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CLASSIC TV/U.S. GEOGRAPHY

> As we know, the majority of shows since the invention of TV
> have used New York or Los Angeles as a backdrop.

I dont know where they were supposed to be based as a show (never actually watched it) but Dawson's Creek was filmed in and around the reallife town of Wilmington, North Carolina. I lived there from 1999-2000 and occasionally saw a film crew around town.

There is (or was, dont know if its still there) a large production company located in Wilmington. The name of the company escapes me at the moment but Dawson's Creek basically put Wilmington "on the map" for a reason other than Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach being a stop for reporters/meteorologists from The Weather Channel when a major hurricane is headed in that direction.

Meanwhile, back to the subject of tv shows and their cities: Don't forget the Dallas spinoff Knot's Landing which was based in California.
 
> > As we know, the majority of shows since the invention of
> TV
> > have used New York or Los Angeles as a backdrop.
>
> I dont know where they were supposed to be based as a show
> (never actually watched it) but Dawson's Creek was filmed in
> and around the reallife town of Wilmington, North Carolina.
> I lived there from 1999-2000 and occasionally saw a film
> crew around town.

IIRC, the show was set on Cape Cod . . .
 
> > Kansas: "Mama's Family"(Raytown)
> >
>
> Believe it or not there was a BIG debate on this awhile back
> on sitcomsonline.com about this. Someone pointed out that
> they heard Vicki Lawrence say that Mama's Family was based
> in Raytown, Missouri which is a suberb of Kansas City. I
> think someone pointed that in an early episode of the show
> there is a scene of Mama driving a car with Missouri license
> plates.

That is correct. On the Jeopardy episode, they clearly state Missouri as the family's home state. Although, they're kinda crossed up. Raytown is in KS, while Raymore (also Mancow's hometown) is in MO. Easily confused.
 
> > - It was revealed a couple of years ago that fictional
> > Springfield (the Simpsons) is in Kentucky.
>
> Again, according to the IMDb, the "Behind the Secnes"
> episode of *The Simpsons* has several different versions,
> each placing Springfield in a different state. One of those
> versions just happens to mark Kentucky as the state that
> contains Springfield. So far, the producers and writers of
> *The Simpsons* have been very apt at dodging the question of
> where Springfield would be if it were a real town.
>

There are several different versions in reruns (Missouri, Kentucky, Oregon, Massachusetts, and another one I forget). It only had one ending (the Kentucky one) the first time it aired, however. I believe they wanted to show them all originally, but Fox thought it'd be too expensive.
 
A state no one has mentioned yet and perhaps its only show

"The Torkelsons" was set in Nebraska (IIRC, the Omaha burbs).

Surely Delaware has gotten some TV love at some point. It can't be the only state to have never been the setting of a network show, can it?
 
Let's not forget other shows set in New Jersey like:
Charles in Charge (New Brunswick)
Hudson Street (?)
The Sopranos (Perth Amboy?)

And AFAIK All My Children's "Pine Valley" was an upstate suburb of New York.
 
> New Mexico: Cade's County; Empire (early 1960s)

New Mexico was also the setting for syndicated sitcom "Please Stand By"(1977-78), with the fictious DeQueen as the backdrop.
 
> > Florida
> > Miami: CSI: Miami, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls
> > Everglades: Gentle Ben
>
> Jacksonville: Nowhere Man
Orlando: Coach (last two seasons)

Safe Harbor (a spinoff of 7th Heaven), in the fictional town of Magic Beach, Florida. It was also filmed in and around Jacksonville.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by alternativemedium on 06/11/05 03:37 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> Let's not forget other shows set in New Jersey like:
> Charles in Charge (New Brunswick)

On the bright side, this show brought us the very lovely Nicole Eggert who went on to greater "fame" on Baywatch.

On the not so bright side, it brought us Willie Ames and one of the wierdest concepts ever: Following the first season, the original family is replaced and a new one moves in for season 2 (with Nicole Eggert). Charles stays on as "nanny". So, basically, the new owners not only bought the house from the original family but bought Charles the Nanny as well.

Then again, Nicole Eggert was on this show so who really cares.

Have I mentioned Nicole Eggert was on this show?
 
