Not sure if this should be a reply or its own thread but I’m starting a new one.
I read this recently: Wildly popular shows that are gone and I found it really interesting. Some of these show defined pop culture of their time. Maybe that’s exactly the issue? They were of a time and that’s gone?
Anyone have any others?
Take care!
Here is the reddit thread that they used or started for that article.
‘Desperate Housewives’. Husband and I had a box set and binge watched, one dreary Christmas.
‘The Wonder Years’ - again, a music rights problem.
Westerns like Gunsmoke or Bonanza aren’t talked about much nowadays. (Outside of the awesome podcast ‘Bonanas for Bonanza’, of course.)
Full House was huge in its day, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were pop-culture celebrities for a while afterwards. Haven’t heard of either in years. Just checked, and the twins are now 38.
There was a time during which popular off-network shows were put into syndication and sold to local TV stations to fill odd hours. Now, more often than not, they fill odd hours with talk shows or expanded local news. Replacing them have been the seemingly dozens of odd streaming options, like Tubi and others. Probably some of the shows mentioned can be found somewhere, if music rights or other tangled legal issues aren’t keeping them in the vault.
Some shows were not as popular as you might think. “Wings” got ratings because NBC placed it between two very popular shows. This was “tentpole” programming. People watched “Wings” because they were already watching NBC and didn’t want to change the channel. At various times, the tentpoles were “Seinfeld,” “Cheers” or “Mad About You.” “Wings” was good enough to hold up the middle of the tent, and got respectable ratings over several years. “Dear John,” a decent sitcom with Judd Hirsch, was similarly placed but didn’t hold up the tent, and has now been forgotten.
Wings is always my first thought about this kind of topic. Was only middling popular while new (though enough to get eight seasons) but then was on syndicated rotation on the cable USA network seemingly 24/7. I was in college at the time and we could (it seemed) always find an episode of Wings on if there was nothing else worth watching. But, post that, I haven’t seen an episode since the mid 90s and never hear the show mentioned.
I remember watching Boston Common in college, a sitcom starring Anthony Clark as a country bumpkin working at a university in Boston.
Steve Paymer is an underrated comic actor, and he guest starred. Traylor Howard was the love interest.
And none of those names are known today.
Perhaps the best answer might be Herman’s Head. Yeardley Smith in the flesh!
(My definition of popular may be up for debate)
This is still pretty popular, it runs regularly in syndication and my daughter and a lot of her friends watched it (in fact, she still does occasionally as comfort-watching).
Suddenly Susan with Brooke Shields. I have no idea what it was about or who else was in it. I think it was one of those Thursday night shows. I only remember the opening theme song was a rocking version of “Ode to Joy.”
I watched many on the list.
I did watch Herman’s Head. Several Simpsons people on it.
I remember Boston Common. Then a lot of shows came out with Boston in the title.
Suddenly Susan, Caroline in the City, Madman of the People, Drexell’s Class, Kate & Allie, Hooperman, Mission Impossible (1980s - I think it’s forgotten that it existed briefly then), Head of the Class, Just the Ten of Us, Perfect Strangers, Max Headroom, and I’m sure many more.
There were a lot of shows that I liked and want an update. Tekwar, although Cyberpunk shows could include this. They were on cable, so not as easy to find. Silk Stockings. Lots of USA shows. Kindred.
I watched too much TV. Maybe. Wow.
I was in college from '90 to '95 and didn’t watch as much. Then watched a TON from '95 to '98, then dropped a lot and only targeted shows.
Thanks for the conversation!
I remember that one. I watched it and thought it was, let’s say, “reasonably good.” But even though I remember it now that someone else has mentioned it, I’m pretty sure that if I had been to name some shows I hadn’t seen in a long time, I would never have thought of it on my own.
Kindred The Embraced had some failings. It was based on the role playing game Vampire The Masquerade. However, it made a lot of weird changes. As in the rpg, vampires have different clans. in the rpg each clan has a unique flaw. Nosferatu are hideously ugly. Malkavians are insane. Ventrue can only feed from a small subset of humans etc. The Nosferatur in the show was bald, had weird ears and was kind of ugly. I don’t remember any of the other clan flaws ever showing up. In the rpg, there were some powers every vampire had. There were also a set of powers called Disciplines. Each clan had three disciplines that cost less experience points to learn. Off the top of my head- Ventru had Dominate (You tell people what to do. They do it) and two others. The Nosferatu had Obfuscate (the ability to become invisible and to disguise your appearance) and two others, etc. In the show, all vampires seem to have access to all Disciplines and at very high levels.
The other problem with the show was that the POV human was C Thomas Howell.
Shame on you! You can never watch too much TV! I am watching Comet’s Sunday block of Friday The 13th-The Series right now. The current episode is about a dentist who uses the antique electric chair he was sentenced to die in to kill patients so that he may extend his life and gain electrical super powers.
Namely that it was terrible. I remember watching it when it aired (as I recall, it didn’t last the full season so I wouldn’t call it ‘popular’) and sort of powering through it because, neat, show about a popular RPG. But I tried rewatching it a few years back and it was awful. Classic C-Tier Aaron Spelling dreck with some mangled vampire rules pushed into it. It deserves to be forgotten.
IIRC The ratings were good. The series ended early because the actor who played Prince Julian Luna was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Maybe. They had unaired episodes they never bothered to put on the air so that doesn’t sounds like “The audiences want more of this” to me, even if they would have had trouble filming another season.
From here
Back when adult bookstores were a thing I saw a porn flick titled, “Herman’s Other Head”. I’ll let myself out.
I remember that one of her co-stars, David Strickland (kind of a poor man’s Chris O’Donnell) committed suicide. It also had Kathy Griffin as a wacky redhead.
IIRC Susan (Brooke Shields) worked at a magazine. The actor who played the juvenile delinquent in The Breakfast Club played the boss. It originally did have a “rocking version of Ode To Joy”. Later, they made a new intro with a song sung by Sheryl Crowe.