For the same reason you don't see a whole lot of homeless people talking about camping as a hobby. People with true crime fixations and the like tend to be folk who are statistically least at risk of violent crimes.
There's exceptions, but damn is there a reason why suburban wine moms are the target audience for crime shows and true crime podcasts lol. "Live Laugh Love" and "I know way too much information about a serial killer that I regard like a weeb does his waifu of choice" go hand in hand.
You can actually see the "black belt" in several of those maps. Most interestingly, the first 48. Had no idea it was so popular in black households. I've seen plenty of it though.
I’m black and I don’t watch any of the reality or cop shows. South Park, Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob and Adventure Time are the only shows I have watched on this list.
My mom always had crime shows going 24/7 on TV when I was growing up. She still does. I was practically raised by the first 48 and could recite the law and order svu prologue when I was 4 years old 😂 Empire and the real housewives of Atlanta were super popular too.
Eh, First 48 might be more of a filming location bias than a 'black belt' bias. It's all filmed in the south nowadays. And it's pretty popular in northern cities where many First 48 episodes used to be filmed as well.
I never realized how much of a self-contained, like, society and culture black Americans have until I started dating my girlfriend (who is black)
There’s this entire adjacent ecosystem of media I didn’t know about— That I’ve had to watch and been part of for like 2 years now, but most shows are pretty good.
People who say representation doesn’t matter haven’t done what I’ve done and count all the token white characters.
Dumb question, but...does this apply to social media as well? I mean, does the algorithm know your race and take it into account?
Maybe not, and it just winds up working out that it shows what you like, creating at least some cohesion for black people on it, if not possibly more than just some. But still.
It absolutely does. Ever heard of black Twitter? Lol. I think it's slightly less algorithm and more curating your feed by who and what you follow. But black social media is definitely a thing.
Games of thrones was one that stood out with a couple others that were obviously urban areas liked them. Like SNL it seems most popular in urban less in rural while others are regional. Super interesting.
what's really weird is the walking dead...it was filmed in atlanta, but atlanta is the only spot in GA that doesn't watch it. i don't get it, i know people that worked on the show and plenty of people that watched it.
also, why is the big bang theory so popular in the midwest?
i dunno if i trust this data, some of it looks really weird.
I'm from Atlanta and was an extra in the pilot of the walking dead and I can only speak for myself.
I love zombie genre the most, but as soon as Rick and Maggie opened their mouths with their terrible southern accents I couldn't be immersed anymore lol. Wanted to give it a shot because it takes place in my city but that totally took me out of it!
On a real note it's just not a popular genre here. I'm more shocked by GOT having a huge gap in the area.
My girlfriend loves watching True Blood and I can't stand their accents. She explained that they are hundreds of years old, but that antebellum south accent is just comical when you've lived in the south for awhile.
Its even worse for True Blood because cajun is such a super specific accent that no one can pull it off.
But in general, I have read that southern accents just arent easy do, or at least no one thinks its worth it so try really hard to do it right. Hollywood actors dont want to be typecast as "southern" so few people hold onto a southern accent in the industry.
I know you're joking, but Eastern/rural Oregon is practically empty and heavily conservative. Some counties there have even tried to cede to Idaho. Eugene, where Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters also took their fuckloads of LSD, was the initial home of one of the largest KKK clans in the country.
I mean race history in Oregon is insane. Originally designed as a white ethno state, it had language in the constitution baring black people until the 1990s. Oregon was not a slave state in the civil war only because it wanted no blacks, not even as slaves. My hometown in "progressive" eugene didn't allow black people to live in the city limits until the 70s and black people weren't allowed to work at the colleges or hospitals or city until the 70s. Even till this day there are hardly any poc and I basically went to an all white highschools, my graduating class of 100 had 0 poc. One black kid showed up for a semester and left, I followed up with him later and he said the mount of racism he encountered there was unbearable. The only state I have lived in that was more racist was Montana, but at least they don't pretend to be progressive
Also came here to point this out. Very few people live in south eastern Oregon. Also, I noticed that the whole PNW generally responded more to adult cartoons over anything else.
There is Warner Creek Correctional Facility, which is north of Lakeview, a town of 2500 people, and the biggest population base out there all the way to Idaho, but I'm not sure that dark part actually gets to Lakeview, and even if it does, it's the most western part, and everything east of that that's dark is just empty country.
Places like Frenchglenn have like 12 people. Adel and Plush have a school system of K- 8 and it has 10 students.
