TV Shows Set in Fictional or Unknown locals

[Markxxx]

What TV shows take place in cities that we don't know or take place in cities that the state is unknown.

For instance

Hooterville, Springfield (The Simpsons and Father Knows Best), Hilldale (Donna Read), Mockingbird Heights (The Munsters), San Pueblo (Partridge Family), Glen Lawn (Gimme A Break), Mayfield (Leave it to Beaver) and so forth. We get hints about some but for the most part their locations are not known (or impossible as in the case of The Simpson's Springfield).

Or I'll go out on a limb and say The Brady Bunch, as it's assumed to be LA but it's never stated.

 

[bpatrick]

I'd be willing to bet that San Pueblo is in California. Mayfield, I
think, might have been in Ohio; Ward was often talking about
his boyhood in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Although
it begs a question: in the later years Beaver would sometimes
talk about getting or having a surfboard. Can you surf on Lake Erie?

 

[mavtv]

I'd be willing to bet that San Pueblo is in California. Mayfield, I
think, might have been in Ohio; Ward was often talking about
his boyhood in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Although
it begs a question: in the later years Beaver would sometimes
talk about getting or having a surfboard. Can you surf on Lake Erie?

I remember there was some Cleveland setting or feel to it. There is a Mayfield Heights near Cleveland in Cuyahoga County as a kid I always thought it was set there.

 

[BD Sullivan]

I'd be willing to bet that San Pueblo is in California. Mayfield, I
think, might have been in Ohio; Ward was often talking about
his boyhood in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Although
it begs a question: in the later years Beaver would sometimes
talk about getting or having a surfboard. Can you surf on Lake Erie?

I remember there was some Cleveland setting or feel to it. There is a Mayfield Heights near Cleveland in Cuyahoga County as a kid I always thought it was set there.

There's also a Mayfield right next to it, although Lake Erie isn't really a surfing haven.

 

[bpatrick]

IIRC, Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher were both from the
Cleveland area (perhaps Shaker Heights), so they might
have based more than a few story ideas on growing up
there.

 

[ShawnHill1]

What TV shows take place in cities that we don't know or take place in cities that the state is unknown.

Or I'll go out on a limb and say The Brady Bunch, as it's assumed to be LA but it's never stated.

I believe you would be right; it was pretty much established that the Bradys lived in Southern California, although like you said, there was no actual town/city officially mentioned. Greg and Marcia went to Westdale High School, so "Westdale" could be the actual community that they lived in.

Also, if I remember correctly, in The New Leave it to Beaver and in the theatrical remake, it was mentioned that the Cleavers lived in Mayfield, Ohio.

 

[BD Sullivan]

On The Fugitive, Richard Kimble (David Janssen) is convicted of killing his wife in their Stafford, Indiana home.

Here are some others:

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

 

[Joey1986]

Are we including shows whose locales are (or were) never mentioned or revealed? If so, Small Wonder would fall into that category.

 

[cd637299]

[deleted]

 

[jwk1979]

I was under the impression that "Gimme A Break" setting of Glen Lawn was a suburb of Los Angeles. Iirc, several references were made about Van Nuys, Pasadenna and Sherman Oaks during the course of the show.

The Addams Family is a show that not only was the state they were in never stated, but I don't think the name of the city/town they resided in was ever mention, either.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

In the Tommy Rettig and Jon Provost seasons of "Lassie", the family farm was located somewhere outside of the town of Calverton. There was also a larger city somewhat farther away called Capital City.

 

[anotherguyTN]

A few from Canada that I didn't think would fit the other thread:

The Red Green Show: Possum Lake, Ontario
Corner Gas: Dog River, Saskatchewan
SCTV: Melonville, although I couldn't find a reference to a province

 

[therealjm12]

The Addams Family is a show that not only was the state they were in never stated, but I don't think the name of the city/town they resided in was ever mention, either.

The Addams Family lived in the State of Anarchy. Green Acres was in the State of Total Confusion.

 

[LKellerIII]

The Addams Family is a show that not only was the state they were in never stated, but I don't think the name of the city/town they resided in was ever mention, either.

The Addams Family lived in the State of Anarchy. Green Acres was in the State of Total Confusion.

Quite a few cop shows of the 70s and 80s were in anonymous cities. The Rookies were in the un-named "SCPD"...generic Southern California. Hill Street Blues was set in an un-named gritty northeastern city, and were referred to only as the "Metro" police.

