TV Shows You Liked Before They Got Big

[Agrippina]

This is inspired by the "bands" thread in IMHO.

What TV shows did you watch before they became phenomenons? Mine are:

*Rugrats--Hell, I remember when they quit making new episodes because of low ratings. Now look! Two movies, a ton of merchandise...
*Frasier
*Seinfeld
*South Park--Watched the first episode back in August 1997. I watch it sometimes; I tapered off after it was revealed that Cartman's mom is a hermaphrodite in April 1998, I think.
*The Simpsons--Always big, I suppose. I watched it before the big merchandise explosion in 1990.
*MAD TV--Can be debated by "big", though.
*Freaks and Geeks--Never really big until NBC got stupid and canceled it.

That's all I can think of now.

[Agrippina]

Shoot! The subject is wrong, I was going to start a thread about that but changed my mind! Mods, could you change it to "TV Shows You Liked Before They Got Big"?

[Freudian Slit]

Well, I second "Rugrats"- I remember watching those old episodes they used to play over and over, way before they started making new ones. I still really truly prefer the old ones. Like the first one, Tommy's first birthday, the booster shot one, Spike running away, and first meeting Suzy.

I watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire (a little) before "Is that your final answer" became a stock phrase. I'd like to say the same for "Weakest Link" but then "You are the weakest link: goodbye!" was a catch phrase before the show took off.

[RealityChuck]

"Hill Street Blues" -- watched the first few episodes and knew this was something special (probably the most influential TV show of the 80s). NBC kept switching it around but finally settled on Thursday, where it became big.

"The West Wing" -- watched from the first episode.

"Picket Fences" -- well, a critical hit, at least. I was delighted when it won the best drama Emmy.

[MsWhatsit]

I've been watching West Wing since the first episode, too. I happened to be watching whatever show came on before it, and stayed on the channel to watch. I was instantly hooked, and still haven't missed a single episode.

[Skijumper]

The West Wing - Same here, hooked from the first episode. I kept thinking, 'Damn this is good TV!'

Friends - Before I started seeing their faces on coffee cups, t-shirts and calendars.

The X-Files - I have a tape of the first few episodes and it's a ritual for me to watch them before every new season starts. Gillian Anderson has come a looong way in the hair and wardrobe department.

Chicago Hope - A lot of my friends preferred ER but this caught my eye from the beginning. Hey, it had Mandy Patinkin from the Princess Bride!

[ladyfoxfyre]

BEAN_SHADOW!!!!! YOU STOLE THE SIMPSONS AND SOUTH PARK??????

Gah. And I thought we were friends.

[tracer]

Space Ghost: Coast to Coast

Man, what a concept!

[SmackFu]

I think a lot of people were in on South Park before it hit. I remember the Spirit of Christmas video being passed around way back when I was in college. That was some funny shit.

[ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks]

I always really loved "Northern Exposure." Not sure how it ever rated on the "well-known" or "popular" list, but it was the greatest thing on tv for a long time.

[Airblairxxx]

"Newsradio". I was watching it from the first episode, because I am a huge KITH and Phil Hartman fan.

Oh, wait. It got canceled after four seasons and was NEVER big.

I don't care, I still love it.

[Fiver]

I can't fathom why you included Frasier, bean_shadow, since it was popular from the get-go and was really just a continuation of theCheers phenomenon.

But speaking of Cheers, I watched it in its first season in 1982. It came in as a midseason replacement and was in danger of cancellation due to poor ratings for about a year before the PAL discovered it.

[MrVisible]

You know that feeling you got when you were watching those shows, that kind of "I can't believe everybody doesn't know about this!" feeling?

I get that watching The Gilmore Girls.

Thought you'd like to know.

[JohnGalt]

The Daily Show (even if it was with Craig Kilborne), the really early ones without a studio audience. The only people you'd hear laughing were the camera crew, but if they were laughing you knew it was funny.

I feel cheated out of the first four seasons of Mystery Science Theater 3000, since my stupid cable channel carried Comedy Central half days, shared with some religious channel!

[Ethilrist]

I loved the first batch of episodes for Northern Exposure, which they filmed on a shoestring. Once they got renewed for the fall, and got an actual budget, it went downhill rapidly.

One of my favorite scenes was a dinner between Fleishman and Maggie, with them sitting in a darkened cabin having a discussion by candlelight because they couldn't afford any fancy sets.

[Legomancer]

I started watching The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer in their first seasons. Neither really got much attention until their third seasons. I'm not one of those "popular = bad" people, but IMO, both shows started to decline in quality after the third season, just as they were making magazine covers and getting Golden Globe awards and such.

Though I don't consider myself old-school Simpsons fan, I'm one of the few peopel I know who remembers seeing the shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show.

[Agrippina]

Originally posted by Fiver
I can't fathom why you included Frasier, bean_shadow, since it was popular from the get-go and was really just a continuation of theCheers phenomenon.

I must have been thinking in terms of ratings, but that's not always the case. As soon as Seinfeld left, that's when Frasier became even bigger, I think. It had a chance to be number one.

As for Newsradio, someone mentioned...I think it went downhill as soon as Phil Hartman died. I thought Jon Lovitz was OK, but he couldn't fill in the gap and I think the writer's tried too hard.

[Mauvaise]

I've watched X-Files from episode one, same with Friends, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I'm fairly loyal in my tv viewing. I'll watch a new series once or twice and if I like it, I'll watch it until it's off the air. So it's very difficult to factor in new shows each season because the returning favourites get first pick. Which is too bad, because I'd really like to watch Undeclared (by the same person who did Freaks & Geeks), but it's on opposite Buffy.

