Leave It to Beaver
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.
That the US always fights for what is right
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.
If it’s addressed at all, its usually handwaved away as either:
- Friends Rent Control (Warning: TVTropes)
- Actually not as large as it seems on TV.
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.
