Anyway, getting off topic. Fantasy world’s are fun and all but what about regular cities and town’s? It’s really quite amazing how, when done right, a made up city or town and be just as much a character as anyone else in the TV show, movie, or comic book. Like Mayberry on “The Andy Griffith Show”, Hazard County on “Dukes of Hazard”, Stars Hollow on “Gilmore Girls”, Cabot Cove on "Murder She Wrote, Cicely on "Northern Exposure", and of course Angel Grove which people are gonna kill me for leaving off, but I never watched Power Ranges. EVER.
So here are my ten favorites. Couple rules, they need to be ordinary town and cities in America that just happen to have quirky characters living there. Also no existing cities. While it’s true Spider-Man is synonymous with New York City it doesn’t count since, of course, NYC is quite real.
It’s a Wonderful Life is an amazing movie. One reason for that is the acting by Jimmy Stewart. But another important element is the setting. We get to really know the town and townspeople of Bedford Falls in he movie. Who doesn’t know Martini’s bar? Or want to grab a cap from Ernie? And of course there’s the Bailey Building and Loan. In fact we get so familiar with the town that when we get to the angel stuff, the change is quite jarring! The town was so well done that it’s seem impossible to believe that the whole thing was a set. Yep it was one of the largest sets ever constructed for a movie and they made it as authentic as possible. And it worked, since it just wouldn’t be the same movie anywhere else.
#9.Toontown
Yeah it’s true this may be a cheat. But, it’s not a fantasy world or anything it’s just a town. With weird ass physical laws and eccentric animated inhabitants. But it’s still just a town, in fact the whole plot of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is centered around destroying it to put a highway through (which is what happened to many small towns) and we can clearly see it’s easy for people to visit. So yeah, it gets a slot. Any place you can get Mickey and Bugs on the screen at the same time is aces with me. Hey at least it’s not Cool World! I should also mention Halloween Town but, does that count?
#8.Salem
Soap Opera’s have almost cornered the market in small towns to set their stories in. Let’s see we have Genoa City for Young and the Restless, Harmony was home to Passions, Llanview for One Life to Live, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Port Charles is home to General Hospital, and of course the one I think everyone know-Days of Our Lives in Salem. Which state? Who knows. As I said before I actually did watch this for a time and some of the locations are pretty famous. Brady’s Pub for instance was referenced in Friends a few times. And then there was the DiMera Mansion where the evil villains lived.
#7.Springwood
Why is this on here when I am not a horror fan? Because even I know what this place is from, and that’s pretty impressive. Much like with soap opera’s horror movies also have some interesting made up towns. Anyone up for a visit to Crystal Lake? How about Woodsboro? And do I even need to mention Silent Hill? But I chose this one since it fits the criteria I laid out. If you watch the Nightmare on Elm Street movies you really get a handle on this town and its inhabitants. Most horror movies stay confined to one small group of characters but this one involves the whole town. Well, before they got stupid.
#6.Sesame Street
Ok this isn’t a town or city so much as a street in a city, but who cares what kid doesn’t want to live here? And I hate cities. This has it all, you have friendly faces. Friends who always want to play with you. A nice apartment and general store (that’s what Hooper’s was in my day anyway) right there. And only one grouchy resident on the whole street. The street looked a lot more “real” in my day, not that there’s anything wrong with the refurbished look they use today. After I figure out how the heck you get to Sesame Street, I want to visit Mr.Rogers Neighborhood. And yes I visited Sesame Place in Pennsylvania, and it was kind of boring back then (no real rides or anything) but still fun. By the way Sesame Street isn’t the only street that is famous. Does Wisteria Lane mean anything to anyone?
#5.Bedrock
Ah yes, the stone age family lived in this stone age town where animals would provide functions of modern day life. Yeah sounds kind of weird, how could they know what this stuff was if it had never been invented yet? Anyway it’s best not to think about it. My favorite was always the cars you had drive using your two feet. Seems kind of pointless really. But Bedrock was a cool place with dinosaurs and helped to make the Flintstones seems more, well, real. And they had things every town should have like police and fire departments, bowling alley’s, and even a drive up movie theater. There lots of cartoon towns, like The Jetsons lived in the futuristic Orbit City, Inspector Gadget took place in Metro City, Rocky and Bullwinkle lived in Frostbite Falls, and do I even need to mention who lived in Duckburg?