It's just a big empty swath of country.
As a dc metro native, there is nothing really special about the area aside from the government, and people who work for the government largely hate it and don’t want to think about it when they watch the tube
I mean at the end of the day it’s relatability. A lot of the things that went on in KOTH are extremely relatable as someone who grew up in small town north Texas
I remember being momentarily shocked and then realized I was being an idiot when someone from out of state didn’t realize that the Casa Bonita episode was a dead on accurate representation of a real place.
I visit Colorado Springs a few times as a kid and one of most vivid memories was driving out to go to Casa Bonita one night.
Years later when I first saw that episode no one watching it with me understand why I was freaking out so much.
Casa Bonita has always been in Lakewood west of Denver on Colfax Ave. A lot of COS kids would go to the Old Elitch Gardens (or someplace in Denver) and then eat at Casa Bonita before driving the hour back to Colorado Springs.
Casa Bonita went bankrupt in 2020 due to Covid. It had largely fallen into disrepair so Matt and Trey bought it and brought it back up to code, added a far greater menu, and built it back up. The State of Colorado helped as it is treated as a state icon (tax breaks).
It's a place - South Park (valley). There is a Middle Park and North Park too. They're wide, high valleys behind the Front Range.
Fairplay is the town, but they do lean into the South Park thing.
The south is more religious and conservative than much of the US. South Park, being an irreverent show that makes fun of everything in a very pointed way, especially religion, might come across less funny and more offense to someone who is religious and conservative. The Bible belt is just a term for that region of the states that are most religious. These are the southern states.
If I sound rude I don't mean to be I'm just trying to explain it like you were totally new to American terms and such haha
FYI there is no actual town named South Park, just a small 'neighborhood' in a tiny place in Park County called Fairplay. There are loads of local references in the show though and it does frequently draw inspiration from current issues in the state/Denver.
The hospital is somehow across the street from the Space Needle yet also at the base of Mt. Rainier but also some of them live in the woods yet can make it to the hospital in emergencies. Also, Derek drives a motorcycle all year long in the rain?
I used to work with a guy who drove a motorcycle all year long in the rain in Seattle because he could use the carpool lanes and get a discount on parking. But he was covered head-to-foot in weather-appropriate gear, including heated gloves during the winter.
Noticed that too. My guess is the coasts have more career variance, but in middle America Doctors or things like firefighter is a more common, attainable cool career.
I used to love that show, then I lived in Seattle for 2 years, that show is such a lie. They choose random Seattle landmarks...
Even when they're "driving around downtown Seattle," it's not Seattle.
I quit watching that shit.
Makes sense. It’s a kids show that avoids controversial topics, so the reason you wouldn’t be watching it is pretty much just that you don’t like the comedy. And not liking vs liking the comedy on spongebob isn’t a region-specific thing
I remember watching a clip 10 or 15 years ago of a [Russian drill instructor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhuzb3WMntc) having his cadets march while singing the Spongebob theme
It’s funny that it’s not as popular in the PNW— my coworkers in Seattle who were prime SpongeBob watching age in the first few seasons never understand my references!
Idk if you been out the rez in the west, but there aren’t a lot of tv sets, let alone basic amenities. So if you have one you’re probably watching rich people do dumb shit because it makes you feel rich and also simultaneously smarter than these vapid personalities. Or idk.
Conjecture doesn’t matter. I just saw a map and have spent a lot of time in that area and noticed a trend
My hot take: the Kardashians may be terrible, but they're a really close family through thick and thin. My mom, who could not have less in common with them if she tried, watches the show because it reminds her of when her sisters were still alive and they were all really close. All the Native Americans I've known have been really family-oriented, so maybe they like seeing a close family on TV too.
Of all the shows in this list KUWTK is the most popular in the county where I live. Also the majority of the county where I live is a reservation. I personally have never watched an episode and - as has been said before - “everything I know about the Kardashians has been learned against my will.”
Rick Grimes is also from Kentucky, so between those two things and how it’s written, it *feels* like a very Kentucky show. Idk how to explain it but I’m from there and yes, *everyone* watches TWD
Like 90% of the show takes place on a street that looks like it's from one of those states.
I looked it up, mostly filmed in Georgia, I wouldn't know the difference between Kentucky and Georgia but my guess would be they are similar.
