# What's a more modern synonym for "Peyton Place"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-more-modern-synonym-for-peyton-place/618594 "2012-04-12T19:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-more-modern-synonym-for-peyton-place/618594/21 "2012-04-14T13:35:58Z")
I totally disagree with the Lynch references. Speaking as someone eleven years older than **Sampiro** (and therefore alive and conscious at a time when this reference was more contemporaneous), regardless of what the novel itself referred to, the cultural concept of Peyton Place was much closer to that of Wisteria Lane, or the TV shows _Dallas_ or _Dynasty_ than _Twin Peaks_. Say _Twin Peaks_ today, and people think of weird quirkiness and really eerie, scary, even supernatural stuff, while _Blue Velvet_ is just more of David Lynch’s crazy-person twisted stuff. Fairview, the town from _Desperate Housewives_, is much closer to what people thought of when they thought of Peyton Place (which comparatively few people would have actually read). Lovely and quiet on the outside, and all sorts of goings on under the surface. I never saw nor read _Peyton Place_, but I can say with some certainty that the _cultural reference_ (as opposed to what it was actually about) of Peyton Place, as referenced in _Harper Valley PTA_, was implying well-concealed underlying scandal, primarily of a sexual nature. I can’t think of a single contemporary cultural reference that would be widely understood equivalently, but **Biggirl** ’s idea of Real Housewives probably comes closest. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-more-modern-synonym-for-peyton-place/618594/22 "2012-04-14T13:50:43Z")
What you say makes good sense, **Oy!** , and perhaps another “town” that captures another aspect of “things ain’t what they seem” that is off in another weird direction is [The Stepford Wives (1975)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073747/) (the original) – and not the pathetic remake [The Stepford Wives (2004)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327162/) – although both movies and their towns are fun ways for poking into that aspect of apparent serenity and Eden-like existence where there’s uglier truth lurking below the surface. I have little doubt that the filmmakers in those two movies were well aware of the _Peyton Place_ paradigm. But I would say the same for those Lynch movies you dismiss. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-more-modern-synonym-for-peyton-place/618594/23 "2012-04-14T13:59:05Z")
Ooooo Betty Anderson. (Barbara Parkin) I feel a swoon coming on. I was 9 years old when I sneaked a peek at Peyton Place but sent to bed by my mum. Perchance to dream… > [@Tapiotar](#): > > I suspect that there isn’t a modern equivalent with the same resonance that Peyton Place had Exactly. Cultural references are a moving feast born of mesmerising images. If your group is too small then the roman-a-clef dies. I don’t believe television creates this type of enduring icon anymore. Movies still do as does real life. Witness Pippa Middletons derriere, and indeeed the elder Kartrashian glutus maximus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-more-modern-synonym-for-peyton-place/618594.md?page=1)