Signature shows for cities

New Orleans is a truly unique American city, so capturing it in all its complicated and lush history is tricky. Fortunately, David Simon was able to do that with "Treme." Starting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it felt like a real love letter to NOLA that put the city above everything else.

"Hot in Cleveland" may have the city's name in its title, but "The Drew Carey Show" is more of a Cleveland show (even more than "The Cleveland Show"). Carey is from the city, so he knows its ins and outs. Just watch the opening credits from the "Cleveland Rocks" era and you know that no other show could be the choice.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is one of the best, and most important, sitcoms of all time. We got to watch a single woman navigate dating and being an upwardly mobile professional, and it all took place in Minneapolis. That meant that Mary Richards had something else to navigate: horrible winters.

Maybe it's just because of the opening credits, but when you say "San Francisco" to people of a certain age the first show they are going to think of is "Full House." It's one of America's most iconic cities, but it's the adventures of the Tanners, plus Uncles Jesse and Joey, that represent the city to many.

"Portlandia" isn't just set in Portland. It's basically about Portland and all its quirks. The motto for many is "Keep Portland Weird." "Portlandia" definitely seemed dedicated to that.

"Happy Days" set the image for what many of us think of as the '50s. It also gave us The Fonz, one of TV's most indelible characters. "Laverne & Shirley" is also a classic Milwaukee show, but since it's a "Happy Days" spin-off, the original is the choice here.

There were a million options here, but no show feels more connected to New York than "Seinfeld." The city was vital to its voice and atmosphere. Plus, as a popular choice for best sitcom ever, it certainly comes to mind when you think of the Big Apple.

Even though most of "Cheers" takes place inside a basement bar, it's still tied to Boston. It certainly helps that Sam Malone was a former Red Sox pitcher, and that many famous Boston sports stars would stop by.

We were spoiled for choices for Los Angeles, but in the end "The Rockford Files" feels the most tied to the City of Angels. The opening credits, which showed Jim Rockford traversing L.A., definitely helps. As a private eye, Rockford often found himself visiting different sections of the city, making it both a fun procedural and a tour of Los Angeles.

David Simon knows how to tie a show to a city. Arguably no show has ever brought a city to life like "The Wire" did for Baltimore.

It's hard to argue with a show that has the city in its title. "Miami Vice" screamed '80s with its pastels and fashion, and the setting allowed for plenty of action at the beach and on boats.

Though it didn't include the city in its name like the Miami and New York-set spin-offs, Las Vegas still played a big role in setting the stage for "CSI." The weirdness that is synonymous with Sin City allowed the show plenty of fodder for its often grisly story lines. "CSI" gave procedural fans plenty of entertainment for years.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is a real underdog story, as the creators of the show put together a pilot themselves for incredibly cheap. Many years later, they've done over 100 episodes and become ingrained in Philly culture, even if nobody has a Philadelphia accent in the main cast.

We could have gone with "The Bob Newhart Show," but "ER" just felt right. Even though there are several current shows with "Chicago" in the title, none of them are as memorable as "ER," which, among other things helped make George Clooney a star.

C'mon, this one was obvious. At the time the show was on, for most people their entire idea of the city of Dallas came from what they saw on this classic prime time soap opera.

Frasier Crane left the Boston-based "Cheers" to become just as tied to Seattle as Sam Malone is tied to Beantown. It's all there in the opening credits, with an outline of the city's skyline, to the occasional end credits declaration, "Goodnight Seattle, we love you!"

Washington D.C. is the political center of the United States. The choice here had to be a political show. What better choice than "The West Wing," which took us inside the White House? "Veep" is also an option for the same reason, but we have enough political dysfunction in real life as is.

Since there has never been a show set on the campus of the University of Colorado, "Mork & Mindy" was a pretty obvious choice for Boulder. Not that it's a stretch, given that many still remember this show, thanks largely to the fact it gave Robin Williams an early starring role.

This may be a pretty recent addition to the television canon, but "This is Us" has already made quite the impact on its viewers. In an era where network TV doesn't have the same cache it used to, "This is Us" still elicits the tears week in and week out from its Pittsburgh home.