 

[BD Sullivan]

The Addams Family is a show that not only was the state they were in never stated, but I don't think the name of the city/town they resided in was ever mention, either.

The Addams Family lived in the State of Anarchy. Green Acres was in the State of Total Confusion.

Quite a few cop shows of the 70s and 80s were in anonymous cities. The Rookies were in the un-named "SCPD"...generic Southern California. Hill Street Blues was set in an un-named gritty northeastern city, and were referred to only as the "Metro" police.

Even in the 60's that was the case: "Felony Squad, which lasted for 2 1/2 seasons from 1966-69, was set in an anonymous "large city in the West."

Back to a pair of comedy shows, both with the same fictional locale, Fernwood, OH. "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," a Norman Lear parody of soap operas began in January 1976, and the following year, "Fernwood Tonight," starring Martin Mull and Fred Willard started up. The latter show was something of a precursor of the Larry Sanders Show--a parody of the usual talk show, etc.

 

[bpatrick]

Speaking of Canadian shows, where did "King Of Kensington"
take place?

And then there was "Night Heat," which was produced in
Toronto but was picked up by CBS for its late-night, pre-
Letterman, block of cop shows. The producers had to be
careful where they filmed; for instance, we have Exxon stations
while Canada has Esso stations, so they could never film on a
street with an Esso station, lest U.S. viewers recognize the show
as a production from out of the country. So I think the producers
kept the locale a secret.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Quite a few cop shows of the 70s and 80s were in anonymous cities. The Rookies were in the un-named "SCPD"...generic Southern California. Hill Street Blues was set in an un-named gritty northeastern city, and were referred to only as the "Metro" police.

"T. J. Hooker" was set in Las Cruces. Was that a fictional city? Also, some other old threads here claim the unnamed gritty Northeastern setting for "Hill Street Blues" was supposed to be Pittsburgh. (I always thought Chicago...Not the Northeast, but the opening credits showed an Old Style beer sign outside a bar.)

 

[BD Sullivan]

Quite a few cop shows of the 70s and 80s were in anonymous cities. The Rookies were in the un-named "SCPD"...generic Southern California. Hill Street Blues was set in an un-named gritty northeastern city, and were referred to only as the "Metro" police.

"T. J. Hooker" was set in Las Cruces. Was that a fictional city?

No, it's in New Mexico.

 

[jwk1979]

Speaking of Canadian shows, And then there was "Night Heat," which was produced in
Toronto but was picked up by CBS for its late-night, pre-
Letterman, block of cop shows. The producers had to be
careful where they filmed; for instance, we have Exxon stations
while Canada has Esso stations, so they could never film on a
street with an Esso station, lest U.S. viewers recognize the show
as a production from out of the country. So I think the producers
kept the locale a secret.

"FlashPoint", the Canadian show that CBS ran on Friday nights during the summer for a couple of years, is another show that even though it was produced in Toronto, they went to great length to never mention what city they were in. It was always refered to as "The City" or "Metro". Even their uniforms never stated which city the represented. I don't believe they even mentioned that they were in Canada, not the US on the show.

 

[Bob1370]

"The Red Green Show: Possum Lake, Ontario"

It was clearly up in the North Woods, north of Toronto and well past Barrie...probably around North Bay.

"Corner Gas: Dog River, Saskatchewan"

Somewhere between Moose Jaw and Regina.

"SCTV: Melonville, although I couldn't find a reference to a province"

The oblique references were to a Toronto suburb, Orangeville, although SCTV was really as much about Buffalo, New York as anyplace. There were a lot of references to places like Cheektowaga and Tonawanda (suburbs of Buffalo), targets when a lot of TV viewing in Toronto went to Buffalo stations, and SCTV was a sendup of Buffalo television with a little Canadian content and a few jabs at Toronto's CBLT and CFTO thrown in for good measure. And the anchors on the evening news were parodies of Irv Weinstein and Don Postles, then chief anchors at WKBW-TV Channel 7 in Buffalo (not only SCTV's favorite target. WKBW-TV was a favorite starting point for Canadian media humor. it wa not only SCTV's satiric target, but it was the actual setting--right down to the correct call letters and station logo--for Jim Carrey's 1999 film "Bruce Almighty", based on the frustration of Carrey's character, a thinly disguised version of Channel 7 feature reporter Don Polec, after he failed to get Weinstein's job when Irv retired in 1998. (The real Don Polec could have cared less about Irv's job, BTW, because he'd long since moved on to a long run at Philadelphia's ABC O&O WPVI.)