Why River Bend and not Hannibal?
Since Potter was originally from Hannibal, you'd think they would have set the show there instead of making up a town.
YES! Take that, 1950's society!
It started out in Hannibal, but the Colonel took a job at the VA hospital 20 min away in River Bend.
share This is purely a guess, but by inventing a fictional town, they reduced the risk of offending anybody.
If they'd wanted to introduce a character of a stupid mayor, or some small-minded townspeople, or something like that, they might run the risk of offending people, if the show was set in the real Hannibal. By setting the show in the fictional "River Bend," no one would be offended by a storyline that cast the town in an unfavorable light.
They wouldnt of offended us Missourians. We just like to be included...
(Thank God for John Goodman)
"I'm from L.A: Lower Affton."-John Goodman, St. Louis MO