Hill Street Blues St. Elsewhere Cheers Seinfield The Office My Name is Earl Married with Children The Simpsons
So, no, I don't think you can call those *cult*.
Cult isn't a show people hated and you liked.
Cult is a show that lives below the radar. Like Arrested Development. Or Veronica Mars. Shows that don't make network. Or if they do, don't last.
And I don't think you can call something cult just because people didn't notice it until later.
A good example is well Farscape. No one knows about it - but the die-hard fans. Another cult hit - is David Chappell - which few people know about. SCTV was cult. As was Guys in the Hall.
I was one of those people who preferred the early seasons of Seinfield to the latter ones. I loved the first three or four seasons, got bored with it once it caught on. And followed it when it hopped about. But I wouldn't call it cult. Any more than I'd have called Cheers cult - a show I also loved in the first two seasons, when no one seemed to watch it but me.
Fame - is an example of a cult tv series. Few people watched it. It was left of center.
So, no, I don't you can call Seinfield cult - just because people loved or hated it. That's not cult in my opinion.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 12:39 am (UTC)Hill Street Blues
St. Elsewhere
Cheers
Seinfield
The Office
My Name is Earl
Married with Children
The Simpsons
So, no, I don't think you can call those *cult*.
Cult isn't a show people hated and you liked.
Cult is a show that lives below the radar. Like Arrested Development.
Or Veronica Mars. Shows that don't make network. Or if they do, don't last.
And I don't think you can call something cult just because people didn't notice it until later.
A good example is well Farscape. No one knows about it - but the die-hard fans. Another cult hit - is David Chappell - which few people know about.
SCTV was cult. As was Guys in the Hall.
I was one of those people who preferred the early seasons of Seinfield to the latter ones. I loved the first three or four seasons, got bored with it once it caught on. And followed it when it hopped about. But I wouldn't call it cult. Any more than I'd have called Cheers cult - a show I also loved in the first two seasons, when no one seemed to watch it but me.
Fame - is an example of a cult tv series. Few people watched it. It was left of center.
So, no, I don't you can call Seinfield cult - just because people loved or hated it. That's not cult in my opinion.
I think cjl actually nails the definition below.