In France there where major demonstrations and direct actions to try and get one of the northern TSV's to stop in their city - they wanted the tourism benefits.
Usually when they won't stop in a specific city it is either because there is another stop very close by (<30min drive), or because a stop would require a complete change of the right of way. There are plenty of LGV stops in tiny towns and suburbs...I've seen some with populations as low as 15k people.