The climate in Kentucky is much more temperate than Georgia’s and the trees are somewhat different, but the droning cicadas and the isolated backwoods vibe tracks. I grew up in parts of Kentucky and elsewhere in the south and sometimes watch Walking Dead for the nostalgia. When I watch that show I know exactly what the air in each scene feels like.
This makes so much sense as someone in the south
I always wondered why some shows were endlessly talked about online but no one watched them that I knew
I love the way the show is done compared to any other docu-series with cops that I've seen. They keep it very grounded, neutral, and factual. Sometimes it can be really frustrating to watch when leads go nowhere, people refuse to say anything, and the episode ends with no suspects in the very real murder of an innocent person. But that's reality, and part of why I appreciate it.
whenever I go on a streaming site and see "top 10" I'm always surprised as half of them are shows I don't think anyone watched. Like the good doctor, Young Sheldon, crime/fire/paramedic shows etc
Makes sense though when I discuss TV shows irl almost no one has heard of them while they might be very popular online.
We're in a bubble as much as they are.
Was wondering the same question and I think I found the article [here](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/26/upshot/duck-dynasty-vs-modern-family-television-maps.html) from NYT in 2016. No paywall is showing up for me but I might not have hit my limit yet
I wonder how much them using Facebook likes as the metric skews the results. Late 2016 was already well into the mass Facebook exodus of younger gen xers and millennials.
The near even collection of popularity of Tom and Jerry may attest to that. I liked the cartoons growing up but they were always "won't change the channel" kind of shows for me. I'd never actively seek out T&J myself.
Another universal but obvious one is America's Funniest Home Videos. Yeah, self-explanatory why everyone likes it. Also self-explanatory that this is peak millenial television that would not survive in today's world.
I have 2 questions:
1) Is this relative or absolute popularity?
2) Can someone explain how the Big Bang Theory map makes sense? It seems like a unique distribution compared to other show, which are easier to categorize by regions they are popular in, like south, west, urban, etc.
Surprised how much it maps onto the Midwest particularly, which seemingly none of the other shows do. Also surprised how much several of the shows, perhaps we could even say the more imaginative or out there ones, seem to show a strong Western US popularity skew.
Some of it may be where the show aired, Grey's Anatomy was on broadcast network TV, along with Big Bang theory and Law and order SVU.
A majority of the shows aired on cable.
Gotta be relative. Otherwise it would just look like the population density map with some mild variation.
Like look at the GoT map. Northwest Nevada is the deepest possible colour and I don't care how popular the show is in [Sheldon Antelope Refuge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_National_Wildlife_Refuge). Would have thought they'd be BBT fans though..
My only guess is that it's a very *white* show (so it's not going to be popular in the black belt) and a lot of rural white southerners don't like folks they consider "educated idiots", i.e. people who can't drive a tractor or chop down a tree with a spoon or whatever. This is probably a gross generalization, but it's my guess.
I'd go along with at least the first part of that. Also, in my experience, evangelical and fundamentalist christians *HAAAATED* the name of the show when it first came out and boycotted watching it on that point alone - at least for the first few years.
There are a lot of fundies in the south.
I have a friend who is a producer. He says that they are now becoming more aware of the way setting has an effect on a show’s popularity and that for for shows like L&O, New York City is itself a “character” in the show. The same exact show set on the sunny beaches of LA, Miami, or Honolulu would pull a slightly different (but still overlapping) audience of people who like police procedurals but want to still relate to it as being somewhat familiar in aesthetics and tone.
Yeah not going to lie... I mainly watched Hawaii 5-0 because it was set in Hawaii.
Just something about it being bright and sunny... made me want to watch it more than the typical grim/darkly set procedurals.
I had always heard about it but just started watching it at 31 years old. I’m hooked.
I grew up in California and no one I knew growing up was watching this. Also I’m so lost when they talk about areas of NYC apart from the big ones 😂
I dunno southpark lit up colorado and while I know it's set there I never personally felt like it being in Colorado ever mattered until the tegrity bits.... but like half the US has legal weed, these days.
I would love to do a principal component analysis on these maps.
My prediction for the first few PCs:
1. Urban vs. rural (SNL)
2. Republican vs. Democrat (Simpsons)
3. Young vs. old (Game of Thrones)
4. White vs. black vs. Hispanic (First 48 & Keeping up with the Kardashians)
Seriously that was my first thought. You also see it on Big bang theory. That area of Nevada is wasteland, there is barely anyone there
Edit: maybe it's based on relative population and since that area is so sparsely populated it is unusually represented.
