In recent years, there have been a number of successful Canadian shows that have achieved a broader appeal in the United States and possibly elsewhere. Those in the know will recognize the likes of Bitten, Orphan Black, Continuum, and Lost Girl. These shows all have Canadian locations, at least in part. Bitten clearly identifies Toronto, Continuum clearly identifies Vancouver, Lost Girl is fairly cagey on the issue, and Orphan Black specifically mentions places which strongly suggest Toronto and area. Bitten and Orphan Black have also specifically identified locations in the United States.
Let’s look at the cases where there are locations in both countries. Nobody ever seems to have any difficulties crossing the border. There are never any border delays. They never need to be at the airport hours early. While border crossing can easily be handwaved away as happening during the boring part of travel, it does seem odd that there is no red tape preventing the likes of a convicted child rapist from crossing. Sure, such a person could just walk across the border in one of the many unguarded stretches, but that would take far longer to accomplish than is shown.
Leaving aside the border issues, there are other things that make people who know the score raise their eyebrows. In Orphan Black, for instance, characters are shown spending money that is clearly Canadian and driving cars with license plates that are correct for Ontario yet the police department carries badges that look more at home in the United States and their procedures are at odds with the known procedures in Canada. In Continuum, we have continual references to three letter agencies in the United States, but there have also been references to appropriate agencies in Canada. (To be fair, most Canadians would be somewhat familiar with the US three letter agencies so might generally mention them.)
What we have, then, is clearly not Canada as we know it. For the shows that use locations in the United States, there are probably also differences from reality, but those are probably less marked than the ones for Canadian locales. This is not surprising since audiences have great deal of exposure to the “television America” that has developed over the years on television produced in the United States.
What we have in the current crop of shows is a sort of amalgamation between the United States and Canada in a way that seems to be emerging as a sort of standard for an unspecified town somewhere in English speaking North America. This does make some sense given that the cultural differences between Canada and the United States are not so pronounced as many would like to believe. Sure, there are major differences, but there is a vast base of shared culture. This generic amalgamation has been called “Generica” by at least one commentator.
Generica has not shown up just in current sci-fi/fantasy television, either. For instance, the Good Witch series of movies is set in a generically named Middleton which seems to have many of the features of Generica. Leaving aside the inconsistencies in setting between movies, it’s not clear exactly where Middleton is, even with references to well known cities or locations.
So is Generica a bad place to use in fiction? Well, not really. For people not really in the know about things, they will never notice, and that is the vast majority of the world at large. For people ostenisbly living in Generica, it probably makes even more sense. Anyone who has studied North America at all will realize that there are huge cultural differences from region to region, even within a single country, province, or state. There are certainly enough procedural differences in civil institutions from state to state or city to city. When you add all this up, it becomes difficult to keep everything straight, especially in the face of changing demographics and regulations.
As long as the particular brand of Generica used in a particular universe remains internally consistent, there should be no strong objections to its use. Thus, as long as Orphan Black remains internally consistent, it should not matter that it takes place in a version of Generica. It is, after all, fictional. The same goes for any other show.
Generica has an added benefit. It is clearly not the world we live in. That means that the writers need not take particular pains to get everything exactly right for their setting of choice. Instead, they can concentrate on storytelling and largely ignore the inconvenient aspects of real jurisprudence or culture. As long as they do not claim to be reality, what harm is done?
Long live Generica!