Too Hip for the Room

I've recently found a site with runs of canceled TV shows and I am again enjoying Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a show that I believe only died because is was too hip for the average person. The people spoke too fast, the jokes were too in and essentially it was just too smart. I also occurs to me that there have been some comics that didn't make it because they were too smart to have a wide appeal. What I want to know is when did smart become a bad thing? Why does everything have to appeal to the lowest intellect. Now I am well aware that comics, like television is a business, and you have to reach as many people as possible but is it necessary to always dumb things down? Can't we be challenging? Can't we make people think? Must everything we do always be only for Joe Sixpack? Surely there is room for everything out there. Can't we at least try to make it worthy of our time and passion?