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From the idyllic coastlines of New England to the sunny Pacific coast, from the Jersey Shore to the Southern Gulf Shore, from Midwest prairie land to Southwest deserts and canyons — the United States offers a variety of cultures, climates and land masses that have provided the backdrops to some of the best television series of all time. We’ve set out to discover the best program set in each state, which brought about some surprises, some difficult decisions and a few no-brainers.
There are some states in which very few series have been set, and some stand out as the unsurprising winner, such as “Ozark” for Missouri or “Yellowstone” for Montana. However, there were a couple of instances in which we had very little to choose from. We planned to only include scripted series, but were surprised to find that Iowa has been home to very few , and those didn’t last long. Therefore, the only reality series on the list is “American Pickers” from that state.
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Other states, especially those with larger cities, had multiple possibilities. From those, we tried to choose series in which the city was an essential part of the show. New York was especially difficult, but in the end, the long-running “Law & Order: SUV” was chosen. It was a toss-up between “Frasier” and “Grey’s Anatomy” for Washington, but the beloved and critically acclaimed comedy came out on top. Wisconsin offers a few sitcom possibilities, ironically with two set in the 1950s that premiered in the 1970s and one that premiered in the 1990s but was set in the 1970s; we went with that 1970s show, “Happy Days.”
From Mary Tyler Moore‘s iconic hat toss, to California’s most famous zip code, to a sprawling Texas ranch, to a bar where everyone knows your name, here’s a list of the best TV show set in each of the 50 states. (Note that districts like Washington, D.C. don’t make our list, but we’d obviously have to pick “The West Wing” in that case.) Scroll through our photo gallery above or click here for direct access.
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