Defining Cult TV?

”Cult texts must provide a completely furnished world so that it’s fans can quote characters and episodes as if they were aspects of the fan’s private sectarian world.” writes Umberto Eco.

But defining cult television and texts is not as easy as it might seem. While the word ”cult” itself originates from the latin word ”cultus” meaning ”adoration” or ”devotion” and originally referes to systems of religious beliefs and rituals, once it is applied to television, litterature or movies, people will often agree to disagree on what defines as cult as opposed to what is mainstream making the process of organizing various texts into the two different categories fairly difficult and rather subjective. An obvious example is the filmatization of the Lord of the Rings trilogi. Can they still be considered cult after millions of people all over the world have seen them? Can cult be mainstream? And can mainstream be cult? And what lies in between?

Umberto Eco’s definition as quoted above is both well known and often used when defining cult texts. However, it if far from sufficient. Other factors apply; low versus high production costs, theatrical versus non theatrical distribution apart from the textual characteristics and the actual reception which seems to interest Umberto Eco the most.
Perhaps a more practical definition on cult television is provided by Reeves, Rodgers and Epstein in Sara Gwenllian Jones book, Cult Television; ”What distinguishes cult shows from typical fare is that a relatively large percentage of the viewers are avid fans and that these fans have relatively high visibility compared to the avid fans of other shows”.

Another reseacher, Phillippe Le Guern provides a constructivist approach when researching cult texts:

1) The cult expresses the attribution of value;
2) It functions as a unifier that produces groups and communities of spectators
3) These groups are most often limited to audiences of a ”happy few” but can also unite members of the same generation
4) The group maintains enthusiasm for the cult texts
5) The concrete manifestation of this relationship is expressed in the practise of rituals

The success of the Internet has certainly provided cult tv fans with the opportunity to put these five elements into good usage, as tv fandoms rapidly grow in numbers across the World Wide Web...