The Greatest TV Shows Taking Place in Small Towns

Small town settings give television series a contained map of homes, schools, diners, and main streets that viewers get to know as well as the characters do. These shows lean on tight neighborhoods, local institutions, and town traditions to frame stories that return to familiar places week after week.

Many productions build fictional towns from real locations, then fill them with recurring faces and long running arcs that grow across seasons. The series below span drama, comedy, mystery, and more, and each one places its story inside a community where everyone knows the landmarks and most people know each other.

‘Twin Peaks’ (1990–1991)

The fictional logging town of Twin Peaks in Washington anchors the investigation into the death of Laura Palmer, led by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. The series uses Pacific Northwest locations for its look and atmosphere, including North Bend and Snoqualmie, with the Salish Lodge standing in for the waterfall side hotel that appears on screen. The town layout circles a sheriff’s station, a diner, a sawmill, and a high school, which keeps the plot centered on shared spaces.

Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, the show aired on ABC and mixed procedural elements with ongoing story threads tied to the town’s past. Its supporting cast features local law enforcement, mill owners, and students whose connections overlap around the case, which lets the narrative keep returning to the same Twin Peaks institutions.

‘Gilmore Girls’ (2000–2007)

Stars Hollow in Connecticut provides the backdrop for the lives of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, with a town square, an inn, and an ever present diner forming the daily route of the characters. The production shot its main street on the Warner Bros lot, which allowed the series to stage seasonal festivals, town meetings, and recurring storefronts that mark the passage of time.

Created by Amy Sherman Palladino, the show ran on The WB and later The CW. Its ensemble includes a mayor, a dance teacher, local merchants, and a troubadour, and those roles give the town routine events that draw everyone together inside the same meeting hall and gazebo.

‘Friday Night Lights’ (2006–2011)

Set in the fictional town of Dillon in Texas, the series follows a high school football program that serves as the community’s weekly gathering point. Production made extensive use of real Texas locations and stadiums, which grounded the look of practices, games, and town hangouts that repeat across seasons.

The show aired on NBC with later seasons produced with DirecTV, and it tracks families, coaches, and students connected to the team and school. The story uses the field house, the high school, and local businesses as the main hubs, which keeps scenes inside the network of a single town.

‘Schitt’s Creek’ (2015–2020)

The series places the Rose family in a small Ontario town with a central motel, a cafe, and a modest storefront lined main street. Filming used Goodwood in Ontario for many exteriors, and the real motel near Mono provided the distinctive roadside location that anchors the early episodes.

Created by Eugene Levy and Dan Levy, the show aired on CBC in Canada and on Pop TV in the United States. Its small radius of town spaces lets the plot circle through the cafe, the town hall, and the motel office, which gives the ensemble repeated points of contact inside the same few buildings.

‘Broadchurch’ (2013–2017)

A coastal town in Dorset is the setting for the investigation led by Detectives Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller. Production filmed in and around West Bay, which added the Jurassic Coast cliffs and harbor to the town’s visual identity and kept the action concentrated around the beach, the church, and a compact high street.

The series aired on ITV and followed a case that swept through residents, shop owners, and local officials. Each episode returns to the same police station, newsroom, and shoreline, and those fixed locations connect characters through shared routines in a small community.

‘Northern Exposure’ (1990–1995)

The fish out of water premise brings a young New York doctor to Cicely in Alaska, where a general store, a radio station, and a single main street define the town grid. The production filmed in Roslyn in Washington, and that choice provided recognizable storefronts that appear frequently across episodes.

The series aired on CBS and revolves around the doctor’s contract obligations, the locals who become his patients, and town events that draw residents to the same central spaces. The radio station and cafe function as social hubs that carry stories from one group to another inside the same small circle.

‘The Andy Griffith Show’ (1960–1968)

Mayberry in North Carolina offers a courthouse, a jail with only a few cells, and a barbershop where conversations repeat across episodes. Production used studio backlot streets to stage the compact town, which keeps characters moving between a handful of familiar interiors and corners.

