I remember this show. I don’t recall ever watching it, but I can probably still sing the theme song. 
Far from forgotten, and coming back in 2016.
ST: TNG has not aged well at all, IMHO. (And I thought a lot of episodes were really stupid when they were first aired.) But I doubt this matters much to anyone other than Trek fans.
If the remake is good, they might snare a whole new generation of watchers. But how many people who saw the original 20-odd years ago are going to be moved to watch it?
I was actually quite surprised at how well the remake of ***Dallas ***did (it ran for three seasons), and I was sorry to see it cancelled.
glee is definitely heading that way. It was super buzz-worthy in its first season (and actually was a decent show to boot).
CSI is still on. It now stars Ted Danson, in what I think is his best performance ever, and I’m still really enjoying it. While I agree that it has lost its impact on pop culture, its influence is still being felt every day in the justice system, where both criminals and jurors have ideas about scientific evidence derived from the show. It is starting to look like this is probably the show’s last year, and its episode order was just cut.
I would add ***Murphy Brown ***to the list. Very relevant to the politics of its time, but outdated now.
And the Puts on Sunglasses meme still has some currency…
Since the original has been on Netflix there’s been a surge of interest among young people. Somebody even created a red room display at this year’s burning man. http://welcometotwinpeaks.com/inspiration/burning-man-twin-peaks-black-lodge/
And yes, there is great interest in it’s return, especially among fans of the original. It’s not really a remake, it’s a continuation by the original writers / directors with the original cast and it takes place 25 years later. Since the original was cancelled after a season ending cliffhanger, many many fans are interested in the resolution of those cliffhangers, and it’s been strongly hinted that they will be resolved.
It probably won’t even make a lot of sense to people unfamiliar with the original.
Hill Street Blues. This was a series that literally rewrote the rules on how to tell a dramatic story on television. It won a truckload of Emmy awards, spawned a host of imitators and launched Dennis Franz’s career, as well as the catchphrase “Let’s be careful out there.” Even more importantly, NBC chose to renew it despite (like Cheers) terrible ratings because it was so damn good.
It never did well in syndication and today is even less remembered than its medical story sidekick St. Elsewhere.
Love, American Style.
Quatermass isn’t exactly forgotten. Not only do a lot of fans remember him (I especially like the 2nd anf third serials, which I saw in the movie versions, titled in America enemy from Space and Five Million Years to Earth), but **The Quatermass Experiment was re-done live on British TV as recently as 2005:
Eight Is Enough
Party of Five
Knot’s Landing
Laverne & Shirley
Alf
Flipper
The Wild, Wild West
Bionic Woman
Gidgit
The Waltons
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
Don’t forget that the theme song reached #10 on the billboard charts.
I have seen HSB in syndication but not recently. I don’t think it did well there or was too expensive.
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.
Good call. Miami Vice was huge.
I can think of a show that WAS enormously popular in its day, that millions of people watched and quoted, BUT
…which nobody my age (53) or younger has ever seen.
…which many people are afraid to mention, because they’ve been told it’s considered taboo, wholly beyond the pale!
Amos and Andy!
Hardly anybody has seen it, but everyone knows it’s wickedly racist, and must never be re-broadcast or even brought up.
“Twin Peaks” was incredibly popular the first season it was on. Very much discussed the next morning (I think it was on on Monday nights?), around the water cooler, and I know a bunch of folks I hung out with at the time who had the soundtrack. The second season seemed to go off the rails, and fade, the movie didn’t make much of splash.
Another show that was incredibly popular in syndication when I was growing up, but doesn’t seem to be around is “Barney Miller”. Very funny, and literate.
The problem is, that there are very few shows that are going to be remembered by people unless the show goes into syndication. My teenaged daughter doesn’t know “The Love Boat”, but if you are over 30, you’ve probably seen an episode in syndication.
I don’t know if it was as popular outside of my age group, but I remember the show Amazing Stories being pretty big. I haven’t heard anyone talk about it in years.
And it seems like you don’t hear much about Unsolved Mysteries anymore, either.
“Make Room for Daddy” ran from 1953-1964 yet only two years ever came on DVD. Being in black and white probably hurt it in tv syndication, although “I Love Lucy” never suffered from that.
“Archie Bunker’s Place” was popular in its day, beat “Mork and Mindy” head to head, but is seldom syndicated and only one poor selling season came out on dvd.