Snotty ain't the word for it, Rusty... I think you need to up the cough syrup...
Tell us how you really feel.
S&W's dropped, and brought back, a LOT of models over the years.
As someone who was in the industry (American Rifleman magazine) when S&W brought back the Centennials, I can tell you that it wasn't because the magazines made a big deal about how people needed these guns.
It was because S&W had been getting continuous requests for the Centennial's return since 1974, when the gun was first dropped in one of the "line cleansings" that happened due in large part to S&Ws sales being down across the board because of the crappy economy in the mid-1970s.
Starting in 1989, S&W made several uncataloged Centennial production runs, such as the stainless that were designed to test the market for the guns return. Sales were brisk enough that by 1991 it was decided to return the gun to general production.
It wasn't until about that time that any of the major gun magazines really took notice that these guns were coming back.
The popularity these guns had with consumers when they were brought back surprised quite a few people in the industry who had spent the previous 10 or so years selling people on the concept of the 9,270-shot "Wonder9GeeWhiz" of the week.
I had one well respected gunwriter who worked at another magazine sort of chuckle and tell me that it was going to be a dark day at S&W when they realized that they had spent all that money to build up inventory for a gun that was never going to sell...
Then we started seeing sales figures coming out of the major S&W distributors, and the numbers were pretty astounding. The guns were selling, they were selling well, and THAT'S when everyone started jumping on the bandwagon.
I'll admit that I also jumped on the bandwagon a little big (it's not a big jump for me, as I'm a revolver person) in that I wrote a "small revolver round up" article that appeared in the August 1994 issue of American Rifleman.
In talking with the major manufacturers -- S&W, Taurus, Ruger -- one thing became VERY clear. Concealed-hammer revolvers were selling very well, and in a lot of cases, were outselling the latest Wonder[insertcaliberhere]GeeWhiz semi-auto that had supposedly replaced them.
In general, the gunbuying public isn't quite as stupid as you might think. They tend to recognize good, solid, proven ideas, and stick with them.