Airing on CBS, the series follows a sheriff who handles everyday matters with help from family and neighbors. The focus on the courthouse, the Taylor home, and local businesses lets the show cycle through recurring town rituals and meetings that highlight small town routines.

‘Everwood’ (2002–2006)

A widowed New York surgeon relocates his family to the mountain town of Everwood in Colorado, with a restored train depot and a main street that serve as visual anchors. Production filmed in Utah, which provided the downtown blocks and surrounding landscapes that appear across the run.

The series aired on The WB and centers on the doctor’s clinic, a rival physician’s practice, and the high school that ties families together. The plot relies on school events, town gatherings, and the depot as regular touchpoints that keep every storyline inside the same local map.

‘Parks and Recreation’ (2009–2015)

The mockumentary comedy is set in Pawnee in Indiana, where City Hall, the parks department bullpen, and a beloved local diner make up the core locations. Production combined soundstage work with Southern California municipal buildings that stand in for the exterior of Pawnee’s government offices.

Airing on NBC, the show tracks public projects, hearings, and town forums that bring the same citizens into the same rooms. The recurring use of meeting chambers and the parks office keeps the ensemble returning to a small set of spaces that define the town’s civic life.

‘Murder, She Wrote’ (1984–1996)

Cabot Cove in Maine is the home base for mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, with a harbor, a sheriff’s office, and clapboard houses that recur throughout the series. Exterior scenes for the town were filmed in Mendocino in California, and that location provides the coastal look that viewers see in many episodes.

The show aired on CBS and often begins or ends in Cabot Cove even as some cases take the lead character to larger cities. When the plot stays in town, it visits the same restaurants, marinas, and municipal buildings, and those spaces link residents across investigations.

‘Little House on the Prairie’ (1974–1983)

Walnut Grove in Minnesota gives the long running family drama a schoolhouse, a church that doubles as a meeting hall, and a general store that appears frequently. Production filmed many exteriors at Big Sky Ranch in California, which supplied the prairie landscapes and the town street that reappear across seasons.

Airing on NBC, the show adapts stories from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and keeps its focus on homesteads and town gatherings. The simple layout of Walnut Grove allows characters to cross paths daily at the same few places, which structures the storytelling around shared spaces.

‘One Tree Hill’ (2003–2012)

Tree Hill in North Carolina anchors a decade of stories tied to a high school gym, a riverfront basketball court, and a small cluster of local businesses. The production filmed in Wilmington in North Carolina, and that city provided the streets and court that became staples of the series.

The show began on The WB and continued on The CW. It follows classmates, families, and coaches whose lives intersect at school events, local clubs, and the riverside, which creates a consistent circuit of locations within a single town.

‘Banshee’ (2013–2016)

The action unfolds in a Pennsylvania town with a sheriff’s office at the center, surrounded by rural roads, an Amish community, and industrial sites. Production shot much of the series in North Carolina, using warehouses, storefronts, and backroads to create a compact footprint for the town.

Airing on Cinemax, the series builds conflicts that keep returning to the same bars, garages, and police facilities. The limited geography concentrates confrontations and alliances in familiar rooms, which reinforces the sense of a small community under pressure.

‘Doc Martin’ (2004–2022)

Set in the Cornish village of Portwenn, the show revolves around a general practitioner whose surgery, the local school, and the harbor act as the town’s anchors. Filming took place in Port Isaac in Cornwall, and the village streets and clifftop views give the series a consistent look from year to year.

The series aired on ITV and uses a patient of the week structure that draws in residents from across the village. Regular visits to the pharmacy, the pub, and the school keep stories within walking distance, which suits the rhythm of a small coastal community.

‘Dark’ (2017–2020)

The German series takes place in Winden, a small town bordered by a forest and a nuclear power plant that serve as key locations throughout the plot. Production filmed near Berlin in Brandenburg, which supplied the woods, tunnels, and residential streets that repeat across episodes.

Released on Netflix, the show follows four interconnected families whose homes and the town’s institutions appear in every chapter. The police station, the school, and the plant form a tight triangle of settings that hold the narrative inside Winden’s boundaries from beginning to end.

Share your favorite small town TV show picks in the comments and tell us which ones you would add to the list.