Popular Things You're Just Not Interested In

[Big John]

Re: One Day at a Time - I also would have thought anyone born before 1975 or so would remember it - it ran for nine seasons, was a Norman Lear creation, had the above-mentioned "scandals" with its stars, and had the (also shown above) 2017 re-boot with Rita Moreno.

But I'm sure there's plenty I don't recall from that era that would feel like common knowledge to others.

In making the list of shows, I thought it was interesting that some shows that many now consider very representative of their era on TV never cracked the top 10:
-Leave it to Beaver - six seasons, never cracked the top 30
-Gilligan's Island - three seasons, top 30 in two seasons (18, 22)
-The Brady Bunch - five seasons, never cracked the top 30
-The Streets of San Francisco - five seasons, top 30 in three seasons (22, 22, 26)
-CHiPs - six seasons, top 30 in three seasons (25, 18, 24)
-Knight Rider - four seasons, top 30 in one season (25)
-The Simpsons - 36 seasons, top 30 in three seasons (28, 30, 18), none since 1998
-Malcolm in the Middle - seven seasons, top 30 in one season (28)

In spite of their lesser popularity during first-run, syndication helped the nostalgia factor to be heavy enough on the first three that they spawned sequels and remakes throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

WKRP in Cincinnati is another that I think was larger in syndication than as a first run show.

Especially when that ill-fated spinoff aired in the early 90s...

I completely forgot about that!

Then syndication died as the music rights were separated from the TV rights. Then the holders of the music rights wanted an obscene amount of money. Then the TV syndicators reacted by substituting the songs actually played on the show with likes of Achy Breaky Heart.

[thenetwork]

Re: One Day at a Time - I also would have thought anyone born before 1975 or so would remember it - it ran for nine seasons, was a Norman Lear creation, had the above-mentioned "scandals" with its stars, and had the (also shown above) 2017 re-boot with Rita Moreno.

But I'm sure there's plenty I don't recall from that era that would feel like common knowledge to others.

In making the list of shows, I thought it was interesting that some shows that many now consider very representative of their era on TV never cracked the top 10:
-Leave it to Beaver - six seasons, never cracked the top 30
-Gilligan's Island - three seasons, top 30 in two seasons (18, 22)
-The Brady Bunch - five seasons, never cracked the top 30
-The Streets of San Francisco - five seasons, top 30 in three seasons (22, 22, 26)
-CHiPs - six seasons, top 30 in three seasons (25, 18, 24)
-Knight Rider - four seasons, top 30 in one season (25)
-The Simpsons - 36 seasons, top 30 in three seasons (28, 30, 18), none since 1998
-Malcolm in the Middle - seven seasons, top 30 in one season (28)

In spite of their lesser popularity during first-run, syndication helped the nostalgia factor to be heavy enough on the first three that they spawned sequels and remakes throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

WKRP in Cincinnati is another that I think was larger in syndication than as a first run show.

Especially when that ill-fated spinoff aired in the early 90s...

I completely forgot about that!

Then syndication died as the music rights were separated from the TV rights. Then the holders of the music rights wanted an obscene amount of money. Then the TV syndicators reacted by substituting the songs actually played on the show with likes of Achy Breaky Heart.

Actually the WKRP reboot did pretty well in its two seasons.  But the production (and likely also music royalty) costs quickly rose and the return on investment was going the other way.

[Max Rockatansky]

Unrelated to the recent TV talk but two popular topics on the forum came to mind.  I can't recall ever having much interest in AI anything or wondering where the next Buc-ee's will be constructed. 

[Molandfreak]

My point with this: the shows that were truly popular (not just one-season-wonders) are still talked about, and there's a whole bunch of shows that didn't quite make this list that are also regularly talked about: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Batman, Full House, Miami Vice, Perry Mason, The Love Boat, Lost, Mission: Impossible, Taxi, The West Wing, The X-Files, and more.

Not that it negates from the point being made here, but would Batman and Mission: Impossible really be talked about as much as they are if they didn't have media franchises that grew since they were airing on television? Especially for M:I, I doubt it would be discussed nearly as often if the franchise weren't rebooted in 1996.

Likewise, there was an attempt to reboot The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 2015, but nothing really came from it since the film ended up being a box-office bomb.

[DTComposer]

My point with this: the shows that were truly popular (not just one-season-wonders) are still talked about, and there's a whole bunch of shows that didn't quite make this list that are also regularly talked about: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Batman, Full House, Miami Vice, Perry Mason, The Love Boat, Lost, Mission: Impossible, Taxi, The West Wing, The X-Files, and more.

Not that it negates from the point being made here, but would Batman and Mission: Impossible really be talked about as much as they are if they didn't have media franchises that grew since they were airing on television? Especially for M:I, I doubt it would be discussed nearly as often if the franchise weren't rebooted in 1996.

Likewise, there was an attempt to reboot The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 2015, but nothing really came from it since the film ended up being a box-office bomb.