I think the only new one I will be watching faithfully this year is 24. I'll have to check out Wolf Lake and Pasadena for curiousity's sake, but I don't know if I'll watch past one or two episodes.

[Iguana Boy]

I watched both Red Dwarf and Northern Exposure from the start, although Northern Exposure had been going for a while in the States before we got it here in the UK.

Oddly enough, I stopped watching Red Dwarf during the third series, and that's when it really took off. I have since caught up with it though!

[Airblairxxx]

Originally posted by bean_shadow

As for Newsradio...I think it went downhill as soon as Phil Hartman died. I thought Jon Lovitz was OK, but he couldn't fill in the gap and I think the writer's tried too hard. [/b]

I'll grant you that, except for the Johnny Johnson episodes.

Why?

Because he's evil.

[psychogumby]

Ren And Stimpy - by the time it got big, it started to really suck due to the show's original creator (John Kricfalusi) being fired by Nickelodeon. He was one sick little monkey.

X-Files - The first series rocked. The second series was kinda cool. They should have killed this show off about six years ago, at least that way people would remember it as being 'brilliant' rather than 'a sad caricature of its former self'.

[Munch]

I also have been watching The West Wing since day one. And I used to like a show called The Seinfeld Chronicles, but they changed it's name and timeslot.

[SuaSponte]

That 70s Show. Watched from day one. I particularly thought the use of canned laughter was brilliant, perfectly evoking the sitcoms of that era.
I tapered off watching when they moved to Tuesdays opposite Buffy. This season, the conflict disappears, giving me, in the immortal words of Xander, "a happy".

Sua

[Agrippina]

Originally posted by psychogumby
X-Files - The first series rocked. The second series was kinda cool. They should have killed this show off about six years ago, at least that way people would remember it as being 'brilliant' rather than 'a sad caricature of its former self'.

IIRC, every X-Files was just Mulder and Scully going out doing their assingments, and weird shit happened. Were there any plot lines? Then the writers had to have romance between Mulder and Scully. Boo. Now I never watch it because it's just one soap opera with some supernatural stuff thrown in. If you miss one episode, you can't catch up.

[The Bitterdrunk Kid]

I was a huge fan of NewsRadio. I thought Jon Lovitz did a good job after Phil Hartman died. I mean, at least they didn't try to have him play the same character.

I used to love Ren and Stimpy until it started being ALL fart and vomit jokes. I really hate comedy based on purely disgusting stuff.

[poohpah chalupa]

Seinfeld and M*A*S*H
...watched both shows from day one.
Also, The Adventures of Mark and Brian
_{...okay, so it never got big...reality show that was way ahead of its time...}

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally posted by Legomancer
I started watching The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer in their first seasons. Neither really got much attention until their third seasons. I'm not one of those "popular = bad" people, but IMO, both shows started to decline in quality after the third season, just as they were making magazine covers and getting Golden Globe awards and such.

Though I don't consider myself old-school Simpsons fan, I'm one of the few peopel I know who remembers seeing the shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show.

I watched the Tracey Ullman Show religiously - I loved her show, except for the crappy animated shorts in it (read:The Simpsons). Guess that's why they don't hire me to pick the winners in the tv world. (And I've watched Buffy and X-Files since day one, too. In spite of how bad an actress I think Sarah Michelle Gellar is.)
My pick for next tv show to really take off? The Chris Isaak Show. I haven't laughed out loud at a tv show in a long, long time. That scene where the Christian rock band is running down the hallway with flaming toilet paper stuck between their butt cheeks - pure television gold, there.

[Fern Forest]

What follows is one of the side effects of having a TV in your bedroom when you're a teenager and the ability to stay in there all the time let me see many early shows.

I remember the Simpsons on the Tracey Ullman show. I especially loved the Pagan one.

Another Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy and Space Ghost Coast to Coast from the beginning. Space Ghost is the wierdest show on TV. I remember watching the tree episode where it just kept on repeating and repeating and I kept on watching and watching wondering when, if ever, they were going to do something new. More recently Spongebob Squarepants which has already peaked. Basically almost any cartoon you can think of that have been on Nick. In fact I remember Nickelodeon from back when it was Pinwheel. In fact I can still sing the theme song from Caliope. I also remember the contest on Space Ghost for the new cartoons and laughing by bootie off at Dexter's Laboratory.

I've also been a big fan of Dragonball since 1990. It was big in Japan but not in the US.

I also watched Comedy Central back when it was The Comedy Channel which then combined with Ha! to become what we have today.

The of course the put Friends on right after Seinfeld so I had no choice but to watch it. Only 1 more year to go and then I'm free.

But typically I just wait till I hear other people tell me something rocks. Which is why I blew it with Seinfeld and other great shows.

[Annie-Xmas]

I watched Rosanne from day one, cause I was a huge fan of George Clooney from his work on the original E/R (the one with Eliot Gould, saw every episode) and Facts of Life.

Quantum Leap from the beginning, cause I'd seen Scott Bakula on stage.

[Fiver]

Okay, I've got one. Way back in the early 80's Nickelodeon used to end its days at about 11:30 with a show called Pop Clips. A dj in a Hawaiian shirt, who resembled nothing so much as a Doobie Brother, would present a half-hour of music videos. At the time there were only ten or fifteen music videos extant, so if you watched Pop Clips for a week you'd seen them all. I didn't care; I never got tired of watching the Police's "Walking On the Moon."

The show was so successful it was spun off onto its own cable channel: MTV.