While big cities remain a popular setting for television shows, smaller towns and odd locations are increasingly becoming settings for new TV series because of tax incentives and an authenticity that bigger cities can’t replicate, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"Detroit 1-8-7", for example, is the first network show to film in Detroit, while FX’s gumshoe-drama "Terriers" is set in a run-down, sun-bleached San Diego. "Hot in Cleveland" is set in Ohio, while "The Big C" is centered in Minneapolis.

 "A show like ‘Entourage’ is lifestyle porn, and I understand why people get into that world," Greg Garcia told the Times. His new comedy, "Raising Hope," is set in a scruffy, anonymous town he created by imagining small towns in western Michigan."

Michigan offers generous tax breaks, which helped "Detroit 1-8-7" because the city doesn’t have much infrastructure in place for TV production, the story notes. "Our stories are very Detroit-specific and the characters are all woven from the fabric of this place," the show’s creator, Jason Richman, says in the article.