> > > As we know, the majority of shows since the invention of
>
> > TV
> > > have used New York or Los Angeles as a backdrop.
> >
> > I dont know where they were supposed to be based as a show
>
> > (never actually watched it) but Dawson's Creek was filmed
> in
> > and around the reallife town of Wilmington, North
> Carolina.
> > I lived there from 1999-2000 and occasionally saw a film
> > crew around town.
>
> IIRC, the show was set on Cape Cod . . .
>
During the last season, when the characters went to college, they did lots of filming around Durham and Raleigh, NC, even hoisting the flag of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts above the old NC State Capitol Building for one scene.
 
> Have I mentioned Nicole Eggert was on this show?

No, you didn't. Was she? :p
<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
"The Dick Van Dyke Show"-once set in Danville, Ill, later New Rochelle, NY
"Carter Country"-fictional town of Clinton Corners, Ga.
"Three's Company"-Santa Monica, Ca.
"Evening Shade"-fictional Evening Shade, Arkansas
"Major Dad"-Camp Pendleton, Ca and later a post in Virginia
"Simon and Simon"-San Diego, Ca.
"Step By Step" - Port Washington, Wi.
"JAG" - around the District of Columbia with several scenes in the Hampton Roads, Va area.
"Full House" San Francisco, Ca.
"Murder She Wrote" - fictional Cabot Cove, Maine
"Wings" - Nantucket, Mass.
"Green Acres" - think they once said Hooterville was in Indiana?
"American Dad" - fictional Langley Falls, Va.
"King of the Hill" - fictional Arlen, Tx.
"Family Matters", "Perfect Strangers", "Punky Brewster" - Chicago, Ill.
"Home Improvement" - Detroit, Mi.
"Roseanne" - Fictional Lanford, Ill.
"I Dream of Jeanie" - Cocoa Beach, Fla.
"Grace Under Fire" Missouri (St. Louis?)
 
> "Green Acres" - think they once said Hooterville was in
> Indiana?

Hooterville's location, like Springfield's, will remain a mystery for the ages. It could have been in a remote corner of NY (as Henning apparently stated once), in AR (only way the Beverly Hillbillies crossovers make much sense), and in northern KY/southern IN (as they're apparently not very far from Chicago).
 
> Soaps: The Bold And The Beautiful is set in Los Angeles.
> The
> Young And The Restless takes place in Genoa City, Wisconsin,
>
> a real town with little more than a post office and
> convenience
> store (Bill and Lee Philip Bell used to go through there
> driving
> from Chicago to Lake Geneva). Oakdale, As The World Turns's
> setting,
> is a fictional town in Illinois. Pine Valley (All My
> Children) and
> Llanview (One Life To Live) are fictional suburbs of
> Philadelphia.
> Port Charles (General Hospital and the now-defunct Port
> Charles)
> is supposed to be somewhere near Buffalo. Ryan's Hope was
> the
> first soap to be set in a real city: New York, and I believe
>
> The City (the successor to Loving) was set there as well.
> And aren't Collinsport (Dark Shadows) and Harmony (Passions)
>
> supposed to be in Maine? Oh, and don't forget Santa Barbara
>
> and Sunset Beach. Also, Woodbridge (The Secret Storm) and
> Rosehill (Love Of Life) were fictional New York towns.
>
Another World was set in Bay City, which most assumed was the one in MI, but in later years, many on-show references (like addresses on packages and envelopes) linked it to IL, near Chicago, and ATWT's Oakdale.

Texas, the second AW spinoff, was set in Houston.

The Edge of Night was set in Monticello which was referenced as being close to Bay City and Oakdale, although the show used Cincinnati's skyline (1956-1980) and later LA's skyline (1980-1984) to illustrate Monticello in the show credits.

Generations was set in/near Chicago. Also, the early NBC show Hawkins Falls was set in a town near Chicago. The Doctors used no setting reference at first, but later the town was said to be Madison (WI?). Guiding Light has used multiple settings in it's 68 combined years (one of the few soaps to do so), 'Selby Flats'(CA?) and 'Springfield'(not the one on the Simpsons) being 2 of the latest.
 
