Okay, so I'm sure we've all seen the old 1978 movie... it's not as popular as Star Wars (and many of your parents probably hate it as much as I do), but it's a pretty darn culturally-prominent movie.
I haven't seen any of the old episodes, simply because I thought that the movie sucked. And apparently Battlestar Galactica 1980 (the series) was even worse.
Somehow it managed to get a cult following (thus it being culturally prominent), and as you all know: sci-fi has sponsored the "re-imagined" series. I remember my first impression of seeing part of the mini-series on T.V. was, "What movie is this and why did I miss it in the theaters?"
Three years later, I'm now officially addicted and have watched the mini-series as well as season 1 (and part of season 2).
It's undoubtedly the best show on television. Heros had a lot of people addicted, so did 24, but that's because they're on mainstream networks. BSG failed when NBC tried them out (they scheduled it stupid), so it's stuck on sci-fi and most people I know who love the show watch the DVDs.
Any other addicts out there like me? It's been years since I've been addicted to a TV show and let me tell you: it feels great.