The death of Mr. Spock made me wonder....

[lovecraft68]

Spock and all the characters from Star Trek are iconic. Decades later people still say "beam me up" and "Dammit Jim!" They talk about Dilithium crystals and Klingons...

Leonard Nimoy's death made me wonder...

Is there a current TV show or character that will have that type of impact and longevity? Is there someone on TV now that you think people will be quoting or be a household name years from now?

Off the top of my head I'm not coming up with anyone, but I'm also not a big tv watcher.

Any suggestions?

 

[about_average]

I don't follow popular culture much, but i can't think of anything currently on TV that I think will.

 

[CountryGuy2]

Bazinga

 

[SolarHomo]

Too many channels.

 

[1sickbastard]

Spock and all the characters from Star Trek are iconic. Decades later people still say "beam me up" and "Dammit Jim!" They talk about Dilithium crystals and Klingons...

Leonard Nimoy's death made me wonder...

Is there a current TV show or character that will have that type of impact and longevity? Is there someone on TV now that you think people will be quoting or be a household name years from now?

Off the top of my head I'm not coming up with anyone, but I'm also not a big tv watcher.

Any suggestions?

The Simpsons.

D'oh!

As far as far-reaching cultural impact goes, though, I'm not sure any TV show can touch the old Star Trek. And that's considering the writing for that series was purposely limited by the cultural norms of the time. Example: the pilot for the series had a woman as the First Officer (actress was later cast as Nurse Chapel).

 

[Lancecastor]

When the original star trek was on we would watch it as a family every week.

Dad called it "space cowboys".... And Mom still watches it on Deja View every weekday.

She's the only octogenarian i know who quotes Kirk in casual conversation.


Boomer families watching television represented peak audience years when there was only so much "content" available.

Now there are so many choices and such splintered demographics, memes last days, not decades.

Seinfeld might have been the last truly universal lasting meme generator.

I suspect that today GTA would be a potential contender, for example.

 

[DesEsseintes]

It's an obvious point, but I think the development of on-demand, Netflix, videogames and a host of other things including satellite and digital 1000+ channel TVs means the answer is no - nothing will be that iconic. TV is probably more ambitious and better made than ever, but there is now too much choice and our culture can never be so monolithic again. In Britain there used to quite regularly be TV series watched by over 25% of the population. That will never happen again. Watercooler conversation nowadays...

'Did you see......last night?'
'No, but I've got it on series record - no spoilers please!'
'No - I'll wait for it to come out on Netflix.'
'I don't have that TV package.'
'I started, but XXXXX Skyped me part way through'.
'No - the boys had their Last of Us marathon and needed the big TV.'

And so on, and so forth. The media will go ape over individual programmes, and some are undoubtedly better than almost anything from the past - but they'll never unite a nation in the same way.

 

[lovecraft68]

When the original star trek was on we would watch it as a family every week.

Dad called it "space cowboys".... And Mom still watches it on Deja View every weekday.

She's the only octogenarian i know who quotes Kirk in casual conversation.


Boomer families watching television represented peak audience years when there was only so much "content" available.

Now there are so many choices and such splintered demographics, memes last days, not decades.

Seinfeld might have been the last truly universal lasting meme generator.

I suspect that today GTA would be a potential contender, for example.

watching as a family....I remember watching the Osmonds with my parents and grandmother and Hee haw....the old variety shows and of course Wide World of Disney.

Its sad that is as out the window now as the big Sunday family dinners.

Hell even week night dinners are obsolete, even if they're at the same table they are all on their phones including mom and dad.

 

[1sickbastard]

It's an obvious point, but I think the development of on-demand, Netflix, videogames and a host of other things including satellite and digital 1000+ channel TVs means the answer is no - nothing will be that iconic. TV is probably more ambitious and better made than ever, but there is now too much choice and our culture can never be so monolithic again. In Britain there used to quite regularly be TV series watched by over 25% of the population. That will never happen again. Watercooler conversation nowadays...

'Did you see......last night?'
'No, but I've got it on series record - no spoilers please!'
'No - I'll wait for it to come out on Netflix.'
'I don't have that TV package.'
'I started, but XXXXX Skyped me part way through'.
'No - the boys had their Last of Us marathon and needed the big TV.'

And so on, and so forth. The media will go ape over individual programmes, and some are undoubtedly better than almost anything from the past - but they'll never unite a nation in the same way.

Nation, hell. Trek became global.

Dr Who might be a pretty close second, but doesn't have the same impact.

 

[Lancecastor]

watching as a family....I remember watching the Osmonds with my parents and grandmother and Hee haw....the old variety shows and of course Wide World of Disney.

Its sad that is as out the window now as the big Sunday family dinners.

Hell even week night dinners are obsolete, even if they're at the same table they are all on their phones including mom and dad.

Different, not necessarily sad.

Alvin Toffler said that in the future the rate of change would accelerate, and technology would provide the means to enable us to cope with the vastly greater amount of information we would be required to process in order to survive without going crazy.

And here i am communicating with you in realtime at great distance on a device much smaller than a tricorder, talking about Star Trek.... While also talking to my daughter in Dubai and son in Malibu.

