Most succesful cable television shows ever

Cafe Society
1

What are the other most succesful shows in cable history? Google isn’t helping…

Also, with HBO you have no commercials, so ‘success’ is deemed by
a.) number of people who subscribe to HBO, Sopranos being a major factor in that
b.) DVD sales are huge
c.) books and other merchandising
d.) product placement- never noticed any on the Sopranos though. Even the soda machine in Dr. Melfi’s dream was fake that time, wasn’t it?

Is this correct? Am I missing something?

Of course, success also means how it furthered/started careers of the actors…

2

How about Chappelle’s Show?

The most successful TV show on DVD.

3

I kinda of thought South Park was the #1 show on Comedy Channel by ratings and top 10 DVD sales. This is probably the #2 Cable show.

4

Yeah, I read about that. It’s amazing how DVDs still make money with all the piracy.

5

Trading Spaces does rather well with books and product placements, but I don’t know if any DVDs are available.

6

I remember when it hit the news that South Park had defeated a network program (I believe it was a rather dull-sounding politically-oriented episode of Prime Time Live on ABC) in the ratings. It was reported that that was the first time that a cable television show had more viewers than a network program in the same time slot.

7

MST3K had the longest run (10 years), did it not?