Basic Trope: Manhattan is the only important part of New York.
- Played Straight: Alice and Bob's story takes place in NYC, where they search for a MacGuffin, but only focuses on Manhattan.
- Exaggerated:
- Fulton Street Folly
- Manhattan is the only portion of New York State left after the rest got atomized.
- Downplayed:
- Most of the action takes place in Manhattan, but other places in NYC and greater New York State have moments of prominence.
- Some neighboring districts are mentioned in passing, but the story is mainly focused on Manhattan.
- Parodied: Alice and Bob are tourists and take a tour bus around Manhattan. Alice is excitedly taking pictures of Coney Island, Yankee Stadium, Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge; Bob meanwhile is plainly confused as he double checks his guidebook to verify that those should be, respectively, in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.
- Subverted: Alice and Bob are convinced to try searching the other boroughs as well after their search in Manhattan goes cold.
- Double Subverted: ...But they ultimately continue primarily searching in Manhattan.
- Averted:
- All the boroughs are treated with equal importance in Alice and Bob's search.
- Alice and Bob visit places not only within city limits, but throughout New York State.
- Alice And Bob is proudly filmed completely on location in New York City... but is set in Queens.
- Inverted:
- Everyone talks about the other boroughs and the rest of New York State, but Manhattan isn't even mentioned.
- Aliens in Cardiff, applied to elsewhere in New York State.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob wait around in Manhattan because they know the MacGuffin holder can't resist a visit.
- Enforced:
- The show is specifically filmed in Manhattan and can't convincingly double as anything else.
- Manhattan has the most recognizable landmarks for the Small Reference Pools.
- The production is filmed in Manhattan as the state of New York offers a tax credit for film and television productions to work in the five boroughs
- Justified:
- The MacGuffin Alice and Bob are searching for is only found in Manhattan, and they have no time to go anywhere else.
- The story takes place in a locale found within Manhattan (i.e. Central Park, Broadway).
- The story takes place prior to consolidation in 1898, when the City of New York was actually only on Manhattan and the current outer boroughs like Brooklyn were their own municipalities.
- Defied: Alice and Bob purposely avoid Manhattan and make an active effort to see the rest of New York.
- Lampshaded: Alice and Bob note that despite New York City being a big place, they keep on ending up in Manhattan.
- Discussed: "You know, it's funny how people come to New York and think the only portion worth visiting is Manhattan." "Yeah, the other boroughs are cool too."
- Conversed: "New York City is the largest city in the country in terms of population, and New York State as a whole is also pretty interesting, why do the writers only focus on Manhattan?"
- Played For Drama: Alice and Bob find that Manhattan's dominance is economically strangling the other boroughs, who feel ignored and consider seceding to become independent municipalities again.
This is the express train to New York Is Only Manhattan - no need to worry about those other boroughs.
