If we count variety shows, we should count Donnie and Marie. Quality is not a criterion here.
Oh, stop staring already!
I am quite sure. Fort Worth is 35 miles from Dallas so I can see how some damyankee would lump them together. But the show is set in Fort Worth. Walker’s office was in the Old Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth. Most of the street scenes were filmed in the city and the surronding suburbs. They went to Dallas a little bit but mostly they did it in Tarrant and Parker counties. Maybe the location fees were to expensive in Dallas? Also, Dallas doesn’t look much like stereotypical Texas, which the producers seemed to love. It could be any city in the US… well maybe not any city. There are also a lot of scenes of Las Colinas, where the movie studios are. That’s not Dallas either. 
We’ve had several threads about where the Simpson’s Springfield is and the last couple were closed because the moderators (specifically manhattan) realized the question has no answer:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=64250
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60584
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=58054
And Evno, your link is missing a double quote mark before the first close bracket.
Really? I always thought that it was a very thinly-disguised Chicago.
Add Boy Meets World to the Philly list. I think there was a cop drama called Year One or something set in Philly. Not positive on that one.
Is there anything left in this thread that even vaguely resembles a General Question?
Sure looks like a IMHO to me, but what do I know?
I remember reading that Hill Street was set in a non-specific city between New York and Chicago. Anyway, the show was filmed in L.A.
I agree with the IMHO analysis. I think we’ve arrived at the answer I was looking for:
San Jose, CA, unless you are into Silicon Valley lumping, is number one.
Number two is Memphis… and we have no shows even in the metro area.
Can we call it answered?
I think we can. Thanks everyone for their help.
In the list of states with a TV show, South Dakota was listed as the location of “Little House on the Prairie”. Actually the show was set in Walnut Grove, Minnesota (even though the Ingalls spent only a year or so there before moving to South Dakota, but that’s a different discussion).
Regarding South Dakota TV or film, all I can think of is Tom Brokow or “Dances with Wolves”, but no TV shows.
No, you can’t count suburbs, because the thread is about largest city without a TV show, not largest metropolitan area without a TV show. The largest cities are
New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
Houston, TX
Philadelphia, PA
The largest metropolitan areas are:
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA
Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA
Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI
Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA
TV Time said that Hotel de Paree (Earl Holliman played a character named Sundance) was in Rapid City, SD, so the Mt. Rushmore state still has representation. I always thought that LHOTP was set in Plum Creek, not Walnut Grove, anyways. Still, it looks like Alabama is still the winner of the most populous state without a TV show, with North Dakota, Delaware and Idaho also lacking representation.
Hearts of the West starring Beau Bridges was set in Utah.
OK, to settle this, Memphis is the most populous city without a TV show, and Alabama is the most populous state.
Here’s a ranking of metropolitan areas:
- New York City-Northern NJ-Long Island NY NY-NJ-CT-PA: Friends
- Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County CA: Starsky and Hutch
- Chicago-Gary-Kenosha IL-IN-WI: E.R.
- Washington-Baltimore DC-MD-VA-WV: The West Wing
- San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose CA: Hanging with Mr. Cooper
- Philadelhpia-Wilmington-Atlantic City PA-DE-NJ: thirtysomething
- Boston-Worcester-Lawrence MA-NH-ME-CT: Boston Public
- Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint MI: Martin
- Dallas-Fort Worth TX: Dallas
- Houston-Galveston-Brazoria TX: Houston Knights
- Atlanta GA: Designing Women
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale FL: Miami Vice
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton WA: Frasier
- Phoenix-Mesa AZ: Alice
- Minneapolis-St. Paul MN: Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Cleveland-Akron OH: Drew Carey Show
- San Diego CA: Simon and Simon
- St. Louis MO-IL: The John Laroquette Show
- Denver-Boulder-Greely CO: Mork and Mindy
- San Juan-Caguas-Arecibo PR: ?
- Tampa-St. Petersburg FL: ?
- Pittsburgh PA: The Guardian
- Portland-Salem OR-WA: Hello, Larry
- Cincinnati-Hamilton OH-KY-IN: WKRP Cincinnati
- Sacramento-Yolo CA: Eight is Enough
- Kansas City MO-KS: The Popcorn Kid
- Milwaukee-Racine WI: Happy Days
- Orlando FL: ?
- Indianapolis IN: One Day at a Time
- San Antonio TX: The Brothers Garcia
All right, San Juan could be the most populous, if we count Puerto Rico as part of this. Otherwise Tampa would be the most populous metro area without one, unless we find one for either city.
Arrrrrrgh for about the 6th time - San Jose, CA is the largest US city that has not been the subject of a tv series. Read up a few posts.
For a Tv show set ins San Juan Puerto Rico. the Flying Nun with Sally Field.
In Hill Street Blues, the exterior of the Hill Street station was the 7th District (Maxwell Street) Police Station in Chicago. Many other exterior shots (if not all) were also in Chicago.
Sorry evilhanz, so our winners are Alabama, San Jose and Tampa, so far.
Well if you wanna expand to Canada, Ottawa has never had a show if IIRC. Population 1,000,000