Largest City without a TV Show?

Factual Questions
21

I searched for television/film commissions in the remaining cities - Memphis and San Jose. The San Jose Film & Video Commission lists several shows which were filmed there in part. It appears that the Mr. Wizard’s World (MWW) series was filmed in San Jose*. That program didn’t use location shoots (IIRC) - which would disqualify shows such as Rescue 911 and Unsolved Mysteries which only filmed segments. Since San Jose didn’t figure into the show because of it’s format, I don’t think it qualifies under the OPers original question.

The Memphis Film and Television Commission does not have a list of shoots.

So, If MWW counts, the final city is Memphis, otherwise, it’s still San Jose.

[sub]* I always thought that MWW was shot in Canada. :)[/sub]

22

I didn’t think we were counting non-fiction shows (Mister Wizard is classified as non-fiction as is Rescue 911 and Unsolved Mysteries) in this. If we are, then both cities have local news programs.

23

What about “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper”? Was that in San Jose or Oakland?

24

“Martin” was also set in Detroit, I believe – and there was another short-lived show set here, but I don’t remember what it was called…

25

It was Oakland, from Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. There is a terrific site for Film and TV shot in Northern California at Northern California Movies. A few movies have been shot in San Jose (Mad City, Flubber, EDtv, What Dreams May Come) but no fictional TV shows.

San Jose is our winner.

26

No, it’s tied with Memphis, which also has never had a TV show set in it.

I think we confused the issue once we started including TV shows that had been filmed (as opposed as set in) a particular city.

27

I don’t think so Guy. All of the shows we’ve counted so far are actually set in the location listed. Of the top 20 cities by population, only two have not had programs based on them. I’ll compile what we have so far:

New York - Friends, et al.
Los Angeles - Starsky and Hutch
Chicago - E.R., Due South
Houston - Houston Knights
Philadelphia - Thirtysomething, Angie, Tony Randall Show
San Diego - Harry O, Mahunt, Simon and Simon
Detroit - Martin
Dallas - Dallas
Phoenix - Alice
San Antonio - The Brothers Garcia
San Jose
Indianapolis - One Day at a Time
San Francisco - The Streets of San Francisco
Jacksonville - Safe Harbor, The Pointman
Columbus - Family Ties
Austin - Austin Stories, Lonesome Dove
Baltimore - Homicide: Life on the Streets
Memphis
Milwaukee - Happy Days, LAverne & Shirley
Boston - Cheers

San Jose’s population is ~894,943 and Memphis is ~650,100.

I’m having fun with this topic, so let’s go further down the list and find more suspect cities. It gets a lot thinner. I’ve highlighted the one’s for which I couldn’t find a TV series. Here’s 21-50.

Washington, D.C - The District
Nashville
El Paso
Seattle - Frasier
Denver - Dynasty
Charlotte, NC
Fort Worth, TX
Portland, OR - Hello, Larry
Oklahoma City, OK
Tucson, AZ
New Orleans, LA - Longstreet
Las Vegas, NV - CSI
Cleveland, Ohio - The Drew Carey Show
Long Beach, CA - Popular?
Albuquerque - The Man and the City, Nakia
Kansas City, MO - The Popcorn Kid
Fresno
Virginia Beach, VA
Atlanta, GA - Designing Women
Sacramento
Oakland, CA - Hangin With Mr. Cooper
Mesa, AZ
Tulsa, OK
Omaha, Neb.
Minneapolis, MN - Mary Tyler Moore Show
Honolulu, HI - Hawaii Five-O
Miami - Miami Vice
Colorado Springs, CO - Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman
St. Louis, MO
Wichita, KS

I hope someone can come along and fill in the blanks :slight_smile:

28

Nashville–I’m not 100% sure, but I think “Delta”, starring Delta Burke, was set in this city.

El Paso–I got nothin’.

Charlotte, NC–possibly “Probe”, starring Parker Stevenson, but that’s a guess.

Fort Worth–we got some people claming “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

Tucson–nada

Fresno–okay, I officially surrender.

29

If we can count miniseries, Fresno was the featured location of “Fresno!”, a spoof of Dallas and Dynasty starring Carol Burnett as the wealthy raisin-farm heiress.

30

I can’t believe no one has mentioned “McLoud”, with Dennis Weaver riding his horse through downtown Houston.

As for St. Louis, I seem to remember Grace Under Fire was set near there. But there was a short-lived TV series based on the movie Parenthood, which was set in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood. http://us.imdb.com/Title?0098887

31

Well, take off Fort Worth, because it was already revealed that Walker, Texas Ranger took place there.