#4.Metropolis/Smallville
Superman has two home town’s and they are both awesome. Metropolis is a romanticized version of a massive city and it’s always impressive whether it be in the comics or on the big screen. To be fair the city does have its red light area, called Suicide Slum, but overall this is a huge city with a million people in it. And at the enter is the Daily Planet, the great metropolitan newspaper which serves as a symbol for the whole city. Lex Luthor of course has his grip on the city (depending what comic yiu are reading) and it’s no surprise at all Luthor would want to rule. Before Metropolis was Smallville. Over the years this little town where Clark Kent was raised has taken on an identity almost as strong as Metropolis. Of course the TV series with the same name didn’t hurt. It gave the show an identity beyond “where Clark grew up”. We know Lana Lang, Pete Ross, and of course Ma & Pa Kent. But we also met Lionel Luthor, Chloe, and of course the assorted other town folks who were unfortunate enough to be infected by those meteors in the pilot. Smallville became a strange place where meta humans mysteriously appeared. Course weird towns is nothing new. There’s also Sunnydale, Hawkins, and Twin Peaks for strangeness. And these days we also have Riverdale, which is similar to Smallville as it went from a quiet little town to something more thanks to a dark TV show. By the way some may wonder why the shrunken city of Kandor is not listed, and honestly I always that was a lame concept.
#3.Gotham City
I’m surprised this list was more towns than cities. Course comics are often set in cities. DC comics has tons of these like Star City, Keystone City, and Central City. And yeah there were quiet towns like Ivy Town, Blue Valley, and Bludhaven. But despite all of these Gotham City will always be one of the best know and loved. With its Gothic architecture and crazy villains that come from it, of course Batman would make it his home. Why better than Metropolis here? Because Gotham was a true character in the Batman lore, in a way Metropolis never quite was. Once you got past The Daily Planet anyway. Whether it’s the Adams West TV show, Burton movies or Nolan movies the city is always an integral element. In the comics this city really became a character in a very long story line about an Earthquake decimating the city. And of course there is the “Gotham” TV show that I have not watched. It says a lot that you can set a show in Gotham with no Batman at all, and it still works. DC comics also has many famous locales, but that’s a different list.
#2.Hill Valley
Did i ever tell you that in 1987 I was on the Universal Tour and got to see the clock tower and block that was Hull Valley? Awesome. And yes this square block of the Universal back lot has been in dozens of other movies from Gremlins (where it played Kingston Falls) to Bruce Almighty, but it will forever be Hill Valley to me (and I think a lot of people). I think the reason we have such a fondness for this town is because we truly get to see it’s growing pains. We see it when it was just an old western town with nothing to it. We see the idealized 50’s version where the town was quaint. We see the more rundown 80’s version when the town was falling apart. The eco friendly 2015 version where the future had turned things around for the town. And of course the hellish 1985-A where we see what hell hole the town could have been. After watching these movies you feel like you know this little town, and wish it were real! Of course the center of it all is that awesome clock tower which is one of the best symbols in any movie.
#1.Springfield
This may comes as a surprise being #1. Buy you gotta admire how much a character this town became. At first the Simpsons living in Springfield probably wasn’t given much thought. They needed a name for the town and that one is so common there’s no way to pinpoint what state it is. But in the almost thirty year it’s been on the town has been really fleshed out, so much so there was even talk of doing a spin-off’ series just on the town. We all know Moe’s bar, the nuclear power plant Homer works at, Krusty Burgers, and so on and so on. The Kwik-Mart, Bart’s school, bowling alley, and even the statue of town founder Jebediah Springfield. It’s just plain amazing how fleshed out the town and the characters who inhabit it have become. Barney, Krusty, Flanders, Cheif Wiggum, Mayor Quimby….and on and on. Yes Futruama has “New New York”, Family Guy has Quahog, and of course there’s South Park……but we all love Springfield.
Feels odd having no sitcoms on here. I guess sitcoms dont develop their environment very well. Unless you’re Parks and Recreation and the town is Pawnee anyway. Roseanne came close with Lanford. And of course Rutherford, Ohio was home to 3rd Rock from the Sun. Of course a lot of these shows air in real towns and cities which makes it easier on the creators. No need to go into the environment when it already exists in the world. Did I miss your favorite? Comment and let me know.
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