100 episodes is considered to be the general threshold at which point a television series produced for the United States becomes viable for syndication. Although much depends on the length of a show's seasons, this point is usually reached during a prime time series' fifth season. A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... Prime time is the block of programming on television during the middle of the evening. ...

The 100-episode mark is frequently cited in entertainment industry and popular media as a key number for enabling a series to enter syndication. [1] [2] [3][4] [5] [6][7][8]

Successes and exceptions

Syndication is often a profitable enterprise, due to the fact that series can run for decades after they stop production. In this way, many shows that do not gain much profit during their first run will still prove to be viable to the network if they can last 100 episodes.

There are many exceptions to the 100 episode rule. Shows of fewer episodes have become syndication successes. The most notable of these is the original Star Trek series which had only 79 episodes available when it ended in 1969, but subsequently spawned ten movies and five spin-off series. What's Happening!! did much better than in its first run on television, despite only having produced 65 episodes, ending up with a later syndicated reincarnation in the mid-80s, What's Happening Now!!. An extreme example is the spy series The Prisoner which has been successfully syndicated for more than 30 years despite having only 17 episodes produced. Most recently Clueless has been more successful in syndication than during its network run even though only 62 episodes had been produced by the time the series ended in 1999. In 2006, Arrested Development was picked up in syndication by G4 and HDNet, despite it only lasting 53 episodes. Star Trek is an American science-fiction franchise spanning six television series, ten feature films, hundreds of novels, computer and video games, and other fan stories. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... Whats Happening!! was an American sitcom that ran on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. ... Whats Happening Now!! was an American sitcom which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. ... The Prisoner was a 1967 UK science fiction television series, starring Patrick McGoohan. ... Clueless was a television series based on the 1995 teen movie Clueless. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Arrested Development is a character-driven American comedy television series about a formerly wealthy and habitually dysfunctional family that ran from November 2, 2003 to February 10, 2006. ... G4 or G-4 is the name of: Adrian was here G4 nations – four major nations seeking seats on the UN Security Council: Germany, Brazil, Japan, and India. ... HDNet is a high-definition television channel broadcasting in the United States. ...

Lower expectations and disappointments

On the other hand, a 100-episode series may be syndicated, but aired in inconvenient or odd time slots such as early morning, mid-afternoon or late at night, if the show wasn't critically acclaimed during its network run or was a show under the radar and doesn't warrant a prime timeslot; examples include The Parent Hood, Grace Under Fire, My Wife and Kids, and Yes, Dear. The television comedy The Parent Hood aired on The WB from 1995 to 1999. ... Grace Under Fire was a television series which ran on ABC from 1993 to 1998. ... My Wife and Kids was an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005 and stars Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin. ... Yes, Dear is an American television sitcom which aired from 2000 to 2006 on CBS. It stars Anthony Clark, Jean Louisa Kelly, Mike OMalley, Liza Snyder, and Joel Homan. ...

Reaching 100 episodes does not necessarily mean that a series will be picked up for syndication, or that the reruns will be successful. For example, reruns of The Hughleys and Mystery Science Theater 3000, which were both highly successful in their original runs, were taken out of syndication after just one season, although it should be noted that in the case of MST3K, the rights to the parodied movies were lost in many cases, therefore preventing syndication. Rerun van Pelt is the name of Linus and Lucys younger brother in the comic strip Peanuts. ... The TV show The Hughleys aired on ABC from 1998 to 2000 and on UPN from 2000 to 2002. ... Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988–1999), usually abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. ...

There are also cases, such as Mad About You and Newsradio, where a series is expected to do well in syndication but ends up with disappointing ratings and revenue. Reasons include dated references in early seasons, or plotlines in later seasons that fall flat, causing the series to end up being defined by that one plotline or season rather than as a whole, changing the audience's perception. Mad About You was a United States sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999. ... NewsRadio was an American sitcom, originally broadcast from 1995 to 1999 on NBC. It was created and executive produced by Paul Simms. ...

Reality television

In particular, reality shows that have reached the 100 episode milestone have found syndication problematic. With the serial episodic nature of the shows, along with the game show elements that come with competitive reality programs, and the "event" nature of first-run reality shows to have unique elements to them to appeal to audiences on their first runs on networks, these factors hamper their attempts to have the programs have a second life in syndication. Previous seasons of The Amazing Race, for example ran on GSN starting in 2005 nightly; however the factor that the winning team at the end of each season was already known and the loss of the unexpected drama within each episode didn't draw many viewers to the second-run episodes, and subsequently by the beginning of 2006, GSN decided to show the repeats only in a late overnight slot. The Real World also failed to generate much audience interest in a three-year syndicated run when offered to local stations, as MTV's tactic to marathon entire seasons of the show often on the network reduced the value of the episodes to be more of a filler than as a series. Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed. ... Serial is a term, originating in literature, for a format by which a story is told in contiguous installments in sequential issues of a single periodical publication. ... A game show involves members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, playing a game, perhaps involving answering quiz questions, for points or prizes. ... The Amazing Race is a multiple Emmy Award-winning reality game show normally broadcast in one-hour episodes in which teams of two or four race around the world in competition with other teams. ... The Game Show Network (now known as GSN - The Network for Games) is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows, reality shows, and interactive television games. ... This is a list of television-related events in 2005. ... This is a list of television-related events in 2006. ... The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. ... The MTV logotype, often used in different, less stylized, forms. ...

Additionally, NBC's Fear Factor was promoted by that network's syndication division as "repeat-proof" when the show was sold into syndication to local broadcast networks and FX in 2004, with some stations showing the program twice a day [9]. After a strong start though, and as NBC began to use Fear Factor to plug weaknesses within its schedule, the ratings for the show's repeats fell, and by the beginning of 2006, FX had stopped airing Fear Factor (though it began to air in mid-morning again in the fall of 2006), and the show's syndicated run ended quietly in mid-September 2006. NBC, (Formerly an acronym for the National Broadcasting Company until 2004), is an American television and radio network based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. ... FX (shorter for Fox Extended Networks) is the name of a number of related subscription TV channels owned by News Corporations Fox Entertainment Group. ... This is a list of television-related events in 2004. ... This is a list of television-related events in 2006. ...

What this means to fans

Many fans of story arc oriented series rather than highly episodic ones, consider this a critical time in a show's development. