50 best television shows set across the United States

Kansas: Switched At Birth

The premise: Two teenage girls realize they went home with wrong mothers from the hospital. The girls, Bay and Daphne, grew up in very, very different environments — Bay in an affluent suburb and Daphne in a lower income neighborhood. Daphne contracted meningitis as a toddler, and as a result, was left deaf.

Bay’s parents, the Kennishes, invite Daphne and her family to move into their guest house. While under the same roof, the two families learn about each other, after having missed 16 years with each other. Switched at Birth is one of the only shows to feature deaf and hard of hearing actors, and it’s the only show that uses ASL.

The setting: Both families live in Kansas City, but they grew up in vastly different parts of the city. Daphne and Regina grew up in a working-class neighborhood and struggled financially. Regina is a single mom and has her mother living with her to help. Bay and her parents live in a big house in the rich neighborhood of Kansas City, and enjoyed all the privileges of an upper middle-class lifestyle affords.

The most Kansas thing about it: John Kennish is a former baseball player for the Kansas City Royals. Now retired, he owns a car wash and still uses his celebrity to to further his success.