Like Carey to Cleveland, Tim Allen called Metro Detroit his home growing up. So when the time came for him to get his own show, he set it in the suburbs of the Motor City. The references to the city, especially its sports teams, abounded, and it also felt fitting that a Detroit boy spent so much time building his own hot rod.

What Jim Rockford was to Los Angeles, the Simon brothers were to San Diego. The pair of private eyes called the city home, which meant palm trees and beautiful weather abounded.

If a zombie outbreak ever happens, this will likely change to "The Walking Dead." Until then, though, AMC's hit doesn't really feel like it's truly set in Atlanta. "Designing Women," on the other hand, was dripping with Southern charm and Peach State hospitality. (Although give it a few more seasons, and "Atlanta" could steal this one.)

This may be an upset over "Hawaii 5-0," especially since that show got a reboot. However, Thomas Magnum is also about to be brought back to television, though this time without Tom Selleck's mustache at his disposal. If you are talking which show has a longer, more-indelible legacy, "Magnum" is the choice over "Hawaii 5-0," though maybe we are splitting hairs.

To think that Vince Gilligan originally wanted to set "Breaking Bad" in California. The landscape of Albuquerque, and New Mexico as a whole, became vital to setting the tone for Walter White's descent into the meth game. "Breaking Bad" has gone down as an all-time-great TV drama, making sure we never forget about Albuquerque, even if we don't have exactly positive connotations to it.

Okay, so we don't know what state Springfield is in. However, is there a more iconic city in all of television? Heck, is there a more beloved city in all of pop culture? Anytime you hear "Springfield," regardless of the context, you think of the home of the Simpson family.

Both "Parks and Recreation" and "Stranger Things" are set in Indiana, but in fictional towns. Indianapolis is very much real, though, and "One Day at a Time" is actually set in Indiana's capital. Sure, Leslie and crew would sometimes visit Naptown, but they spent most of their time in Pawnee.

Nashville, the city, is home to country music, so naturally "Nashville," the show, is set there. If you want to do a show about the country music industry, it's a necessary setting, and certainly the city makes itself known throughout the show.

Since "John from Cincinnati " never took off, "WKRP" is an obvious choice. Though it hasn't cast as large of a shadow as some other classic sitcoms, this story of a radio station in the titular city actually holds up quite well.

David Milch's grandiose vision made sure that "Deadwood" would stick with us. He had a whole town built for the show to take place in, giving his version of the Old West burg a lived-in quality few can match. There are a lot of people who might have never even heard of Deadwood if not for this show.

Granted, modern day Colorado Springs is not recognizable in "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." The show is set in the 1860s, after all. Still, the good doctor left Boston, not unlike "Frasier," and set up shop in what was then the wild west, so this was still an obvious choice.

There's nothing special about Scranton, which is exactly why "The Office" is set there. It's a nice enough suburban town where a middling paper company branch could be housed. There's not supposed to be glamour in the environment of "The Office," but the show still put Scranton on the map for many.

Reno is a weird city, even if it isn't quite as weird as "Reno 911" made it seem. The largely-improvised show was successful enough it got a movie… although that movie took place in Miami. Hey, at least Reno still got name-dropped in a movie title.

Did you know Columbus is the most populous city in Ohio? It's true, but it often gets overlooked in favor of Cleveland or Cincinnati. At least it has "Family Ties," which means Michael J. Fox rose to fame playing a character from the capital of the Buckeye State. Take that, Hill Valley!

A lot of "Justified" took place in rural areas of Kentucky, but Raylan Givens and the other U.S. Marshalls were based in Lexington. The show, in addition to being really good, dug into the idiosyncrasies of the area like Raylan and Boyd Crowder used to dig coal together.

New Jersey is one of the 13 original colonies. However, until "The Sopranos" came along on HBO, the state often felt like it was just a mass of land near New York City where the Devils played. Tony Soprano and his cohorts turned the Garden State into an entity of its own.

