Well, Chappelle's Show was a matter of him not wanting to do it due to compensat...

eesmith · on Dec 28, 2023

Well, what makes "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" an actual hit and not one of those cult following shows?

It was ranked #16 in 1966-1967, #18 in 1967-1968, and #27 in 1968-1969.

1968-1969 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi... says The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was ranked 27.

AlbertCory · on Dec 28, 2023

It was on Sunday nights against Bonanza. Merely surviving makes it a hit.

There were NO "cult following" shows in prime time in the top 30. Maybe on late nights.

eesmith · on Dec 29, 2023

That's really more a matter of individual perspective, yes?

To be fair, Smothers Brothers is not listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cult_television_shows while Deadwood is.

On the other hand, that Wikipedia list includes Miami Vice (ranked #9 in 1985-1986 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi... ), The Golden Girls ("ranked among the Nielsen ratings' top ten for six of its seven seasons" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Girls ), and X-Files (ranked #11 in 1997-1998, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi... ).

And X-Files regularly shows up on lists of cult shows, like TV Guide's at https://www.tvguide.com/news/reacher-season-2-release-date-c... .