Hit Television Shows...Who's Success Surprised You?

The Great Escape

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 12:26 AM
Original message

Hit Television Shows...Who's Success Surprised You?

Edited on Mon Dec-27-04 12:27 AM by The Great Escape

Not necessarily a show you thought sucked. It might have even been a show that you liked but it surprised you that it had a good run.

I would have to put "Designing Women" at the top of my list. I really didn't think the premise of the show seemed that interesting. Truthfully, I don't think I watched much of the first season or so. I kept having folks I knew tell me great things about the show, I started watching it and loved it.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Smarmie Doofus

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 12:35 AM
Response to Original message

1. Will and Grace, for all the obvious reasons but also.....

because it just was not funny when it began. The Megan Mullally (Karen Walker) character saved the show from cancellation and continues to save it from the clumsy, self-conciousness of the other three characters.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Ediacara

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 03:02 AM
Response to Reply #1

8. I agree

Edited on Mon Dec-27-04 03:02 AM by DinoBoy

Will and Grace was terrible in its first season. It was the least-gay show about gay people I'd ever seen. Then it seems like they got a writing staff full of real live gay people rather than straight people writing gay comedy.

And it's BRILLIANCE!

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

tuvor

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 12:36 AM
Response to Original message

2. Cheers.

People in a bar. And how many years did that last?

I don't think I watched one episode of it, FWIW.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Borgnine

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 02:19 AM
Response to Reply #2

5. I really hate the early seasons.

Although some disagree with my opinion, I felt the first two seasons of that show almost warranted cancellation. It wasn't until they stopped trying to be a melodrama and focused more on actual comedy that it really caught on. Nobody wants to watch miserable people with no lives spending all day in a bar, but people with no lives spending all day in a bar and reveling in it is different.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

lpbk2713

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 01:51 AM
Response to Original message

3. One of my favorites was Hill Street Blues.

NBC was ready to cancel it after only a few episodes. They reconsidered and it caught on and later became a big hit.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

LeftyMom

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 02:03 AM
Response to Original message

4. The X files

That's just about the only tv show I've liked a lot that lived a long happy life. I would've guessed it was really to wierd to catch on, just because most any show I like dies a quiet death after a season or two.

The show that amazed me by surviving was every incarnation of America's Funniest Home Videos. How the hell people falling over, getting hit in the nuts or bouncing off a trampoline over and over again can amuse people for a decade mystifies me.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Borgnine

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 02:21 AM
Response to Original message

6. Mystery Science Theater 3000

Usually genius like that goes without recognition. Yet with no budget, it was the little show that could, lasting ten years (eleven if you count the year before they went national).

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Kire

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 02:51 AM
Response to Original message

7. Two Verbs

Edited on Mon Dec-27-04 02:51 AM by Kire

It was a great show based on am "anti-Grammar Handbook", of all things, that glorifies contractionless phrases like "You are dry cleaning is done".

Actually, it's lack of success is what surprises me most.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Contrary1

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Dec-27-04 03:08 AM
Response to Original message

9. Seinfeld

Couldn't stand it the first season or so, mainly because
I couldn't get past Jerry's monologue at the beginning of
each show. I've never considered him much of a comedian.

But, after a while, with nothing else to watch but repeats,
I left it on once, and became instantly hooked on the goofy
assortment of characters.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Thu Apr 18th 2024, 08:25 PM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.