If you enjoyed “Friends”, that’s a red-flag in my book. Oh, wait, I married one of those… :smack:
This would be my litmus test as well. There’s no specific list of things that someone would have to like to have taste, and nothing specific that someone could like that would make them have bad taste in my mind. But if they only like popular things, and especially if their list of favorite pop culture stuff was stuff from just the last year, then I would think that they did not have much pop culture taste, and would try to find something else to talk about.
If I had a litmus test for pop culture taste, I wouldn’t have any friends! Remember those guys from High Fidelity who acted as lords of the record shop, dissing people whose taste wasn’t as eclectic and learned as their own? I can’t stand guys like that (and they’re always guys, aren’t they?)
Though I’ll say that if you’re a girl who digs the Melvins and likes all of the Planet of the Apes movies (not just the first one), I’ll probably fall in love with you immediately.
I often hear people say “I like every sort of music…except country and rap.” That always bugs me (a sort of negative litmus test), because it usually means, in effect, “I’m a close-minded person posing as an open-minded person.”
If you don’t like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Trek, you can’t be my friend.
(Not really but I got to run with this ball)
How 'bout a half-friend? 
I don’t have any real “red flags” when it comes to someone’s choices of entertainment. Except if they’d rather watch Dragon Ball Z instead of Excel Saga, and that just means I should avoid watching anime with them.
However, I have come up with a quick-and-dirty personality test. Ask somebody what their three favorite Beatles and/or Rolling Stones songs are. People who name songs like Eleanor Rigby, Paint it Black and Sympathy for the Devil are much different from people who name songs like Yellow Submarine, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Brown Sugar. If they say they don’t like any of the Beatles or Stones, chances are they’re a poseur or else they have very narrow tastes. If they say they don’t know any/enough songs between the two, you’ve got either a real young one or a real oddity on your hands. If they’re over 20, ask them why not.
Hmmm…Gimme Shelter, Not Fade Away, and The Last Time.
Paint it Black fucking rocks. Probably can’t name two other Rolling Stones songs, though, and am too lazy to even pretend they’re any of the other ones you named.
Heh.
Beatles: Blackbird, With a Little Help From My Friends, I’ll Follow the Sun.
Stones: Sympathy for the Devil, Can’t Always Get What You Want, As Tears Go By.
Do I pass?
Complete emphasis of style over substance, at least in the early days.
Lots of flashy splash pages rather than sequential art that tells a story, at least in the early days.
An emphasis on the gory, grotesque, and nightmarish.
Bad dialogue.
Thin characterizations.
A cyborg gorilla named Cy-Gor.
An awful movie.
A creator who is a complete arrogant dickhead, hypocrite, lying bastard, who hasn’t even touched his own creation in many years.
A fanbase stereotyped as barely-literate 16-year-old fans of Slipknot and Insane Clown Posse in grubby black T-shirts (and my apologies to you in advance, since I’m sure you don’t fall into this substrata, but come on, you know what I’m talking about!)
I collected Spawn for the first two years (when I was a teenager), and even met Todd McFarlane at conventions and got my books autographed back when he was an exciting artist and interesting personality. But then I grew up and realized the emperor wore no clothes, and then I sold my books on eBay.
Walt Disney.
Most people either dismiss his work as pabulum, or enjoy it mindlessly. Or, worst of all, they treat it as camp.
But if you can talk intelligently about Disney (and believe me, there’s lots to talk about) you’ve got my attention.
Most of my pop cultural litmus tests are like that. I like people who aren’t afraid to admit that they like mainstream movies or bands and are able to see the real quality behind the mask of popularity.
I like both, but I have to give the edge to Excel. I find both very funny.
I litmus test - and someone who fails isn’t necessarily someone I’ll avoid, but I probably won’t want to hang out and watch movies with. The litmus items include Mystery Science Theater; Comic Books; and the movie Hudson Hawk, among others.
So, you say you like anime, Ms. personstartingaconversationwithme. What series was the most popular when you started watching? Naruto, Sailor Moon , or Urusei Yatsura. Also, do they state that the particular series that they watch/band they listen to, is the greatest of all time, with out their having seen anything else?
I’d have to say my litmus test is anybody who obsesses about ANY aspect of pop culture. I back away slowly. They are just as bad as religious fanatics to me.
I mean I like Star Trek and all, but don’t show me your collection of tapes, DVDs, posters, and bootlegs. That’s just weird.
Exactly. I don’t have a litmus test either, but I feel that if someone only like popular things and has no idea of anything outside the top 10 books, songs, TV shows or movies, then they most likely don’t have an open mind and I can’t have an intelligent conversation with them.
I don’t judge someone for having some popular tastes.
For example, I watch American Idol, but I’m also a fan of MST3K, The Kids in the Hall, Six Feet Under.
I read Tom Patterson, but I listen to The Shins, Keane, and Hot Hot Heat.
I liked Titanic, but I also liked Donnie Darko, Ghost World, Happiness.
I hate Jerry Bruckheimer movies, but I love The Amazing Race.
I’m a Libra, I’m balanced. 
Ultimately I agree with the posters who simply want to talk with people who have made choices about what they like and can articulate why - at least I know I will get a good conversation out of it if I am trying to kill time at a cocktail party.
Having said that, I grew up with a set of hard n’ fast rules about what was cool and what was not. And I arrogantly dispensed this set of rules to all those around me - boy, was I a treat.
Now, I have a set of preferences that I feel extremely strongly about and can discourse passionately on - or with other passionately engaged folk - for days. Subtleties about music, guitar gear, movies, pop culture, etc. But for the most part, I use these topics as “gates” - depending on what a person says or how they react, I let them in another level, opening up a little more. But that is not about judging them - that is about sharing.
Do I want to judge them? Yep - old habits die hard. I try to make it a point to choose not to judge them.
Unless they are Deadheads. Or like the Da Vinci Code.
Two-part answer:
First, liking The Daily Show is usually a plus for me; it means that the person probably has a sarcastic, skeptical sense of humor, and that they go out of their way to watch a non-network, late-at-night, fake-news show.
Second, I’ll support Robot Arm’s opinion, that it’s almost more important that someone have strong, defined, well-articulated tastes than that those tastes align identically with mine. Being able to play a game of “my top 10 movies/books/actors/etc.” is the idea, not having a round of “how clever you are, those are my favorites too.”
That being said, there are some tastes that lower my opinion of someone. <Insert pop culture references that are universally panned.>
Any time I hear “Bob Dylan writes some great songs, but he should get someone who can really sing to perform them,” I know it’s time to smile politely and resign myself to being in the presence of cluelessness.
It isn’t exactly a pop culture thing, but if you are wearing one of those yellow bracelets, no thanks.
For me, it’s not any specific set of tastes, but whether they’re interested in things that they’re not already familiar with.