Here is my rebuttal.......
1. American Idol
2. The Jersey Shore
3. Survivor
4. 16 & Pregnant
Each show has an epic following. You could also argue that they are the 4 worst shows currently on television. You also cannot deny they are some of the biggest heavyweights as far as ratings go in recent history, if not all time. According to your formula, these are now automatically great shows.
All four of those are reality shows as well, a completely different and new genre; and as El said, only Survivor and Idol were/are ratings bonanza. I think a better argument for you would be Two and Half Men, Big Band Theory, My name is Earl (outside of the first season perhaps), etc. I don't remember reading many positive critic reviews (I certainly may have missed some), but the general populance loved/loves them.
This argument does come down to perspective, El, but also to how you define "quality". If you define quality by how much money the show makes, then that is kind of what I was referring to in the beginning of this thread. I think I read the other day that The Wire lost HBO quite a bit of money for a while until word got around, but it took a while.
These, and many shows like it, are why ratings and quality will never go hand in hand. I personally think two of the greatest shows of the last couple of years were Lonestar and Human Target. Both tanked in the ratings and got cut extremely prematurely, especially in the case of Lonestar. They proved to me it doesn't matter how good a show is or how bad it is. All you need is a way to suck enough Neilsen families in and you're golden. People like me and you make no difference in the ratings. I am sure you're aware of that, but my friend was clueless to this fact until I explained Neilsen ratings the other day. He never knew it existed. He thought they had some magic chip in cable boxes that tracked what everyone watches. If that was the way they really did it, I know a lot of shows that cut early would still be on.
No, I think El has a point. There is something about strength in numbers. We can deny it all we want, but the fact is that the guy who produces Two and a Half Men (too lazy to look it up and can't remember his name) is a major asshole by all accounts, but the man knows how to make money with a TV show. You can say he is selling out by pandering or whatever, but the fact is that show has consistently high ratings. And most TV critics will tell you it ain't because of its quality. So good for him, he has figured out how to appeal to most of America and get them to watch his show. "Quality" has to figure in there somewhere, doesn't it?
I personally can't stand that show, but apparently, I am in the minority.
Never saw Lonestar, heard it was good. Loved Human Target, was very upset when they canceled it, but that was not a great show. It was very fun to turn my brain off for an hour and not think about things, but outside of Jackie Earl Haley, it was not particularly well acted (the girl was awful) (Winson brought gravitas, but not a lot of depth) (Can I just keep putting parentheticals back to back to back?) (Guess so...), and I love Chance/Brad from Boston Legal. Wasn't surprised that it didn't mkae it, though I was rooting hard for it.
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