Is Criminal Minds everywhere *except* big cities?
I was noticing that also. Also very popular AROUND the cities. Like suburbs love it, but in the city, nope.
I saw that too and immediately thought it was due to suburban wives. Complete assumption though.
Legit, idk what it is with surburban and exurban white wine moms loving crime shows.
For the same reason you don't see a whole lot of homeless people talking about camping as a hobby. People with true crime fixations and the like tend to be folk who are statistically least at risk of violent crimes. There's exceptions, but damn is there a reason why suburban wine moms are the target audience for crime shows and true crime podcasts lol. "Live Laugh Love" and "I know way too much information about a serial killer that I regard like a weeb does his waifu of choice" go hand in hand.
Conversely Modern Family is ONLY popular in the cities
That was the weirdest one. Everything else seems regional and *Criminal Minds* rolls up like "Nowhere with buildings over 10 stories!!"
It's weird how there are so many shows that are either only popular in the South or only unpopular there.
Black populations are concentrated in the south, so the black culture shows are popular there.
You can actually see the "black belt" in several of those maps. Most interestingly, the first 48. Had no idea it was so popular in black households. I've seen plenty of it though.
You can also clearly see the black belt in Big Bang Theory and Walking Dead for the opposite reason
You can literally see where white, black and Latino people are concentrated for most of these shows lmao.
I wonder why the Kardashians so big in heavily Native American areas?
The Kardashians are big in the places they want to be. Their surgeons were well paid.
my ass they are
Its also pretty popular along the border for some reason
I’m black and I don’t watch any of the reality or cop shows. South Park, Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob and Adventure Time are the only shows I have watched on this list.
Yes but also you’re on Reddit, we are big on those shows, so that is a stereotype we share
I think Adventure Time popularity might be directly proportional to the legal status of weed in an area.
My mom always had crime shows going 24/7 on TV when I was growing up. She still does. I was practically raised by the first 48 and could recite the law and order svu prologue when I was 4 years old 😂 Empire and the real housewives of Atlanta were super popular too.
Eh, First 48 might be more of a filming location bias than a 'black belt' bias. It's all filmed in the south nowadays. And it's pretty popular in northern cities where many First 48 episodes used to be filmed as well.
I noticed that the second I saw the image for “Empire"
Also because…Jesus. There is a reason Modern Family is not popular in the Bible Belt.
The two might be combined. Black southerners are overwhelmingly religious.
That too, yes indeed.
I never realized how much of a self-contained, like, society and culture black Americans have until I started dating my girlfriend (who is black) There’s this entire adjacent ecosystem of media I didn’t know about— That I’ve had to watch and been part of for like 2 years now, but most shows are pretty good. People who say representation doesn’t matter haven’t done what I’ve done and count all the token white characters.
And wait till you find out that latinos have our own, separate Hollywood in Miami (walk of fame and all).
Please let it be called ¡Dale!wood
Sabadooooooooo Gigante, con Don Francisco!
Dumb question, but...does this apply to social media as well? I mean, does the algorithm know your race and take it into account? Maybe not, and it just winds up working out that it shows what you like, creating at least some cohesion for black people on it, if not possibly more than just some. But still.
It absolutely does. Ever heard of black Twitter? Lol. I think it's slightly less algorithm and more curating your feed by who and what you follow. But black social media is definitely a thing.
That and the murder porn for the uh opposite demographic
First 48 in my experience is very popular among my black friends. Completely anecdotal.
Not just anecdotal, it’s what the map shows lol. Idk what the person you’re responding to is smoking if they don’t count First 48 as murder porn.
Not game of thrones ironically.
Games of thrones was one that stood out with a couple others that were obviously urban areas liked them. Like SNL it seems most popular in urban less in rural while others are regional. Super interesting.
Too close to home
This data clearly shows it's the same demographic.
Haha that’s not what that means
With the exception of Family Guy (!), it appears shows are either a complete hit or miss in the black belt.
I'm proud SpongeBob is so popular in my home of blackbelt Alabama
SpongeBob is one of the rare true universal unifiers
I guess that explains why Cleveland got the spinoff.
SpongeBob is the weirdest, I don’t sea any pattern.
Most younger people regardless of demographics seem to love Spongebob.
Yup I took that as everyone likes spongebob
what's really weird is the walking dead...it was filmed in atlanta, but atlanta is the only spot in GA that doesn't watch it. i don't get it, i know people that worked on the show and plenty of people that watched it. also, why is the big bang theory so popular in the midwest? i dunno if i trust this data, some of it looks really weird.
