Utah, Springfield, Alabama, or one of the other “forgotten” states. I don’t want to get into Springfield semantics here, but we could look at things such as climate (it snows there ya know), ex-presidents Bush Sr. and Ford residing, and the unforgettable all-important nuclear power plant. Actually, this rules out any actual location at all in the United States. Springfield in the Simpsons is an impossibility (but then again, it’s fictional). > \*\* I attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, the alma mater of Matt Groening. Word on the streets is that Groening modeled Springfield after Olympia and the show has made specific references by innuendo to landmarks in Olympia; They live on “Evergreen Terrace”, the nuclear power plant located right outside ow town, etc. I have a friend who is an animator for the show and occasionally speaks with Mr. Groening. I just spoke with him and he said that "_it was more of a concern to Matt earlier on when he was fully involved in the production of the show. He has long since handed off much of the writing and animation to people who have little knowledge of Olympia and thus the lack of references by innuendo in the later episodes."_ There you have it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-without-a-tv-show/76011.md?page=4)