Directly, not much. But I did encounter an interesting similarity today while browsing the web after getting home from work. I usually check out a few news websites so that I'm not completely out of the loop in regards to important world events, and at the CNN website there was a clip from Larry King's interview with pop superstar Lady Gaga. It wasn't the content of the interview that's important so much as the accompanying comment thread. With almost anything that's popular, there are plenty of people who are very willing to let everyone know that this new current sensation is nothing but a "flash-in-the-pan," that it doesn't hold up to comparison with more beloved items from the past and that they think it sucks. The thread connected to the video was no different, with people claiming that music used to be better, and that Lady Gaga was selling a lot of albums because all modern music is crap anyway. And then they yelled at the young whipper-snappers to get off of their damn lawn.
This is also true within the anime fandom, where there's a very heavy sentiment of nostalgia towards a few specific shows. Lurking on forums I hear a lot of claims that anime nowadays is all junk compared to [insert name of series here that came out in the 1990's] (usually Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop or something similar). What gets ignored is that there were many other shows that were released at that same time that were all junk, the same as today, it's just that due to technological constraints we as Westerners didn't have the complete access to every single anime series then that we do now, and the ones that we actually did get were more likely to be god-tier. I would also venture to say that the extreme staying power of Cowboy Bebop or Evangelion wasn't something that could have been predicted at the time of their release - heck, who would think that fifteen years later, Eva would not only still be selling, but would have spawned a series of highly-successful film remakes? And I'll bet you that there were plenty of people back in the day calling it melodramatic, transitory entertainment. Who would have predicted that Code Geass would be as popular as it is now? Or that Fullmetal Alchemist would have a similarly-successful remake? Who's to say that the next major perennially-successful anime hit isn't staring us right in the face this very moment? For all we know, in fifteen years we may be rabidly anticipating the new Kiss x Sis theatrical film.
*crickets chirp*
So to all those people who are disparaging Lady Gaga's recent success, I guess I would say that no one could have predicted that The Beatles or Madonna would still be popular and relevant today back when both of them were releasing easily-digestible pop tunes. You don't have to like something to appreciate its potential staying power, and no one can predict the future (otherwise I'd be a rich woman).
I won't go so far as to say everything today (in anime) is cargo in the hold of the failboat (or whatever cute term works). It's just that, as always, the really good and meritorious stuff requires some digging to find. Some of the best knows I know get dumped into the worst timeslots or thrown onto DVD with no fanfare, and as a result nobody apart from the few people lucky enough to run into 'em by accident know a thing about them. It takes real work to find the things that are worth keeping, because they are often not given any publicity: they don't let themselves be easily pigeonholed.
I agree, it takes a lot of work most people aren't willing to do. I wouldn't have known about half of the good stuff if I hadn't started reviewing and keeping up on anime news and the like. But even most of the good stuff will probably be forgotten in a year or two. It's really hard to predict which shows will have that X-factor that keeps them perennially famous.
If I had to pick a single show playing now that I thought would become a franchise, it would be "Fairy Tail".
It seems to have all the markers of becoming another long-running shounen piece. Personally, nowadays I just try to enjoy what I like and not worry too much about what I think is going to be the "next big thing" because a show could have everything going for it and not amount to much in the long run. Luckily my livelihood isn't dependent on me picking odds :)
One of the Free Comic Book Day comics I got was a preview of a Lady Gaga biocomic--The protagonist is whining about how today's female pop stars aren't as good as the ones in his youth (late 80s-early 90s) until he sees Lady Gaga who is utterly brilliant and a real talent.