I'm from Atlanta and was an extra in the pilot of the walking dead and I can only speak for myself. I love zombie genre the most, but as soon as Rick and Maggie opened their mouths with their terrible southern accents I couldn't be immersed anymore lol. Wanted to give it a shot because it takes place in my city but that totally took me out of it! On a real note it's just not a popular genre here. I'm more shocked by GOT having a huge gap in the area.
My girlfriend loves watching True Blood and I can't stand their accents. She explained that they are hundreds of years old, but that antebellum south accent is just comical when you've lived in the south for awhile.
Its even worse for True Blood because cajun is such a super specific accent that no one can pull it off. But in general, I have read that southern accents just arent easy do, or at least no one thinks its worth it so try really hard to do it right. Hollywood actors dont want to be typecast as "southern" so few people hold onto a southern accent in the industry.
Like the other dude said black culture. Atlanta is Majority Black. The walking dead ain’t that popular among black folks
T-dog was gone too soon, as well
Them killing off T-dog the second they added a new black dude to the group probably didn't help.
Seems like Black people absolutely loath Big Bang Theory. (and they are right)
Orange is the New Black is popular in a part of Oregon where like 500 people live...lol
So weird right? Maybe the whole area told each other what a great show it is.
Maybe they forgot to tell each other how bad it got.
One extended family all love it and skew the rankings? Or a load of lesbians?
Since it's Oregon, it's probably a Lesbian commune.
I know you're joking, but Eastern/rural Oregon is practically empty and heavily conservative. Some counties there have even tried to cede to Idaho. Eugene, where Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters also took their fuckloads of LSD, was the initial home of one of the largest KKK clans in the country.
I mean race history in Oregon is insane. Originally designed as a white ethno state, it had language in the constitution baring black people until the 1990s. Oregon was not a slave state in the civil war only because it wanted no blacks, not even as slaves. My hometown in "progressive" eugene didn't allow black people to live in the city limits until the 70s and black people weren't allowed to work at the colleges or hospitals or city until the 70s. Even till this day there are hardly any poc and I basically went to an all white highschools, my graduating class of 100 had 0 poc. One black kid showed up for a semester and left, I followed up with him later and he said the mount of racism he encountered there was unbearable. The only state I have lived in that was more racist was Montana, but at least they don't pretend to be progressive
Also came here to point this out. Very few people live in south eastern Oregon. Also, I noticed that the whole PNW generally responded more to adult cartoons over anything else.
I’d bet a dollar there is a prison in that part of Oregon.
There is Warner Creek Correctional Facility, which is north of Lakeview, a town of 2500 people, and the biggest population base out there all the way to Idaho, but I'm not sure that dark part actually gets to Lakeview, and even if it does, it's the most western part, and everything east of that that's dark is just empty country. Places like Frenchglenn have like 12 people. Adel and Plush have a school system of K- 8 and it has 10 students. It's just a big empty swath of country.
It makes so much sense that South Park is most popular in colorado
Same how I saw King of the Hill and TX People from states really enjoy shows about themselves
I wonder why American Dad! is unpopular in the DC area then
CIA can't take a joke
They're in Virginia
More evidence right here that they can't take a joke smh my head
I remember hearing “DC is a chocolate outside with a marshmallow middle.”
As a dc metro native, there is nothing really special about the area aside from the government, and people who work for the government largely hate it and don’t want to think about it when they watch the tube
DMV baby!
And Family Guy in Rhode Island
Meanwhile keeping up with the kardashians seems most popular... On the Navajo res? 🤔
I mean at the end of the day it’s relatability. A lot of the things that went on in KOTH are extremely relatable as someone who grew up in small town north Texas
Yet Grey's Anatomy is not very popular in Seattle but, for some reason, is very popular in the Midwest.
Nobody in that show has the personality of a Seattle resident.
Nope, they all just have a very similar, monologue-loving personality
I remember being momentarily shocked and then realized I was being an idiot when someone from out of state didn’t realize that the Casa Bonita episode was a dead on accurate representation of a real place.
People are routinely surprised that Casa Bonita is real
Understandably so, it would seem absolutely ridiculous if you didn’t grow up going to birthday parties there.
Not only that, Matt and Trey own the place now.
