I was curious about when various shows went into syndicated reruns. I saw a site that lists the shows that are in syndication now and what's coming up for the fall (Yes Dear, Girlfriends, CSI, a couple others) but is there a site that lists when off network shows were first made available to local stations?

I know that until about 1980 it was very rare for anything to get syndicated while still in prime time, but some exceptions were Love American Style in 1972 and Room 222 in 1973. I think that some of the few shows that did run concurrently had to have the name changed for syndication: Ex: Ironside became The Raymond Burr Show and Happy Days became Happy Days Again.

Still it would be fun to see which shows were syndicated when.

Now there is a 4 or 5 season rule for the most part: Once a show has had 4 full seasons or in some cases 5 it gets syndicated. Using that math and my memory I can backtrack on a lot of shows but am missing info for others. For example someone posted that I Love Lucy was syndicated in 1967 which is 10 years after it ended which is a long gap. Some shows were syndicated a year after they ended because the network was still airing reruns in a daytime slot: Odd Couple, Sanford and Son, Bewitched, Brady Bunch.

Of course, you are talking about shows that were syndicated for reruns. There were many shows that started with originals shows in syndication. There were others that were on a network and then continued with originals in syndication.

For the syndication packages that you are talking about, generally 100 episodes are required. The two shows that come to mind a few short of that number but still were sold into syndication are "Topper" and "SOAP."

Originally posted by ramuno
Of course, you are talking about shows that were syndicated for reruns. There were many shows that started with originals shows in syndication. There were others that were on a network and then continued with originals in syndication.

For the syndication packages that you are talking about, generally 100 episodes are required. The two shows that come to mind a few short of that number but still were sold into syndication are "Topper" and "SOAP."

:nod:

Usually, you can bet a show will go into syndication when it enters its fifth season. There are a lot of exceptions to this rule, though.

When a typical order was for 20-22 shows a season, 5 seasons was the right target. These days, many shows only get an order for 6 or 12. If they get some ratings, they might get another short order. They have an uphill battle to get to syndication.

Originally posted by ramuno
Of course, you are talking about shows that were syndicated for reruns. There were many shows that started with originals shows in syndication. There were others that were on a network and then continued with originals in syndication.

For the syndication packages that you are talking about, generally 100 episodes are required. The two shows that come to mind a few short of that number but still were sold into syndication are "Topper" and "SOAP."

one odd exception of Square Pegs. The show only ran one season, yet has aired many times since. If I recall, Disney Channel aired it for a time in the early 90's, and then USA had it awhile, and then N@N/TV Land. Yet there were only 20-22 episodes for the entire run.

Star Trek is another show that has never been off the air since it ended even tho there were only 69 (I think) episodes

NBC's Jesse aired for two seasons, or 44 episodes, and has aired in syndication on at least two seperate stations, if I'm not mistaken.