To clear up, Charles was not cancelled in 1990. It remains one of the most sucessful syndicated shows in TV history and broke new ground in the market. At its peak in 1989 it aired on some 700 statios just in the US alone. Back when the deal was struck for CIC to be sydicated it had never been done. AL burton revived the show for 3 reasons...1. he had recieved thousands of letters from CBS viewers over the year since CIC went off the air. 2. Scott Baio was very interested in re viving the role. 3 (and the most important) he did not have enough shows in the can from the CBS run to make money off the show in its current form. However, it was untested waters. A deal was struck but on the condition that first run sydicated shows could only have a 3 year life on the air, after which, the show was automatically cancelled. That is why Mamas Family left when it did, even though, it was 2nd to Charles. Both came in and both went out the same year. This was the practice until 1996 when Hercules with Kevin Sorbo became the first series to have a snydicated 4th year.