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By inference: Kent and Homer help solve where Springfield isn't

I gave up on trying to figure this out a long time ago. It's like trying to figure out what is wrong with their timeline where Bart and Lisa, who are supposedly born in the '80s, are still kids in the 2000s going into the 2010s. There's really no clear answer to either question other than "it's just a tv show".
 
BlueWanderer said:
It's like trying to figure out what is wrong with their timeline where Bart and Lisa, who are supposedly born in the '80s, are still kids in the 2000s going into the 2010s.

Probably for the same reason why the kids in "Peanuts" barely grew up in their 50-year run.
 
There (sort of) is a "Springfield Elementary School" and it isn't in a town named Springfield. Remember a few years back, there was a contest among elementary school students to name their new school, and they chose "Springfield Elementary School" after the one on The Simpsons. So "Springfield" does exist! ;D
 
Matt Groening decided a long time ago that the characters
would not age (except in occasional flash-forwards); fairly
standard for a cartoon; Dennis the Menace has been five
years old for as long as I can remember.

This is like trying to figure out where "Guiding Light"'s Springfield
was located. The show dropped occasional hints that it was indeed
Springfield, IL, but never identified it as a state capital (the capital
was known simply as "Capital City"). "GL" was, as I recall, the last
soap not to identify the state in which its town was/is located.
 
bpatrick said:
This is like trying to figure out where "Guiding Light"'s Springfield
was located. The show dropped occasional hints that it was indeed
Springfield, IL, but never identified it as a state capital (the capital
was known simply as "Capital City"). "GL" was, as I recall, the last
soap not to identify the state in which its town was/is located.

And the thing about the "Guiding Light's" Springfield--the soap was also set in the fictitious locales of Five Points and Selby Flats (from the '40s into the '60s)--the latter apparently a fictitious LA suburb. Per Wikipedia's 1960s history of GL (for what it's worth):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiding_Light_(1960–1969)

And "Father Knows Best" was also set in yet another fictitious Midwestern Springfield:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Knows_Best
 
bpatrick said:
Matt Groening decided a long time ago that the characters
would not age (except in occasional flash-forwards); fairly
standard for a cartoon; Dennis the Menace has been five
years old for as long as I can remember.

If the shows would make or adopt their own calendar and not mention ours at all, then this won't be an issue especially for shows like The Simpsons. I think the anime Dragonball series goes by their own calendar but the characters do age in that show.
 
Tim from Springfield said:
bpatrick said:
This is like trying to figure out where "Guiding Light"'s Springfield
was located. The show dropped occasional hints that it was indeed
Springfield, IL, but never identified it as a state capital (the capital
was known simply as "Capital City"). "GL" was, as I recall, the last
soap not to identify the state in which its town was/is located.

And the thing about the "Guiding Light's" Springfield--the soap was also set in the fictitious locales of Five Points and Selby Flats (from the '40s into the '60s)--the latter apparently a fictitious LA suburb. Per Wikipedia's 1960s history of GL (for what it's worth):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiding_Light_(1960–1969)

And "Father Knows Best" was also set in yet another fictitious Midwestern Springfield:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Knows_Best

That "Guiding Light" wikipedia site points out that Five Points was identified as being in Illinois, and Selby Flats was in California (so you're probably right about it being a fictitious LA suburb). During the last year of "GL," when it was taped largely outdoors in New Jersey, a sign saying "Welcome To Springfield Township" was shown over the opening theme; that is a real place in New Jersey, but "GL" was supposed to take place in the Midwest because Springfield's zip code started with 6 (as zip codes in Illinois do). Sites in Indiana and Ohio were mentioned, but one was too small and the other too far away. Springfield, MO, would be a possibility, since Josh and Reva often made trips to Tulsa, which isn't that far away, but I personally believe from some of the hints I picked up over time that "GL"'s Springfield was indeed in Illinois.

Interesting that "GL" never specifically identified the state when other soaps eventually did identify the state where their town was located; a few cases in point: Port Charles, NY ("General Hospital"), Oakdale, IL ("As The World Turns"), Woodbridge, NY ("The Secret Storm"). But I never knew where Monticello ("Edge Of Night") or Henderson ("Search For Tomorrow") were.

As for "The Simpsons": for a time I thought their Springfield might be in Kentucky, since Springfield and Shelbyville, KY are not too far apart, but I think Matt Groening has pretty much rid me of that idea.
 
bpatrick said:
Matt Groening decided a long time ago that the characters
would not age (except in occasional flash-forwards); fairly
standard for a cartoon; Dennis the Menace has been five
years old for as long as I can remember.

Well both Homer and Marge have aged, though the kids obviously haven't. Oddly enough, Apu's kids have gotten older while Maggie appears to be the same age.
 
bpatrick said:
...I never knew where Monticello ("Edge Of Night") or Henderson ("Search For Tomorrow") were.

In the case of "Edge", Monticello is either based on, or is a suburb of, Cincinnati, as the skyline in its opening is that of Cincinnati, where of course, Procter and Gamble is based.
 
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