by Nick Somoski

Created on: May 30, 2009   Last Updated: June 04, 2009

I've been pondering back and forth what the meaning of a television "revival" really is. To some, it's the afterlife of a TV show. It's the success of a program 5, 10 . . . 20 years after it ended its network run. To others, its the almost always unsuccessful attempts at rejuvenating a once-classic show for an entire new generation of fans. Or, it's the attempt to make a classic "dud" a hit, by adding new elements and fixing the things that didn't work the first time.

No matter what a television revival is to you, it's almost always unsuccessful.

On a few occasions, though, the revival of classic television show has come through as successful. They remained strong, yielding both old and new fans and breaking through a legacy that was once set in stone. These are the shows that made TV history on more than one occasion.

1. Star Trek

Now come on, this is practically a given. Have you ever seen so many revivals of a series that only ran 3 seasons to begin with, getting some of television's lowest ratings at the time? This is a series that spawned so many sequels, prequels, and TV shows that you couldn't count them on both hands. The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise all made their way into homes at some point.

These were the shows that acquired some of the most devoted groups of fans ever seen for a television show. With its spin-offs, Star Trek has spent a record 28 years on television, introducing memorable characters and an entire world that has been commemorated more than any other series on television.

To think of classic TV revivals, how could Star Trek not make the list? Who would have thought that a show running only 3 years to dismal ratings would eventually be remade into 5 different series over the course of the next 4 decades? And, we can't forgot about the numerous box-office hits that made Star Trek a pop culture phenomenon even to this day. Credit has to be given to the writers and creators, of course - they left each show open to be continued in a different way. Star Trek is such an easy show to watch because of its imaginative and sci-fi premise, and was even easier to continue in 5 different revivals.

2. Family Guy

When was the last time a show was cancelled on 2 different occasions, only to be revived for a third time, going on to become one of the biggest hits on television? This is the simple story of Family Guy, the hit FOX animated comedy. It premiered on FOX in 1999, after the Super Bowl,

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