Hmm. I love X-Files but would you really call it a cult show? Genuinely curious. I feel like it was pretty mainstream, at least past a certain point.

sumogrip | August 17, 22:40 CET

This link is for the best 26 cult shows ever.

The MTV article that ranked Buffy first was for "25 Best Cult TV Shows From The Past 25 Years". Since DW started fifty years ago, I would say there is no contradiction.

X-Files was definitely a cult show. As you say, it reached mainstream, but no more so than DW, I would say. (Star Trek was definitely cult in the '70s.)

OneTeV | August 17, 22:45 CET

It's the exact same list but with Dr Who at number one and everything shunted down one place. It's a pretty lazy effort.

Simon | August 17, 22:57 CET

OneTeV, the link is not to the "25 Best Cult TV Shows From The Past 25 Years." The link is to an article that references the EW issue with the Doctor on the cover. In that issue, EW ranked BtVS as the #1 cult show.

Inspired | August 17, 22:59 CET

The fact that they basically just "change their minds" (probably due to a colleague mentioning one they forgot) and therefore edit the list makes it all kind of redundant.

List articles never cease to amaze me; they're super easy to write, super popular with readers (due to how easy it is to just skim through), and they usually garner the most debate. It's pretty much the lazy-man's opinion piece, but we'll always read them regardless and they'll always be there in some form.

Dude Meister | August 17, 23:17 CET

Well I would have placed Firefly higher than Lost (was THAT cult? It seemed pretty main stream to me), and I wouldn't have had The Comeback on that list at all. I would have had Twin Peaks a LOT higher on the list too. But I have no problems with Doctor Who being number one.

embers | August 17, 23:36 CET

OY! Just because a show is sci-fi doesn't mean it's cult... Lost was definitely mainstream, and Doctor Who is the biggest show in the UK. Not winning Best TV Show at the Baftas was a big thing for it, everyone was walking about whether the directors/writers should be fired, etc. grrrr this just pisses me off.

sathena99 | August 18, 00:31 CET

Doctor Who is the biggest show in the UK

Not if you mean "most watched." It's not even the most watched TV drama.

I think it's pointless arguing about what does or doesn't constitute a "cult" TV Series. We use the term in different ways: we can say something was a "cult hit" meaning that a small group of people were fanatically devoted to it, or we can use it to mean that even though the show was broadly popular, it inspired a particular kind of nerdily obsessive fandom. Lost and Dr Who aren't "cult" by the first metric, but they are by the second.

Yoink | August 18, 00:50 CET

When it comes to any show, none can top what Buffy the Vampire Slayer did for me ^_^

AnonymousAnimus | August 18, 01:13 CET

I would definitely have listed Firefly above Buffy.

MoonRose | August 18, 02:06 CET

This is basically a list of shows I love unreasonably and some others that friends have told me in no uncertain terms to add to my Netflix queue.

Hmm. I love X-Files but would you really call it a cult show?

It was my first! And I got into Doctor Who because people here were talking about it all the time. ALL. THE. TIME. They were right!

Sunfire | August 18, 03:44 CET

A list of cult shows without Freaks and Geeks is a list I don't respect. Just saying.

Tumnus | August 18, 03:52 CET

@Inspired: Simon gave two links.
I worded my post to try to distinguish which link I was talking about.

The first link was for EW.com, which has "26 Best Cult TV Shows Ever".
The second link was for mtv.com. The very first paragraph states that they are looking at "The 25 Best Cult TV Shows From The Past 25 Years".
I haven't looked at the lists in detail, but I trust Simon when he says there is 96% overlap.

[ edited by OneTeV on 2012-08-18 04:54 ]

OneTeV | August 18, 04:53 CET

@Tumnus in full agreement here. i recently watched the entire season (again) in a week. i couldn't stop, even though i wanted to make it last, knowing i would get to the end and be sad there's no more.

anyway, buffy tops every list in my mind. nothing was better before it, and nothing since has been better. buffy ftw.

tayriley | August 19, 10:59 CET

They forgot Xena: Warrior Princess.

"Oops! OK, the 27 Best Cult TV Shows..."

AndrewCrossett | August 20, 13:49 CET