There was a TV show called “Nashville 99” that lasted about a week in the 70s, so you can cross of Nashville. If variety shows count, there’s always the Grand Ole Opry.

I’m not sure if miniseries count here, but there was a mini called “Fresno” that was a spoof of “Dallas.” It was a riot, as we learned about the scandalous raisin industry.

Wichita managed to snag a series. “Wichita Town” was a series for a year 1959-60. Thank god for IMDB.

Also, it’s offensive that you use “The District” as the series representing DC when “The West Wing” is readily available.

Inspired, I put together a list of states with TV shows taking place in them. Many of these came through the IMDB search of plot keywords, so I may not be totally correct for some.

In order of population:
California: Starsky & Hutch
Texas: Dallas
New York: Friends
Florida: Miami Vice
Illinois: E.R.
Pennsylvania: thirtysomething
Ohio: WKRP Cincinnati
Michigan: Martin
New Jersey: The Sopranos
Georgia: Designing Women
North Carolina: The Andy Griffith Show
Virginia: Another Life
Massachusetts: Boston Public
Indiana: One Day at a Time
Washington: Frasier
Tennesee: Grand Ole Opry
Missouri: Grace Under Fire
Wisconsin: Happy Days
Maryland: Homicide: Life in the Streets
Arizona: Alice
Minnesota: Mary Tyler Moore Show
Louisiana: Longstreet
Alabama:
Colorado: Dynasty
Kentucky: The Wonderful John Acton
South Carolina: American Gothic
Oklahoma: Cimarron City
Oregon: Hello, Larry
Connecticut: Who’s the Boss
Iowa: Apple’s Way
Mississippi:
Kansas: Witchita Town
Arkansas: Evening Shade
Utah:
Nevada: CSI
New Mexico: The Man and the City
West Virginia: Hawkins
Nebraska: Cool Million
Idaho:
Maine: Murder, She Wrote
New Hampshire: Willy (part)
Hawaii: Hawaii Five-O
Montana: Buckskin
Delaware:
South Dakota: Little House on the Prairie
North Dakota:
Alaska: Northern Exposure
Vermont: Newhart
DC: The West Wing
Wyoming: Laramie
Alabama, Mississippi, Utah, Idaho, Delaware and North Dakota were the only ones I couldn’t find. If only we knew where Hazzard County was.

32

oops, I left out Rhode Island and “Family Guy.”

33

I know there’s some show that’s currently out that’s set in Sacramento, CA (although it might actually be set somewhere nearby like Rancho Cordova). I think it’s on Disney or Nickelodeon, in fact I’ll check.

Actually, it’s probably Disney’s “Even Stevens”, for which I found a few quick references.

I figured “Small Wonder” was set somewhere like San Jose, but I couldn’t find out quickly where it was set, although I did find mention that the parents (that would be Vicky’s ‘grandparents’) lived in Omaha, also on the list. I don’t think the whole show was set there, however, so it probably doesn’t count.

34

St. Louis, MO – The John Larroquette Show. Great show. A lot of Doper fans as I recall.

35

maybe Dweebs?

http://www.i-wish.org.uk/dweebs/detroit95.htm

I couldn’t find anything about where it was set, but
Silicon Valley seems likely.

Don’t worry if you don’t remember ‘Dweebs.’ Cancelled after
6 shows.

36

For the expanded cities list:

Sacramento – Eight is Enough

37

Mississippi had In the Heat of the Night, with Carroll O’Conner.

38

Fox Family Channel’s State of Grace is set in Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville is somewhere around the 402nd biggest “city” in the US. Cross it off the list when the list gets that big.

39

While you guys are changing “The District” to “The West Wing” to represent DC, please change Atlanta, Georgia’s entry from “Designing Women” to “Matlock.” I’ve already gone on about it in another topic, but “Designing Women” makes me even more ashamed to be a Georgian than that whole confederacy business.

And the question of “where is Hazzard County” came up – I don’t remember if they ever said explicitly in the show, but much of it was filmed in GA, as a matter of fact in my hometown of Conyers, GA. Sah-loot! I seem to remember hearing that they intentionally never named the state in the series though – I don’t remember if that was to let all southern states share in the pride, or so as not to offend any of them.

40

Tucson High Chaparral. The show was mostly set on a ranch, but when they went to town, the town they went to was Tucson.