# TV Shows that made a big pop culture splash but are now disproportionately forgotten **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849 "2014-11-17T13:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/61 "2014-11-18T01:56:28Z")
“Battle of the Network Stars” was sort of a spinoff of an earlier ABC Sports show “Superstars”. Although a lot of print media writers denounced it as “trashsport”, it was partially an attempt to answer the question of which sport produces the best athlete. Dick Button, Olympic ice skating analyst and tv analyst, played a role in this. The first one in 1972 was a success so naturally ABC expanded the number of athletes and hours, especially when they lost the NBA to CBS. Very popular, especially with young males but faded in popularity. Looking it up, I was surprised it lasted as long as it did. > **[Superstar (disambiguation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars#United_States_Superstars)** > > A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity. > Superstar or superstars may also refer to: > Music talent shows based on Pop Idol In retrospect, one of the most alert-grabbing remarks was in “Battle of the Super Teams” when ABC sportscaster O J Simpson asks Dodger outfielder some tough questions and Monday responds in mock anger “You always go for the throat, don’t you O J?” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/62 "2014-11-18T02:01:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > _Battle of the Network Stars_ > Back in the late 70’s / early 80’s this was a HUGE annual TV event. Nowadays you would be hardpressed to find anyone under 35 who has even heard of it. Oh yes, the Battle of the Network Ts and As! Good times, that. Hot braless celebs getting in the dunk tank. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/63 "2014-11-18T02:05:26Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > On a slightly different tack, In the 90’s, Nickelodeon came out with a string of original, excellent children’s programming like Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life, Aaahh! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold and Angry Beavers which are still remembered fondly and referenced to this day. Then, in the middle of all this was Doug which was a show that got great ratings while it was on but so bland it basically disappeared from the cultural consciousness as soon as it went off the air. Doug was notable enough that it was picked up by Disney and shown on ABC. It was extremely early-90s-flavored, so I think it aged worse than the other “Nicktoons,” but I know plenty of people still have very fond memories of that show. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/64 "2014-11-18T02:29:38Z")
yeah Hill Street Blues made the mold for many tv dramas. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/65 "2014-11-18T02:53:13Z")
\*Room 222 \*had a rep for being unafraid to tackle controversial subjects for its day (early 1970s), but has since disappeared into the ether. Its breakout star, Karen Valentine, has also not left much of a trail. _Marcus Welby, M.D._ is still sort of remembered, but that whole medical drama genre (_Welby, Medical Center, Emergency!_) became moribund in the late '70s, and those shows are little discussed today. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/66 "2014-11-18T03:09:45Z")
Ally McBeal and Desperate Housewives are great choices. I will add Malcolm in the Middle. Also, 90210 and Melrose Place. Both huge and now nobody cares. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/67 "2014-11-18T03:32:43Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > What about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? I think that’s a show that people will look back on and scratch their heads over. Even today it seems pretty weird. A few decades from now some young person will stumble upon it and break into fits of nervous laughter that such a show could exist. It would be like discovering that there was a show in the civil rights era called “Black Groove for the White Dude” based on the notion that black people are hip and musical and white people are not. It would be simultaneously offensive and hilarious. And yet it’s a perfect example of the zeitgeist of the time. Gay people were still “other” enough that there could be a (popular!) show that was based entirely on the fact that gay gays were _different_ from straight guys. It was fundamentally based on stereotypes. On the other hand, acceptance of homosexuality had reached a point where many people would watch the show and think it was entertaining and possibly even informative - as opposed to “disgusting”. I’m sure there were many who did think that, but it wouldn’t have been as popular as it (briefly) was if a majority thought that. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/68 "2014-11-18T03:42:45Z")
How about [Real People](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_People)? It was on for 5 seasons. About 10 years ago, I was playing Texas Hold’m with a couple of 20 somethings and I made a reference to my King Jack holding as “Kojak.” None of the young people knew who I was talking about. It made me feel really old. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/69 "2014-11-18T03:45:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Oh yes, the Battle of the Network Ts and As! Good times, that. Hot braless celebs getting in the dunk tank. In Speedos. The filmy, nylon ones that, when wet, clung to everything you wanted them to cling to. Lynda Carter! Cheryl Ladd! Sarah Purcell from Real People! Heart be still, Jan Smithers! The diving board was better. Got breezy and chilly up there for a young lady in a wet Speedo. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/70 "2014-11-18T05:47:03Z")