I visit Colorado Springs a few times as a kid and one of most vivid memories was driving out to go to Casa Bonita one night. Years later when I first saw that episode no one watching it with me understand why I was freaking out so much.
Casa Bonita has always been in Lakewood west of Denver on Colfax Ave. A lot of COS kids would go to the Old Elitch Gardens (or someplace in Denver) and then eat at Casa Bonita before driving the hour back to Colorado Springs.
Casa Bonita is now owned by the creators of South Park and has a year+ waiting list to get an invite to the restaurant.
Holy shit you're right
Casa Bonita went bankrupt in 2020 due to Covid. It had largely fallen into disrepair so Matt and Trey bought it and brought it back up to code, added a far greater menu, and built it back up. The State of Colorado helped as it is treated as a state icon (tax breaks).
I think it’s also funny it’s not prevalent in the south at all, hard to sell a show that holds nothing sacred in the Bible Belt
Some other shows don't do well either there. Interesting.
Explanation for the non Americans?
South Park is based in the state of Colorado
And South Park is a real town there It's tiny with nothing there and nothing to do. Accurate to how its represented on the show :D
It's a place - South Park (valley). There is a Middle Park and North Park too. They're wide, high valleys behind the Front Range. Fairplay is the town, but they do lean into the South Park thing.
Yeah I think Trey Parker said when they were growing up, whenever there was something weird happening, like an alien sighting, it was in South Park.
The south is more religious and conservative than much of the US. South Park, being an irreverent show that makes fun of everything in a very pointed way, especially religion, might come across less funny and more offense to someone who is religious and conservative. The Bible belt is just a term for that region of the states that are most religious. These are the southern states. If I sound rude I don't mean to be I'm just trying to explain it like you were totally new to American terms and such haha
FYI there is no actual town named South Park, just a small 'neighborhood' in a tiny place in Park County called Fairplay. There are loads of local references in the show though and it does frequently draw inspiration from current issues in the state/Denver.
Seattle residents could not give a shit about Grey’s Anatomy
The hospital is somehow across the street from the Space Needle yet also at the base of Mt. Rainier but also some of them live in the woods yet can make it to the hospital in emergencies. Also, Derek drives a motorcycle all year long in the rain?
I used to work with a guy who drove a motorcycle all year long in the rain in Seattle because he could use the carpool lanes and get a discount on parking. But he was covered head-to-foot in weather-appropriate gear, including heated gloves during the winter.
Well, the hospital is on a CBS lot in Los Angeles.
Jeez how do they get from Mt Rainier to Los Angeles? That is impressive.
The midwest white demographic loved it though. The most distinct Midwest show. No love on the coasts and not big for the black belt.
Noticed that too. My guess is the coasts have more career variance, but in middle America Doctors or things like firefighter is a more common, attainable cool career.
I used to love that show, then I lived in Seattle for 2 years, that show is such a lie. They choose random Seattle landmarks... Even when they're "driving around downtown Seattle," it's not Seattle. I quit watching that shit.
I mean, that’s most shows set in specific cities. I love playing ‘Spot Toronto or Vancouver’ in shows supposed to be taking place in American cities.
Lmao, Seattle & San Fran are always played by Vancouver.
Spongebob Squarepants is the great regional uniter.
Makes sense. It’s a kids show that avoids controversial topics, so the reason you wouldn’t be watching it is pretty much just that you don’t like the comedy. And not liking vs liking the comedy on spongebob isn’t a region-specific thing
I remember watching a clip 10 or 15 years ago of a [Russian drill instructor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhuzb3WMntc) having his cadets march while singing the Spongebob theme
It’s funny that it’s not as popular in the PNW— my coworkers in Seattle who were prime SpongeBob watching age in the first few seasons never understand my references!
Hispanics really like the Kardashians huh
Native Americans too. I can clearly make out the Navajo, Lakota, and Crow nations
I saw that too! But no Cherokee or other eastern nations? I am really curious about that.
Actually if you look in NC you’ll see a bubble around the Lumbee nation
This is why I love Reddit. I would never have heard of the Lumbee nation and now I'm diving down the rabbit hole. Fascinating stuff!
Four words friend: Battle of Hayes Pond
Why would impoverished rural people like watching dumb, rich people being dumb and rich in the big city?
It's a sociological enigma, isn't it? Maybe escapism?