Perhaps not as much, but because of syndication both of those shows were definitely part of the cultural zeitgeist long before the movie franchises started. Batman, of course, had an even longer history through comic books, and was part of the animated Super Friends. The M:I theme song was (and still is) synonymous with spy missions/capers/high-jinks - recognizable to people who haven't ever seen any iteration of the IP.

There were a fair number of mid-tier shows that had misguided attempts at movie re-boots in the last couple of decades - Get Smart, Bewitched come to mind immediately.

[Mav94]

I cannot think of anything I want to do less than binge watch a TV show. I don't care how good it is.

[ZLoth]

I cannot think of anything I want to do less than binge watch a TV show. I don't care how good it is.

Fine. Please enjoy whatever activity you prefer. This is a road discussion forum after all.

It's not like I watch television on a regular basis anymore.

[SEWIGuy]

I cannot think of anything I want to do less than binge watch a TV show. I don't care how good it is.

Fine. Please enjoy whatever activity you prefer. This is a road discussion forum after all.

It's not like I watch television on a regular basis anymore.

Did you not read the topic?

[formulanone]

I can't recall ever having much interest in AI anything

Frankly, the public's blind acceptance of AI (whether real or just a buzzword) borders on nauseating. It's become an untrustworthy pox that won't go away.

[Rothman]

I can't recall ever having much interest in AI anything

Frankly, the public's blind acceptance of AI (whether real or just a buzzword) borders on nauseating. It's become an untrustworthy pox that won't go away.

Let us know what to do to reject it, then.

[Scott5114]

I can't recall ever having much interest in AI anything

Frankly, the public's blind acceptance of AI (whether real or just a buzzword) borders on nauseating. It's become an untrustworthy pox that won't go away.

Let us know what to do to reject it, then.

Well, the problem is more that there is a chunk of the populace that assumes that anything ChatGPT returns is accurate and trustworthy. This is a huge problem because, well, it's often not (which is due to a fundamental limitation in the way it is made, so throwing more money for training at it isn't going to do anything), so the misinformation problem that we have in our society is going to get worse. Also, governments have picked up on this problem and started intentionally feeding the AI scrapers false information to try to bias AI models in whatever ways serves that government's purpose.

So the problem is not necessarily "how do we reject this" but rather "how do we make people use the tool in responsible ways, given that they have shown no ability to do so".

[formulanone]

I can't recall ever having much interest in AI anything

Frankly, the public's blind acceptance of AI (whether real or just a buzzword) borders on nauseating. It's become an untrustworthy pox that won't go away.

Let us know what to do to reject it, then.

Ridding it is akin to swatting flies and mosquitoes; temporary at best.

[kurumi]

Many Americans will eat ham today. We can't say it's overrated; it's pretty popular, and people line up at places like Honeybaked for certain holidays. But the only time I'll ever eat it is when I'm a guest and the host is serving it; and then, "it's very tasty, thank you!"

[Rothman]

Honey Baked is still around?  I have no idea how they stay in business.  Never see anyone in any of them.

[kphoger]

Likewise, there was an attempt to reboot The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 2015, but nothing really came from it since the film ended up being a box-office bomb.

It's on my list of ideas for guys' movie night.  Are you saying it's not worth watching?

[Molandfreak]

Likewise, there was an attempt to reboot The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 2015, but nothing really came from it since the film ended up being a box-office bomb.

It's on my list of ideas for guys' movie night.  Are you saying it's not worth watching?

It's a good movie. I was working in a movie theatre at the time, so I was keeping up with how films were performing at the box office. The amount of people who watch a movie in theatres is not a great indicator of the film's quality.

[JayhawkCO]

Dwelling on famous people's deaths.

[kphoger]

Dwelling on famous people's deaths.

Even simpler for me:

famous people

[roadman65]

Dwelling on famous people's deaths.

Dwelling on famous people's deaths.

Even simpler for me:

famous people

Depends to me who they are .

[JayhawkCO]

Dwelling on famous people's deaths.

Even simpler for me:

famous people

Yeah, but I guess for me, if a person is famous and doing interesting things, there's nothing wrong with paying attention to that. But when someone who is not a friend nor family member dies, maybe it's just my coal-black heart talking, but I have a hard time imagining why that would impact my life in any meaningful way.

[roadman65]

What irks me is the fact they played out some deaths like Michael Jackson.

Every media outlet covered his death way too much. Even Fox covered it considering that their audience falls within the guilty verdict of his sexual identity with younger people.

[Max Rockatansky]

What irks me is the fact they played out some deaths like Michael Jackson.

Every media outlet covered his death way too much. Even Fox covered it considering that their audience falls within the guilty verdict of his sexual identity with younger people.

Didn't you see Thriller?  Everyone was worried he'd come back as a zombie or a werewolf.   

[TheHighwayMan3561]

What irks me is the fact they played out some deaths like Michael Jackson.

Every media outlet covered his death way too much. Even Fox covered it considering that their audience falls within the guilty verdict of his sexual identity with younger people.

The unexpected and shocking nature of it was a large part of the major interest in his death.

The one death that drove me up the wall with its incessant coverage was Anna Nicole Smith. Who?