50 best television shows set across the United States

North Carolina: The Andy Griffith Show

The premise: Andy Griffith played Andy Taylor, a small town sheriff in Mayberry. Andy is a widower and cares for his young son, Opie, with the help of his older Aunt Bea. The town is quiet and sleepy, and he rarely has to do any real police business, much to the disappointment of his very enthusiastic deputy, Barney Fife.

The setting: The town of Mayberry has since become known, in our cultural vocabulary, as a synonym for wholesome American values, and also for a place that has next to nothing going on there. While the residents are happy and content in their life, there is very little to keep them busy at night or on the weekends. There isn’t even a movie theatre in the town. Even after all these years, Mayberry still invokes the feelings of security and home, especially for folks in the South.

The most North Carolina thing about it: Mayberry, North Carolina was set firmly in the South, but most of the characters on the show were typically universal when it came to small-town life. However, the Darling family, the mountain people that rarely come to town, embody some of the worst stereotypes that folks have about the South.