Saturday, June 30, 2007

Top 30 Cult TV Shows

According to TV Guide.

5 comments:

Writeprocrastinator said...

Some of those shows were in the top twenty and top ten during their heydays, so could they still be offically called "cult?"

mybillcrider said...

Good question. I'm sure TV Guide has a good answer, but I don't.

Anonymous said...

They didn't have a solid explanation. The list is an odd collection. Maybe they needed filler.

Anonymous said...

30) Strangers with Candy (1999-2000)*
29) Absolutely Fabulous (1994-2003)
28) Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)*
27) H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1971)
26) Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1975-1978)
25) Firefly (2002-2003)*
24) Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
23) Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
22) Doctor Who (1963-present)
21) Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)

20) The Avengers (1966-1969)
19) Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
18) Veronica Mars (2004-2007)*
17) Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990)
16) Babylon 5 (1994-1998)
15) Family Guy (1999-present)
14) Battlestar Galactica (2003-present)*
13) Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1989-1999)
12) Pee-Wee's Playhouse (1986-1991)
11) Jericho (2006-present)*

10) Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)
9) Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
8) The Simpsons (1989-present)
7) The Prisoner (1967-1968)
6) Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974)
5) Lost (2004-present)*
4) Farscape (1999-2003)
3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
2) The X-Files (1993-2002)
1) Star Trek (1966-1969)

Well, a few have had some, often fleeting, Nielsen success, but the point would be how fanatical a fan-base they inspired. People often joke, I hope, how much they loved/love such tripe as THREE'S COMPANY or WHAT'S HAPPENING!?!, but they haven't actually inspired the kind of fannish/fanzine-publishing/website-maintaing/listserv-chatting/episode-swapping following that these shows have (MH,MH maybe just a bit less than FOREVER KNIGHT, but I'll buy it for now). No company man, I, but that's perhaps the least embarrassing of this sort of list I've seen for a while here on the CriderPop blog.

mybillcrider said...

I think you're right, Todd. These are shows that have a lot of fannish activity related to them, or most of them are.