Springfield (The Simpsons) be a specific real town, although the producers acknowledge basing the town on numerous locations including "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, and Mike Scully's hometown, Springfield, Massachusetts. Groening named Springfield after Springfield, Oregon, and also took inspiration from Springfield being the fictitious setting of the series "Father Knows Best". He said, "I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do." Groening liked "Second
Springfield (The Simpsons) City Television" use of Melonville, a town with a large cast of recurring characters that serves as a mini-universe for the show, and partially based "The Simpsons" on it. Because of the many contradictory statements regarding Springfield, it is impossible for the town to exist in a specific state. In "The Simpsons Movie", Ned Flanders tells Bart that Springfield is bordered by the states of Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky - of which only Ohio and Kentucky are real neighbouring states. The city's unknown and unknowable geography is a recurring joke in the series; one newspaper called it the "riddle