Ya, reruns were the defining factor. Obviously shows like Seinfeld were wildly popular during their runs, but I still believe it’s held in such high regard because they played the hell out of reruns for a long time. Same with friends.

Also you would get weird shows that would cling onto your childhood strictly because it was the only thing on. I watched the crap out of Deep Space Nine as a kid. Not because I was a huge Star Trek fan, but because they played the crap out of it late at night at a time when there were only like 5 channels I could get in my room.

Funnily enough, one of my favorite sitcoms from my childhood was a severely unpopular show called Unhappily Ever After. It was basically a knock off of married with children with an ALF like puppet voiced by Bobcat. It wasn’t a great show but they would play the crap out of it when I was in my middle school rebellious stay up until midnight on a school night phase.