Oh, I hear ya. I can't quite identify with the small-town aspect, since I've always lived in huge cities, but I'm also annoyed by how TV and movies act like everything revolves around California (I don't mind NYC so much, just because I love New York. ;) When the local news did a bit about Extreme Makeover: Home Edition filming here last week, I was shocked to discover that the show has finally realized that there are needy people outside of SoCal. Yeah, I know that logistics make setting shows there much easier, but still.

In a larger sense, pop culture itself tends to assume that the rest of the country wants to be like California. How often do you see the CA lifestyle held up as the paragon of what we supposedly want in life? I'm so petty and stubborn that I stopped shopping at Mervyn's when they changed their official name to "Mervyn's California". (Okay, and I'm also silly. ;) Cali is nice and all -- I've been to LA twice and liked it well enough -- but I have no desire to live that lifestyle.

(And I'm with shipperx in hating the way the South is portrayed in the media. Sure, we have our share of crazy, closed-minded rural folks, but hell, doesn't everywhere?)

Thanks for the rant. I've been tempted to make the same one!