1. The Love Boat - (huge in the 70’s because of the depiction of extreme luxury on the Pacific Princess). I challenge anyone to find a cruise ship shittier than that these days outside of Somalia. I actually watched a few episodes a few months ago. I almost went out to buy some bell bottoms and a disco ball before people stopped me. Runner Up - CHIPS. 2. Gunsmoke - This one started out as a radio drama in 1952 and went on to TV fame. It is still the longest running series in history at 20 years and 635 episodes. That crap ran constantly in syndication even when I was a child and I have still never made it through more than a few minutes of any episode. It may be a great show for all I know but The Rifleman and Bonanza were always much more entertaining. 3. All of the long-running daytime soap operas - General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, All My Children - all the same worthless shit. I cannot believe they managed to stay on the air for decades and even had magazines devoted to their finer plot points. They were barely even TV shows because they couldn’t afford proper sets or lighting (that is my theory on why they were so dimly lit all the time anyway). They aren’t all gone yet but they will be soon enough. Even the most useless info-mercial has more value than they do. If middle-class housewives need additional entertainment away from the drudgery of the bon-bons and shopping, that is what the Lifetime channel is for. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/71 "2014-11-18T06:19:16Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Back in the Eighties, \*\*\*Miami Vice \*\*\*was more than just a popular cop show. It also had a big impact on fashions. LOADS of men were dressing like Don Johnson and trying to wear stubble like his. The show helped turn songs into hits. > > But now? It’s never shown in re-runs and hardly anybody remembers it. Huh? Hardly anyone remembers Miami Vice? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/72 "2014-11-18T06:54:48Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I would add \*\*\*Murphy Brown \*\*\*to the list. Very relevant to the politics of its time, but outdated now. Good one. In spite of its surface similarities to **The Mary Tyler Moore Show** , it never had quite the same impact and I always wondered why. MTM had a gallery of very memorable characters and seldom made timely cultural references (as though they had an eye on being in syndication for decades to come), whereas **Murphy Brown** went very much in the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/73 "2014-11-18T07:47:43Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The other day I was thinking about Cagney & Lacey and it occurred to me that I couldn’t say or remember a single thing about it beyond “Had two lady cops” despite it being a fairly big deal at the time. Show ran for seven seasons though between 1981-1988. _Cagney & Lacey_ is on Hulu, and badly dated-- I can’t stress how badly. _Lou Grant_, about eight years older, is not as badly dated. But it is still possible to appreciate how good the performances of Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless were, and how good the supporting cast was, which was what made it a great show. Also, it was, as far as I know, the first show to deal openly with child incest as a psychological factor in motivation of a later crime, and even though it danced around the terminology a little, it was quite clear. The ep. was called “Fathers and Daughters,” and guest starred Dinah Manoff and Gail Strickland, pretty big names for one-off roles (maybe it was sweeps week). [S4e5](http://www.hulu.com/watch/218890#i0,p36,d0). It’s a great episode that seems tame and pulling its punches after 15 years of _L&O: SVU_, but the acting is superb, and it plays better than many of the other episodes. So does the ep. with the suspect who is Deaf (s6e18). Sometimes a show is dated because some of the things it did first have now been done to death. > [@DrFidelius](#): > > Is there an official name for the Love Boat / Fantasy Island type shows? A framing device with recurring characters, a handful of C-list actors, telling two or three unrelated stories running through each episode? They are anthology series, with in-show framing devices, instead of using an out-of-story narrator to frame the show, like Rod Serling for _The Twilight Zone_, or Alfred Hitchcock for _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_. When you think about it, Ricardo Montalban’s character did exactly the same thing in introducing the characters on _Fantasy Island_ that Rod Serling did for the characters in _The Twilight Zone_, Montalban was just in-universe. _The Love Boat_ characters occasionally had their own storylines, but their purpose was to give the anthology show a texture that was consistent from one episode to the other and “branded” it. These shows don’t exist anymore for the same reason variety shows don’t exist: they were “family” viewing. Back when even people with cable got fewer than 15 channels, and people without cable, who were a much bigger part of the population, got about 7 or 8, and many households had only one TV, networks tried to produce shows that a whole family would watch together. A three-story 1-hr anthology show could have one heavy romance, maybe with a little twist that might go over the youngest kids’ heads, or with more than the usual pathos, one plotline with either intrigue, or more physical comedy than usual, and one plotline involving children. You watched the bits that interested you. RE: _Ellen_. A few of the episodes after “The Puppy Show” (what the coming out ep. is called) hold up well. The one where she is planning on sleeping with her girlfriend for the first time, and has to decide whether or not to tell her it’s her first time with a woman, is really excellent. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/74 "2014-11-18T07:51:59Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > . . . The Waltons . . . I remember watching \*The Waltons \*back in the 70s, but until recently couldn’t remember anything about it except “Good night, John-Boy.” So last year I checked it out, and discovered that there was a lot more than what I remembered. The show dealt with subjects such as racism, sexism, poverty, teenage pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, death, infertility, polio, adultery, juvenile deliquency, ageism, native Americans, anti-semitism, the Holocaust, and a unique perspective on the Depression and World War II . . . even the Hindenburg disaster. And the characters were anything but the “goody-two-shoes” that I had remembered. The show was a huge hit, deservedly so. But the only thing people remember is “Goodnight, John-Boy.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/75 "2014-11-18T08:59:50Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > “Battle of the Network Stars” was sort of a spinoff of an earlier ABC Sports show “Superstars”. Although a lot of print media writers denounced it as “trashsport”, it was partially an attempt to answer the question of which sport produces the best athlete. Dick Button, Olympic ice skating analyst and tv analyst, played a role in this. > The first one in 1972 was a success so naturally ABC expanded the number of athletes and hours, especially when they lost the NBA to CBS. Very popular, especially with young males but faded in popularity. Looking it up, I was surprised it lasted as long as it did. In a similar vein, **Wide World of Sports** ; it ran for almost four decades, had segments from all over the world, and was the only chance to see sports apart from foot-/base-/basket-ball. Once upon a time, if you said “the agony of defeat” everybody knew exactly what you meant. The talk of _Twin Peaks_ reminds me of another one, **Northern Exposure**. I was in Roslyn, Washington, a while ago, and a few places from the show are still preserved. I haven’t heard anyone mention it for ages, though. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/76 "2014-11-18T09:46:59Z")
I recall _Seaquest DSV_ being quite a big deal at the time, but I may be localising that somewhat. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/77 "2014-11-18T13:56:23Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > 1. Gunsmoke - This one started out as a radio drama in 1952 and went on to TV fame. It is still the longest running series in history at 20 years and 635 episodes. Law & Order ran for just as long and The Simpsons spanks both of them. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/78 "2014-11-18T16:24:12Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > I think that’s a show that people will look back on and scratch their heads over. Even today it seems pretty weird. A few decades from now some young person will stumble upon it and break into fits of nervous laughter that such a show could exist. It would be like discovering that there was a show in the civil rights era called “Black Groove for the White Dude” based on the notion that black people are hip and musical and white people are not. It would be simultaneously offensive and hilarious. > > And yet it’s a perfect example of the zeitgeist of the time. Gay people were still “other” enough that there could be a (popular!) show that was based entirely on the fact that gay gays were _different_ from straight guys. It was fundamentally based on stereotypes. On the other hand, acceptance of homosexuality had reached a point where many people would watch the show and think it was entertaining and possibly even informative - as opposed to “disgusting”. I’m sure there were many who did think that, but it wouldn’t have been as popular as it (briefly) was if a majority thought that. Great post. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/79 "2014-11-18T16:32:51Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Huh? Hardly anyone remembers Miami Vice? I can’t remember the last time I saw it in re-runs, can you? Think anyone, say, 30 years old or younger remembers it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849/80 "2014-11-18T16:35:18Z")
The question is a toiugh one, because it’s not clear what people have forgotten – an issue that itself varies with age. There are several influential shows from the 1950s that were Big Things at the time, but have fallen off the cultural radar because they were never syndicated, or in many cases even preserved: **The Ernie Kovacs Show** – widely credited with inventing a lot of now-standard devices and convcentions for TV shows, wildly inventive and at the time hilarious. Most people today have probably never even heard of Kovaks. **Queen for a Day** and **This is Your Life** – incredibly popular TV shows about people’s lives. I suspect any knowledge people have of these today results from citations of these in cartoons or other pop media **Studio One** and other drama anthology series – this is what a lot of people cite as the best of TV in the 1950s one-off dramas by people like Gore Vidal and Paddy Chayevsky and Rod Serling that appeared on the small screen and sometimes got made into movies (like Twelve Angyry Men, Requien for a Heavyweight, and Visit to a Small Planet) **One Step Beyond** – the Twilight Zone before Twilight Zone. Similarly, if it weren’t for the reference to it in _Back to the Future_, would Millennials even know about _Science Fiction Theater_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disproportionately-forgotten/704849.md?page=5)