What Parts of America Watch Your Favorite Geek & Horror Shows

The New York Times’ The Upshot recently did a piece looking at America’s cultural divide based on what they are watching on TV.  The piece was obviously skewed political, but it featured a number of our favorite TV shows; Adventure Time, American Horror Story, and The Walking Dead to name a few.  So we thought we’d pick apart this piece not to see where we’re divided, but to see where some of our fellow freaks and geeks are calling home.

Adventure Time

If you’re looking to grab a friend to catch the next episode of Adventure Time, it turns out they’re mostly in the Southwest.  The majority of the people who like Adventure Time in the data lived in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and the southern tip of Nevada.

American Horror Story

From possessed houses to witch covens and circus freaks, American Horror Story never fails to hit the bar when it comes to disturbing television.  Like Adventure Time, American Horror Story is popular amongst people in the Southwest, but unlike other supernatural shows, it also has strong followings across the U.S. among city dwellers.

America’s Funniest Home Videos

This is still a favorite in my household, and apparently, it’s a favorite of the rest of America as well.  This show literally appeals to almost everyone in the U.S. and as you can see above, they have a map to prove it.

The Big Bang Theory

Who knew you could put a show about science geeks on television and score huge ratings? Apparently, CBS did.  The Big Bang Theory was one of the highest rated shows of 2016 and apparently it’s a favorite on the campuses of Iowa State and Penn State where the show was most popular according to The Upshot.

Family Guy

Seth MacFarlane’s animated satirical comedy about an average American family living in Rhode Island showed hot spots of likes across the U.S. but appears to be most popular in cities.  Interestingly, the show’s popularity was more correlated with support for Hillary Clinton than any other show.

 Game of Thrones

The HBO fantasy drama that brings an overbearing mix of murder, sex, nudity and dragons was found to be extremely popular in the Western half of the U.S. and in coastal cities.  Rural America on the other hand, just isn’t having it.  According to the data Game of Thrones is least popular in rural areas.

 Mythbusters

Though it sadly ended in March 2016 after airing for 14 seasons, people across the U.S. simply can’t get enough of Adam, Jamie, and the rest of the Mythbusters.  Perhaps that’s why The Science Channel has been running a mega marathon since Christmas Eve and will premier Mythbusters: The Search on January 7 in an effort to find the next generation of Mythbusters. Interestingly, Mythbusters was the second most popular show among men in the data.

Once Upon A Time

The show that’s like the television equivalent of Kingdom Hearts, in that it brings together a bunch of your favorite Disney-owned heroes and villains into a single universe appears to be most popular in Utah and eastern Idaho.  Not surprisingly there is also a hot spot of viewers surrounding Orlando, Florida home of Walt Disney World.

Saturday Night Live

To Trump’s chagrin, SNL is still quite popular across the U.S.  The late night sketch comedy show is popular in urban areas throughout the country and in college towns, particularly Amherst, Massachusettes, Madison, Wisconsin, and Ithaca, New York each of which were in the top ten cities.

The Simpsons

Set in the fictional town of Springfield, The Upshot explains Simpsons fans like this, “Of all of the Springfields in America, it is most popular in Springfields in Virginia, Minnesota and New Jersey, and least popular in Springfields in Louisiana, Arkansas and Georgia.”

South Park

As comical as it may seem, South Park is actually most popular in the state of Colorado where the animated show is said to take place.  Looking at the map from The Upshot it would appear the show is least popular across the South aside from a couple hot spots in Texas, Georgia and Florida.

Sponge Bob SquarePants

He may live in a pineapple under the sea, but Spongebob’s fans live all over the U.S.  Though not as popular as AFV in terms of numbers, Spongebob is still liked in all 50 states.

Supernatural

The Upshot didn’t have much to say about Supernatural and by looking at the map I can see why.  There are really no trends that stand out in terms of location, the one thing they did point out however, was that the data exhibits “a nonurban white audience pattern.”  So if you’re looking for someone to binge watch Supernatural with, maybe grab a white kid from a rural community.

Tom and Jerry

No, this isn’t some new hip reality show you didn’t know about featuring a gay couple that hangs out with the Kardashians, this is, in fact, the same Tom and Jerry you grew up with.  First created in 1940, the beloved cat and mouse duo was revived by Cartoon Network in 2014 and is still loved by groups across the U.S.

Tosh.0

Daniel Tosh is still somehow making those viral videos we’ve already seen funny again with his added comedic commentary, but where can you find a Tosh.bro to watch it with?  Tosh.0 is popular in the Northern half of American and is most popular in Colorado. (I’m starting to wonder if Colorado just has a thing for Comedy Central)  The show is least popular in the state of Mississippi.

The Vampire Diaries

Though Elena took one for the team so to speak to allow for Nina Dobrev to leave the show.  The Vampire Diaries still has a pretty steady following.  The Upshot found that like several other supernatural shows, The Vampire Diaries was slightly more popular outside of cities.  However, the show’s fandom had “the smallest amount of spatial variation of all 50 shows.” Whatever that means.

The Walking Dead

If you’re one of us that are still watching The Walking Dead despite the fact that it’s creators have now shown us that no matter how horrible zombies are, humans are still far worse then you can be sure you’ll find a friend in rural parts of the country particularly in Appalachia and southern Texas.

To see the maps from these shows and the rest of the top 50 most-liked shows The Upshot pulled be sure to check out the original article. Want to know what shows people in your neck of the woods are watching?  Scroll to the bottom of the article and type in your zip code to find out.  I was disappointed to find out most of my neighbors are watching reality TV like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Duck Dynasty, and The Voice.