The aspect of one town providing everyone in the cast and all relevant locations isn't exclusive to America. In Japan, we sorta have Tomoeda, Mitakihara, Ueno, the Lucky Cat Shopping District, Mullenberg (in Germany), and so on.
And then there's Lucky Star, which averts this trope. Most of the cast lives within the real-life Saitama Prefecture, but the twins live in Washinomiya (now part of Kuki), Konata lives in Satte, and their school is located in Kasukabe. Miyuki, meanwhile, lives instead in Tokyo (which has its own prefecture altogether), and Konata works more specifically in Akihabara, while the girls' homeroom teacher lives somewhere in Kanagawa Prefecture. (Granted, none of this is specified in the show, but the coordinates for each household are specified on Lucky Star Wiki.)
Still, without the "all-American" aspect, would that actually be a separate and overlapping trope?
Edited by SeaRover
Haddonfield is in Illinois, near Pontiac, IL according to visible road signs. Grandview USA was actually filmed in and around Pontiac, but with a less specific fictional location.
Sen
Would Onett be an example of this?
Probably should get working on that essay now...
As someone who lives in Ohio, I can 100% confirm that we are a state made up of Everytowns. Ohio is very boring.