Speaking of soaps, "Days Of Our Lives" uses Salem, Illinois(Which BTW is a real town, in the southern part of the state near Mount Vernon) as its setting. Unlike the TV series this one doesn't a waterfront and for years there have been disputes about the show's locale because of that.
 
> > As we know, the majority of shows since the invention of
> TV
> > have used New York or Los Angeles as a backdrop.
>
> I dont know where they were supposed to be based as a show
> (never actually watched it) but Dawson's Creek was filmed in
> and around the reallife town of Wilmington, North Carolina.
> I lived there from 1999-2000 and occasionally saw a film
> crew around town.
>
I beleive there is another teen-aged angst WB program currently being produced in Wilmington..can't remember which one. Matlock, the old NBC show with ANdy Griffin, which was supposed to take place in Atlanta, was produced in Wilmington. They shot lots of outside scenes for Matlock in Wilmington which were not too realistic. Downtown Wilmington is not a whole lot like downtown Atlanta...
 
> "The Dick Van Dyke Show"-once set in Danville, Ill, later
> New Rochelle, NY
THe original Dick Van Dyke Show was always set in New Rochelle. Dick was supposed to have grown up in Danville IL

> "Three's Company"-Santa Monica, Ca.
Doesn't count---Santa Monica is firmly in metro LA.


> "Green Acres" - think they once said Hooterville was in
> Indiana?
Couldn't be...Hooterville was in the same neighborhood as the Clampet's hometown and the OZarks were often referenced on both shows. Hooterville, Crabwell Corners, Pixley, and Bugtussle were probably in Missouri or Arkansas.




> "Roseanne" - Fictional Lanford, Ill.
Which was definitely in the exurbs of Chicago, maybe around Elgin or Aurora. Becky and Darlene, even little DJ, were known to take illicit trips to Chicago. Once Becky got in trouble at a rock concert in Rockford. On a number of occasions the Conners took the one hour drive to the CHicago airport...
> "Grace Under Fire" Missouri (St. Louis?)
>
I thought it was Kansas City....which reminds me...UPN's Malcom and Eddie lived in KC.
 
> Speaking of soaps, "Days Of Our Lives" uses Salem,
> Illinois(Which BTW is a real town, in the southern part of
> the state near Mount Vernon) as its setting. Unlike the TV
> series this one doesn't a waterfront and for years there
> have been disputes about the show's locale because of that.
>
I always assumed it was Salem, MA, which Vincent Terrace's
unreliable "Encyclopedia of Television," which came out in
the mid-'70s but has been updated, says is the location.
But I, too, have also heard Salem, IL.

For the record, Guiding Light's old location, Selby Flats,
was supposed to be in California (I think the show actually
originated in Los Angeles around the late '40s). Springfield,
though no state is given, is somewhere close to ATWT's Oakdale;
I've heard references to the two towns' high schools playing
each other in basketball, and I once saw a highway mileage sign
which showed the two towns about 90 miles apart. So that could
very well mean it's Springfield, IL. On the other hand, Josh and
Reva are supposed to be from the Tulsa area, and Springfield, MO
is a lot closer to Tulsa. So I guess you can all draw your own
conclusions.
 
Re: A state no one has mentioned yet

As far as I know, no show has had a setting in Delaware. The show Joan of Arkadia takes place in Arkadia, a fictional town in Maryland near Washington. However, many of the arial views of the city skyline are of the Wilmington, Delaware skyline. Note the DuPont company logo on the Brandywine Bldg in many of those shots.

In terms of TV, Delaware is unique. It is the only state that does not have it's own commerical TV station, due to being so close to both Philly and Baltimore. Channel 12(a PBS affiliate and a non-comm) is licensed to Wilmington, but all of its operations, other than it's 30 minute weeknight newscast is done in Philly. Channel 61 also is licensed to Wilmington, but operates out of Philly. The only Delaware TV station, channel 64 Seaford, DE similcasts all of channel 12's programming.

> Surely Delaware has gotten some TV love at some point. It
> can't be the only state to have never been the setting of a
> network show, can it?
>
 
Here's another soap that wasn't mentioned: "Search For Tomorrow," which was set in the ficticious town of Henderson, Ohio[possibly near Cincinnati, home of P&G, which produced the series].
 
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