What qualifies as a ciult TV show

Bad list, no Wild Wild West.

Definitely. Married With Children had a cult following but it was not an unsuccessful show.

There's a difference between something that is a "cult classic" and something that has a cult following. I would call a cult show something that gained a larger following and level of appreciation after it was already gone. Like Invader Zim or Freaks and Geeks or Jack of All Trades or Firefly (which is listed).

I think the rules for defining a TV show as "cult" should be as follows: 1) It should have been relatively obscure in its own time; 2) It should have a small but highly devoted fan-base; 3) It should be more popular after the fact than when it aired. That's just my opinion on it.

I more or less agree with those definitions of what defines a cult TV show, though I think the length of its run is or ought to be a factor as well. Examples: two Blake Edwards series from late Fifties-early Sixties, Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky, rather similar shows in many respects, and both far more sophisticated than most of what was being offered in prime time back then. However, and this is a biggie, Peter Gunn was a solid hit even as it only lasted three seasons (I think of three seasons as sort of the cut off point for what constitutes a hit). Also, Henry Mancini's pulsating theme for the show became an instant classic. To be fair to the other show, it too featured a great score and it also had a following, and it still does. I find it more magical and playful than the more (shall we say) emphatic Gunn score, but that's another matter. My point: Peter Gunn is classic TV, Mr. Lucky, cult. At the time it probably didn't seem that way, as Lucky had a following and was well known, but over time it's become sort of semi-forgotten.

It's much the same with westerns, with (like it or not) Bat Masterson classic, The Rebel, to the extent that it has a following, cult. Sci-Fi and fantasy: Twilight Zone, classic, Way Out, cult. One Step Beyond is somewhere in-between. I consider it cult even as it ran, officially, three seasons, (actually two and a half). It was somewhat "disreputable" in its day for some reason, and not well regarded like the TZ. I can't quite put my finger on why. For some reason I don't regard the two season horror anthology Thriller as cult, as it's always had a following, has done well in reruns, and seems to attract all kinds of people. Okay, so I'm inconsistent. Sometimes things just happen that way.The Outer Limits I'd call borderline, for while it ran for less than two full seasons it's been in reruns constantly since its first run, and that's fifty years! Also, many people involved with the show have major reputations; and it's viewed by many as a sort of black and white dry run for Star Trek in being "thinking man's sci-fi"; and many of the same creative people were involved with both TOL and ST. In my book, both are classic.

Maybe one way to define what makes a TV show a cult classic is to list shows that are not cult classics, especially if they're well known and well remembered but don't seem to have legs. Almost all the spy, secret agent and foreign intrigue type shows from the Sixties, the American ones, even if they were hits, have not survived at the cult level, though some may disagree: The Man From UNCLE, I Spy and Mission: Impossible come to mind. The highly popular secret agent spoof, Get Smart does not IMHO hold up well. They run it on MeTV, so maybe some people still like it.

The Fugitive knockoff, Run For Your Life, had a healthy three year run, and I remember it as a good show, but it's not cult. I don't think I've ever seen it in reruns. For some reason the excellent The Defenders series, filmed in New York, and about a father and son lawyer team, had a healthy four year run, seems not to have a cult following. Two more shows like that, and even more popular, the two "young doctor" shows, Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey.

Yet Gilligan's Island, The Addams Family and The Munsters are cult classics.

You have a point there, my friend. Also, comedy, laughing at life, and at a particular time in one's life, and remembering that laughter, is a lot more fun than remembering the pain, the issues one had to ponder, what one had to g through then to get to the now.

In no order:

Max Headroom

Yancy Derringer

Man with a Camera

Dial 999

...that "Man with a Camera" starred Charles Bronson before he became a "star" should speak for itself. "Dial 999" was a Brit show that predated many of the police shows we see on today's TV...

...amateur and professional film photographers are definite cult type fans of Man With A Camera with Charles Bronson. Dial 999 is admittedly more obscure...

Another short lived series was Chicago Code...I've looked for this on DVD to no avail...

I have fond memories of Yancy Derringer and Dial 999.

Another obscure and maybe borderline cult show I enjoyed: Captain Gallant Of The Foreign Legion.

Not sure about the cult status of Circus Boy and Tales Of The Texas Rangers. They were favorites of mine and I always wished they'd hung around longer in syndication, or did where I grew up.