We could have said "Family Guy," which takes place in the fictional Rhode Island city of Quahog. However, we didn't want to do America's smallest state the indignity of being considered synonymous with a Seth Macfarlane show. So instead we are going with "Providence," which shares a name, and setting, with the capital of Rhode Island.

The entire premise of "Northern Exposure," at least early on, is about a New York City doctor being a fish out of water in the very different world of Alaska. The fact the show is set in Alaska is vital, as without that this isn't even a show. Alaska and "Northern Exposure" go hand in hand. The good doctor thought he was going to land in Anchorage, but the fictional town of Cicley had to do.  

"Boardwalk Empire" is a period piece, but in this case that's perfect. Atlantic City isn't what it used to be, but once upon a time it was a place significant enough to inspire the original Monopoly. "Boardwalk Empire" is about the Atlantic City people think about, and it helped fuel that thought even further.

Heading across the bay from Full House we find that show's TGIF counterpart "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper." While "Full House" was lily-white, Mark Curry's show gave much more attention to the black community, which is fitting given the racial landscape of Oakland. Curry was from the city, so it makes sense he would tie his starring vehicle to it.

The area of "Silicon Valley" in the Bay Area is a bit nebulous. However, that doesn't mean HBO's comedy "Silicon Valley" isn't capturing the area with aplomb. It's a great satire of the tech industry, and the folks of Silicon Valley, from the hardworking engineers to the CEOs who can buy yachts with change they find in their couch cushions.

You might say this should be "The O.C." However, you might hear ”the O.C." and reflexively say, "Don't call it that." If so, you are part of the cult of devoted "Arrested Development" fans. The buzz "The O.C." generated once upon a time is gone, but the fervor for "Arrested Development" has never died.

For a nice beach town, the Santa Barbara of "Psych" had an awful lot of murders. On the other hand, it had a ton of blue sky and beautiful weather, which made it a perfect fit for the USA Network of that era. It makes Santa Barbara seem like a great place to live… if you aren't worry about being murdered.

"The Bob Newhart Show" lost out in the Chicago running, but Newhart's titular follow-up show wins Vermont with ease. Newhart played Dick Loudon, who ran an inn in a small Vermont town. If you've never been to Vermont, you probably imagine this is what it's like, give or take a Larry Darryl and Darryl.

Mayberry may not be real, but it's based on Andy Griffith's home town of Mount Airy. They even have an annual "Mayberry Days" festival celebrating the classic sitcom, and its small-town, Southern feel. 

The Mormon Church has tried to distance itself from bigamy for years, so they may not be happy that "Big Love" is the show that people think of when they think of Salt Lake City. However, it was a notable show, and can you think of any other programs set in Utah's biggest city? Case closed.

For a major American city, Phoenix hasn't had a lot of shows set in it. It doesn't have "Alice," though, which has the prestige of being inspired by Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." Have you ever heard of Mel's Diner, or a waitress named Flo telling somebody to kiss her grits? That's Alice.

"The Beverly Hillbillies" may have put brought the wealth of Beverly Hills to America's living rooms in the 1960s, but it wasn't until Aaron Spelling's early hit show for Fox that we learned the zip code.  The CW rebooted the series as "90210" in 2008 (a new Peach Pit and all), but like most things, the original is best. 

Speaking of Aaron Spelling, he also produced "Dynasty," which was something of an answer to "Dallas." Though it's not called "Denver," it's still the most notable show set in the Mile High City. Maybe that thin air is the reason why the Carringtons were always acting so crazy.

When Sam Malone retired, he stayed in Boston. When Tony Micelli retired from baseball, though, he moved to Fairfield, Conn. and took a job as a live-in housekeeper. It was another fish out of water story, but Connecticut was that water that an Italian-American from Brooklyn felt out of place in.

Boise, Idaho is quite different from Los Angeles. That's why "The Grinder" is set there. Pampered actor Dean Sanderson gets burnt out from playing a lawyer, so he moves back to his hometown of Boise to try and be a real lawyer. The smallish, quiet-ish nature of the city served to magnify Dean's ego, to great comedic effect.