There was an episode of X-Files that dealt with the Jersey Devil. At one point it shows they are at "the outskirts of Atlantic city" and show it as the Pine Barrens.
That's not the outskirts of Atlantic city. The outskirts? You mean the ocean? You mean the Black Horse Pike?? You mean fucking Ventnor???? Pine Barrens are further inland!
In the 90s show "Twin Peaks" the intro showed a sign saying "population 52,201", but in the show itself everyone in town knew each other and the town itself was the size of a small village, with one diner, a few cops, and no infrastructure apart from the logging industry. It would have been more realistic to have the sign say the population was in the hundreds or maybe 1000 at most.
Source: I grew up in a small town with a population of about 1100 people and it was several times larger than Twin Peaks in area, and even with that small number of people it was rare to bump into more than a couple of acquaintances in a week's time.
You say that, but right now at this moment there’s undoubtedly at least one Republican state rep getting his dick sucked through a hole in an airport bathroom stall.
Where people in small towns are accepting of everybody even if you dress differently. If you’re new in town, they’re very welcoming to you. Most small towns that is not the case.
Maybe this isn’t a USA specific thing but for me it’s always how large peoples houses and apartments are on TV. Those places are huge. My family could never afford anything like that, and it often makes no sense if the character has a relatable job.
Whats insane is we used to. My janitor dad and homemaker mom afforded a five bedroom, three bathroom house with full basement, workshop, seperate dining room, living room, breakfast nook, kitchen. it was dillapitated sure but not to an unlivable level. Massive porch.
How I Met Your Mother did the latter pretty well. The whole show was a story the narrator was telling his kids, so it was all based off of how he remembered his life at the time. What we see on TV is just him remembering the NYC apartment bigger than it was.
Judge Dread. Oh wait, you said UN-realistic didn't you!?:-) Then Idiocracy, where they actually put a smart person in charge.
Real answer: Hallmark shows, which are basically porn for conservative women. City dweller comes back home for a visit for the holidays, learns the meaning of Christmas or sth and then changes their life around to be identical to everyone else in the small town.
There's a lifetime movie called Snowed Inn Christmas where the whole premise is two big city journalists get stuck in Santa Claus, Indiana during the holidays. In the movie the town is a picture perfect Christmas village, but the real Santa Claus is basically fields in the middle of nowhere, plus the Holiday World theme park (which is a legitimate banger if anyone gets the chance to visit). It was filmed in Winnipeg. There are funny details like how their flight gets diverted to the "airport" in Santa Claus even though there isn't an airport that is not a grass strip for like 50 miles at least.
One unrealistic movie troupe is that the single mom always lives in the HUGH house in a super nice area. Working a low paying job that could never afford said house.
That poor people live here. According to Zillow, the average price for a home is $760,877. For fuck sake, Travis Barker of Blink-182 used to live here.