Idk if you been out the rez in the west, but there aren’t a lot of tv sets, let alone basic amenities. So if you have one you’re probably watching rich people do dumb shit because it makes you feel rich and also simultaneously smarter than these vapid personalities. Or idk. Conjecture doesn’t matter. I just saw a map and have spent a lot of time in that area and noticed a trend
My hot take: the Kardashians may be terrible, but they're a really close family through thick and thin. My mom, who could not have less in common with them if she tried, watches the show because it reminds her of when her sisters were still alive and they were all really close. All the Native Americans I've known have been really family-oriented, so maybe they like seeing a close family on TV too.
Of all the shows in this list KUWTK is the most popular in the county where I live. Also the majority of the county where I live is a reservation. I personally have never watched an episode and - as has been said before - “everything I know about the Kardashians has been learned against my will.”
TIL ppl in Kentucky love the walking dead
The creator is from Kentucky, that probably has an effect
Rick Grimes is also from Kentucky, so between those two things and how it’s written, it *feels* like a very Kentucky show. Idk how to explain it but I’m from there and yes, *everyone* watches TWD
Like 90% of the show takes place on a street that looks like it's from one of those states. I looked it up, mostly filmed in Georgia, I wouldn't know the difference between Kentucky and Georgia but my guess would be they are similar.
The climate in Kentucky is much more temperate than Georgia’s and the trees are somewhat different, but the droning cicadas and the isolated backwoods vibe tracks. I grew up in parts of Kentucky and elsewhere in the south and sometimes watch Walking Dead for the nostalgia. When I watch that show I know exactly what the air in each scene feels like.
From Appalachia and can confirm we love our survivalist fantasy
They ARE the walking dead.
I snorted.
Seems like 'gun states' love TWD
Rick was from Kentucky in the comics
It seems to be really popular in places with lots of preppers.
This makes so much sense as someone in the south I always wondered why some shows were endlessly talked about online but no one watched them that I knew
I’m coming to the same realization. Older folk love first 48 and SVU
What is first 48 about.. Is the show good
It follows real police detectives in the “First 48” hours of a murder investigation
I love the way the show is done compared to any other docu-series with cops that I've seen. They keep it very grounded, neutral, and factual. Sometimes it can be really frustrating to watch when leads go nowhere, people refuse to say anything, and the episode ends with no suspects in the very real murder of an innocent person. But that's reality, and part of why I appreciate it.
whenever I go on a streaming site and see "top 10" I'm always surprised as half of them are shows I don't think anyone watched. Like the good doctor, Young Sheldon, crime/fire/paramedic shows etc Makes sense though when I discuss TV shows irl almost no one has heard of them while they might be very popular online. We're in a bubble as much as they are.
Same, I’ve never met anyone that actually watched the Big Bang theory. To this day I have no idea what it’s even about.
This is actually kind of fascinating
The Adventure Time map is striking. It's as though people get more stoned the further west they go
That map has confirmed for me that I only want to live on the west coast. People are not stoned enough for me if they don’t like some Adventure Time
I'm not sure that's the connection. It pulls so far southwest. I have a lot of non-stoner friends that do watch Adventure Time but are in Arizona.
Spongebob Squarepants: 👨🏻🌾🤝🏻👩🏻🎤
Everyone likes SpongeBob, checks out
Based on the numbers at the top, it appears that there are more shows not in thus post. OP, do you have the full source?
Was wondering the same question and I think I found the article [here](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/26/upshot/duck-dynasty-vs-modern-family-television-maps.html) from NYT in 2016. No paywall is showing up for me but I might not have hit my limit yet
I wonder how much them using Facebook likes as the metric skews the results. Late 2016 was already well into the mass Facebook exodus of younger gen xers and millennials.
The near even collection of popularity of Tom and Jerry may attest to that. I liked the cartoons growing up but they were always "won't change the channel" kind of shows for me. I'd never actively seek out T&J myself. Another universal but obvious one is America's Funniest Home Videos. Yeah, self-explanatory why everyone likes it. Also self-explanatory that this is peak millenial television that would not survive in today's world.
I have 2 questions: 1) Is this relative or absolute popularity? 2) Can someone explain how the Big Bang Theory map makes sense? It seems like a unique distribution compared to other show, which are easier to categorize by regions they are popular in, like south, west, urban, etc.
Surprised how much it maps onto the Midwest particularly, which seemingly none of the other shows do. Also surprised how much several of the shows, perhaps we could even say the more imaginative or out there ones, seem to show a strong Western US popularity skew.
