Smallest real town or city where a fictional TV series has been set

Cafe Society
1

What I’m looking for is the smallest real town or city that has been used as the setting of a TV series, providing that the series was set in the same period it was produced in. (For example, a series produced in the 1970s that was set in the 1970s, etc.)

It seems like most fictional TV series that are set in small towns are set in towns you can’t find on any map, like Cicely, Alaska (Northern Exposure), Mayberry, North Carolina (The Andy Griffith Show), etc. When a small town in a TV series is real, the show is usually set far in the past, like Walnut Grove, Minnesota (Little House on the Prairie), Virginia City, Nevada (Bonanza), etc.

I’m not looking for a small town that the characters may have visited once or twice, but a place where a significant portion of the action takes place, week after week.

I thought of Tuckahoe, New York (Maude), current population about 6,500. I don’t know what the population was during the run of the show in the 1970s.

I also thought of Rome, Wisconsin (Picket Fences). There really is a Rome, Wisc. (population unknown to me), but I’m not sure it should count. I don’t think the producers of the show had the real town in mind when he decided on the setting. I’m willing to be convinced otherwise, though.

Anything smaller? Mostly I’m interested in U.S. places and U.S. TV series, but I’m not a xenophobe, so bring 'em on.

2

Pixley, California?

You know, near Hooterville, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction?

3

I used to work for the Wisconsin Film Office. The producers of Picket Fences, as well as the producers of any television program set in a real town, have to be conscious of the real town. As the writers continually create fictional persons and businesses, the legal department of the production company or network (or outside firms that specialize in this) checks if any similarly named person or business exists in the real town, to prevent potential libel problems.

There are actually two places in Wisconsin named Rome. One is a township in Adams County, 1990 population 1,674. The other is an unincorporated community in Sullivan township, Jefferson County.

4

“Fawlty Towers” was most certainly set in the real Torquay, England, pop. about 60,000.

5

I hate to tell you, bib, but Mayberry, NC exists. I’ve driven through it.

6

Let’s see, there’s New Rochelle, NY (current population approx 70,000), home of the Petrie family from the “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, and Sparta, Mississippi, home of “The Heat of the Night”. I’m guessing the people of Sparta weren’t too happy about having their city be the imaginery site of 20 some TV murders per year.

7

Wings took place on Nantucket, which doesn’t have a very high year-round population.

8

No it doesn’t. I’d bet that what you drove through was Mount Airy, NC, Andy Griffith’s real hometown. A lot of Mayberry was based on Mount Airy, and Mount Airy uses the Mayberry image to promote tourism, but it’s really not Mayberry.

9

You beat me. I couldn’t remember which Cape cod town it was set in, though, so I didn’t mention it.

10

c_carol is correct. Here is the Mayberry Days festival sponsored by the town of Mt. Airy.

You even get an “Elvis” thrown in…

11

Apparently, Mayberry is a bit run down by the time Kirk and Spock get there…
http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/startrek/index.htm

12

Although set in the imaginary town of Cicely, Northern Exposure was filmed in the town of Roslyn, (IIRC) WA, population 800. Hence “Roslyn('s) Cafe” with the teensy “s” tacked on as an afterthought. That was a real mural in the town of Roslyn.

I think they had an episode to explain who “Roslyn” was. If memory serves she was Cicely’s lover/life partner.

13

Although set in the imaginary town of Cicely, Northern Exposure was filmed in the town of Roslyn, (IIRC) WA, population 800. Hence “Roslyn('s) Cafe” with the teensy “s” tacked on as an afterthought. That was a real mural in the town of Roslyn.

I think they had an episode to explain who “Roslyn” was. If memory serves she was Cicely’s lover/life partner.

14

Wasn’t there a short-lived TV show in the 70s set in Madrid, New Mexico (population 300)?

15

IIRC, “Growing Pains” was originally set in Boise, Idaho, population about 70,000 at the time. After a couple years, I think the porducers decided that the chracters had been living in the NYMSA all along.

16

Young Americans was filmed in Havre De Grace, Maryland, which is a small town outside of Baltimore. But YA only lasted for eight episodes, so it might not fit your criteria.

17

I almost forgot about Bagdad, Arizona and the Café:
http://www.wemweb.com/bagdad.html
http://www.pe.net/~rksnow/azcountybagdad.htm

Bagdad Cafe (AKA Sidewinder Cafe) was the film location for a movie by the
same name, starring Jack Palance, and a TV Series starring Whoopie Goldberg. The TV series was kinda ok, but it had the bad luck of launching during the Gulf War. It was cancelled after one season.

18

Well, according to the Arkansas Department of Economic Development, Evening Shade, Arkansas has a population of only 465 (other sources give even lower figures, but I figured that was a reasonably “official” source). Evening Shade was the nominal setting for the TV series of the same name that ran for 101 episodes on CBS from 1990-1994, starring Burt Reynolds, Marilu Henner, Ossie Davis, Charles Durning, etc. This site, however, claims that the population of the town in the series was 11, 247.

19

Roswell, NM of Roswell claims to have 40,000 people, but that seems to be a rather high estimate. I have driven through there and I doubt that amount. I would put it around 10,000 less.

Boulder, CO at the time of Mork and Mindy was around 40,000.

20

The UK TV series Last of the Summer Wine was set in the West Yorkshire town of Holmfirth

Population is around the 30,000 level.

For those of you who have never seen the program, it is about three retired men and the antics that they get up to around the town and the surrounding area. Some great comedy.