 

[lovecraft68]

Different, not necessarily sad.

Alvin Toffler said that in the future the rate of change would accelerate, and technology would provide the means to enable us to cope with the vastly greater amount of information we would be required to process in order to survive without going crazy.

And here i am communicating with you in realtime at great distance on a device much smaller than a tricorder, talking about Star Trek.... While also talking to my daughter in Dubai and son in Malibu.

And your example is the great thing about the internet and technology, keeping touch with family around the world.

Unfortunately, 90% of the time people are texting and facebooking with people they see every day, many times in the same house.

We always made my daughters shut the phones off for dinner. My oldest (25 now) came over with her husband for dinner and we made her and him shut the phones off. Its still good to have real face time now and then.

 

[Lancecastor]

The Simpsons must qualify....

 

[lovecraft68]

The Simpsons must qualify....

Without a doubt...."D'oh" nelson's "Ah-ha!" Burns "Excellent" the show has a ton of catchy phrases and....over 25 years now, I think?

I remember when it first came out and "eat my shorts and don't have a cow man" were everywhere.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

Too many channels.

Perhaps it is not the number of channels, but a dearth of fresh ideas, a failure of the executives to put their multi million dollar jobs on the line or playing ist safe, think of all the NCIS spin offs they have come up with the last few years . Then there is resurrecting old shows such as The Odd Couple which will not be here next season, too many of us remembered the old one which the new one can't even begin to hold a candle too.

Think lazy, stupid, self satisfied and not having the balls to take a chance.

 

[AngeloMichael]

"Tread Lightly"
"I'm the one who knocks"

 

[MNGuy]

I can't think of any, but the SO and I use the phrases 'Look at the flowers.'

 

[SuprSalor]

"Tread Lightly"
"I'm the one who knocks"

I can't think of any, but the SO and I use the phrases 'Look at the flowers.'

Sorry. Don't know either of those.. And as far as the Simpson's being iconic, a good argument could hold that in favor but its a show still on the air. only time will tell if it will be considered as iconic as Star Trek.
Star Trek wasn't all that popular during it's 3 year run mostly due to its time slot. But it soon reached cultlike status within a few years of its cancelation and would be revived in later decades on TV and films. Think Seinfeld will be reprised next decade? Cheers made into a highly successful film franchise? Dallas? All in the Family? Remembered catchphrases don't make a series iconic. The show itself remembered for breaking new ground makes it iconic.

 

[Que]

I think the series had legs and became iconic because it is camp and attracted a fan base that made it more after the fact than it was during its run. It is like John Waters work, or the Rocky Horror Picture show with all the midnight showings and people showing up in their underwear with newspaper and toast.

 

[phrodeau]

You never know. Those two llamas are probably in talks for a new series.

 

[thør]

You never know. Those two llamas are probably in talks for a new series.

http://40.media.tumblr.com/QI7uF6tMxpoa41owy1gksNi2o1_400.jpg

 

[Not Normal]

Without a doubt...."D'oh" nelson's "Ah-ha!" Burns "Excellent" the show has a ton of catchy phrases and....over 25 years now, I think?

I remember when it first came out and "eat my shorts and don't have a cow man" were everywhere.

The Simpsons is full of them. BTW Nelson says "Ha Ha" because he's laughing at people.

Sorry. Don't know either of those.. And as far as the Simpson's being iconic, a good argument could hold that in favor but its a show still on the air. only time will tell if it will be considered as iconic as Star Trek.
Star Trek wasn't all that popular during it's 3 year run mostly due to its time slot. But it soon reached cultlike status within a few years of its cancelation and would be revived in later decades on TV and films. Think Seinfeld will be reprised next decade? Cheers made into a highly successful film franchise? Dallas? All in the Family? Remembered catchphrases don't make a series iconic. The show itself remembered for breaking new ground makes it iconic.

The Simpsons already are iconic and will be fro quite some time.

 

[Balladeer08]

Possibly StarGate. Like Star Trek, it was optimistic. And also had great casting and many memorable lines.

 

[luv2photograph]

The death of Spock, AKA Leonard Nimoy

to paraphrase, Tommy Lee Jones in the Character of "K", "He's not dead, he just went home."

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Probably not.

When Star Trek first appeared, in most markets there were only two networks, so you had two choices and we had a lot more in common that we do to day with such a myriad of choices, a lot of it not just bad, but completely unwatchable...

Take, for instance, Duck Dynasty and Liberals.

 

[lovecraft68]

I think the series had legs and became iconic because it is camp and attracted a fan base that made it more after the fact than it was during its run. It is like John Waters work, or the Rocky Horror Picture show with all the midnight showings and people showing up in their underwear with newspaper and toast.

Good point and maybe "cult status" is more accurate than iconic.

There was a small movie theater in Warwick RI the Meadowbrook and they showed Ricky horror every Saturday night for years and we would go there dressed up and throw rice and toast at the screen, get up in front of the seats and do the time warp

The theater was cool with it, let us dance around and make a mess because they were selling tickets to the same damn movie years after its release.