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TVGuide this weeks has their Top 25 Cult TV shows of all time.
LEXX did not make the list, but B5, Prisoner, Star Trek, Dr. Who all made appearances, as did the local TVguide favorite Farscape at a very high #4 (beating out “The Simpsons” which I have no clue why it was included)
Under the Babylon 5 heading, they mentioned a “Feature film is currently in the works”
Guess that pretty much confirms at as a film and not a new series as a few had guessed.
Hey LexxLurker. I’ll definately look out for this TV guide issue to see what made the cut. I would think “The Simpsons” made the list because it’s a ‘cult’ list and not striclty sci-fi. I guess that may be splitting hairs for those folks, though. Hell, I don’t know. I’m pretty new to this site and being a “regular” on a message board if you can believe that.
I wonder if “Battlestar Galactica” made the list. I have no doubt its stock will rise once the new series comes out next year.P.S.
As I write this I anxiously await the “Whit Trash” episode of Lexx, which comes on at 3am in TX.Personally I tend to thing of “Cult” as a small but potent following.
The Simpsons may very well be the most widely viewed television show in history.
But I agree in that it did start off with a cult following on the Tracey Ullmann show. But like Star Trek which too gained a mainstream following, it still retained it’s cult status in that it has a hardcore group of fans which have attend conventions for close to 30 years or so. I’m not sure how to apply that to the Simpsons, since in every walk of life, you’ll find fans. I’d even argue South Park (which has a far larger ‘cult’ following) would’ve made much more sense if they were just looking for something contemporary and popular.
I love The Simpsons (who doesn’t?), but I can’t help but see this as taking up a valuble slot on a list it does not belong as much as I like ’em =)
As for BSG, no sadly it did not make the list as well as Stargate and Red Dwarf were noticably absent. The latter I expected was a shoe-in, but alas I did not make the list =)
There’s also 3-4 different covers if you plan on picking one up. The two I saw were: Star Trek and X-Files covers.
I also had some thoughts on their 25 Cult Shows a few days ago here CLICK…
It’s not a cult sci-fi list, so one can look at it as promising that so many choices were sci-fi.
I think that a cult show can have mainstream success as long as it has a very devout, hardcore following (a quasi-religious devotion). Perhaps the level of devotion in the fans is more important than the numbers (though I tend to think of a cult show as having less followers than a typically mainstream show, but the cultist is more fanatical).
Whether the Simpsons is cult, I don’t know enough about the fan base… Perhaps it has been too influential in pop-culture… In the future when it’s largely forgotten about, I do think it may achieve cult classic status… Homer may even become a messianic, or God-like figure. We will chant “Doh, doh, doh!” as we sacrifice Duff beer and donuts at his altar.
Edit: Back on B5 topic… I’d thought, from what I’ve read, that it would be a movie, but a made-for-TV movie.
😳 Sorry about that Logan, I totally missed your post 😳
No problem, LexxLurker. 🙂 I posted it under the radar; in an old topic, and at a particularly busy board time.
Anyway, your topic, as evidenced by the heading, focusses on what TV Guide said about a B5 movie. That’s something I was unaware of since I haven’t seen the issue. I simply found the list mentioned in a post at another board. That person’s emphasis was on the TV Guide blurb about Farscape, whereas mine was the ‘cult’ aspect — it’s interesting that we had similar thoughts there, but then good ideas/thoughts are not born in a vacuum. 😀
”LexxLurker” wrote:I love The Simpsons (who doesn’t?), but I can’t help but see this as taking up a valuble slot on a list it does not belong as much as I like ’em =)
I would have to differ. The Simpsons is most definately a cult show (IMHO).
While the majority of the “believers” just go to the Simpsons on Sundays to watch and listen, there are distinct hard-core groups of followers from the Flanders look-alike Christian Men’s group (courtesy of Faux News– my Baptist friend tells me this group now convenes wearing Flanders garb on a regular basis) to the newsgroup analysts who have made it their life’s work to pick out each cross-reference, quote, mistake and old movie scene. (Check out the analysis of The Computer Wore Menace Shoes, and they do this for all 300+episodes!), to the essayists in The Simpsons and Philosophy, which explains philosophical archetypes (quite seriously) using our yellow mythological heroes.
Merely having a mainstream casual following doesn’t necessarily rule out a cult, or several, based on the same principles but wildly interpreted. Look at Jesus. And Krishna. And as you noted, Trek.
I daresay the Comic Books Guys are just as picky about canon and continuity as the Trekkers, disturbingly so, IMHO. You should have seen how they ripped into the Simpsons life-sized replica house in Las Vegas; Color is too bright, lights look different, Bart’s head is disproportionately big, what’s the deal with the rumpus room…. Really bizarre complaints.
But Red Dwarf should have been there.
Oh, anyway, a B5 movie is better than no B5 movie! Whoo-Hoo! 🙂
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