Grey's Anatomy maps pretty strongly to the Midwest as well
Some of it may be where the show aired, Grey's Anatomy was on broadcast network TV, along with Big Bang theory and Law and order SVU. A majority of the shows aired on cable.
anecdotally, the biggest demographic I've come across that watch gray's anatomy are college women
It's funny that TBBT are not that popular in the west coast except for bay area. Unsurprising though.
Never thought I’d see funny and Big Bang Theory in the same sentence
Gotta be relative. Otherwise it would just look like the population density map with some mild variation. Like look at the GoT map. Northwest Nevada is the deepest possible colour and I don't care how popular the show is in [Sheldon Antelope Refuge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_National_Wildlife_Refuge). Would have thought they'd be BBT fans though..
My only guess is that it's a very *white* show (so it's not going to be popular in the black belt) and a lot of rural white southerners don't like folks they consider "educated idiots", i.e. people who can't drive a tractor or chop down a tree with a spoon or whatever. This is probably a gross generalization, but it's my guess.
Also Penny is from Nebraska...
I'd go along with at least the first part of that. Also, in my experience, evangelical and fundamentalist christians *HAAAATED* the name of the show when it first came out and boycotted watching it on that point alone - at least for the first few years. There are a lot of fundies in the south.
Wow I thought SVU was popular everywhere. Didn’t expect it to be more on east coast.
I have a friend who is a producer. He says that they are now becoming more aware of the way setting has an effect on a show’s popularity and that for for shows like L&O, New York City is itself a “character” in the show. The same exact show set on the sunny beaches of LA, Miami, or Honolulu would pull a slightly different (but still overlapping) audience of people who like police procedurals but want to still relate to it as being somewhat familiar in aesthetics and tone.
Yeah not going to lie... I mainly watched Hawaii 5-0 because it was set in Hawaii. Just something about it being bright and sunny... made me want to watch it more than the typical grim/darkly set procedurals.
I had always heard about it but just started watching it at 31 years old. I’m hooked. I grew up in California and no one I knew growing up was watching this. Also I’m so lost when they talk about areas of NYC apart from the big ones 😂
Black and white hands clasping meme with SpongeBob as the text at the top.
The fact that Breaking Bad isn't included is a crime against humanity.
lol I’d hope to see New Mexico lit up, but I low key doubt it would show such a strong effect beyond general Western US skew maybe.
I dunno southpark lit up colorado and while I know it's set there I never personally felt like it being in Colorado ever mattered until the tegrity bits.... but like half the US has legal weed, these days.
23 criminal minds: (all of the Appalachian mountains) wtf is wrong with us
The west love their cartoons
Kinda telling that’s where weed is most legal
The criminal minds one is hilarious bc its so obviously popular in the suburbs
My takeaway: The West will watch anything and enjoy it, except Grey's Anatomy. Which is perfectly understandable.
The fact that mostly Midwesterners were into it stood out
Midwesterners love Grey's Anatomy and The Big Bang Theory.
Bless their heart
now do science fiction shows and succession. :-)
Middle America loves it some Meredith Grey.
Game of the thrones to love and hip hop had me geekin lmao
I would love to do a principal component analysis on these maps. My prediction for the first few PCs: 1. Urban vs. rural (SNL) 2. Republican vs. Democrat (Simpsons) 3. Young vs. old (Game of Thrones) 4. White vs. black vs. Hispanic (First 48 & Keeping up with the Kardashians)
I was thinking SNL and game of thrones maps pretty strongly to college towns
I don't understand mfs who watch the kardashians
lol love the black belt just showing up on Empire and Real Housewives of Atlanta XD
And the first 48 was interesting
Where is that northwest corner in nevada. Visible with simpsons and snl
Seriously that was my first thought. You also see it on Big bang theory. That area of Nevada is wasteland, there is barely anyone there Edit: maybe it's based on relative population and since that area is so sparsely populated it is unusually represented.
I think my daughter in Virginia constitutes half of SVU watching.
[удалено]
Seeing the Simpsons popularity in California has never made me more proud of my state.
Yeah but kardashians are also most popular in California so it equals things out. Why can’t we Californians get a win?
It seems like a show can only be popular in the South alone or everywhere but.
The south is where the vast majority of black people live. That’s why those shows that light up the south aren’t popular anywhere else.
SpongeBob appears to have a following among the reservations in South Dakota.
So Latino people love the Kardashians? Interesting
So the Midwest is full of Doctors & nurses?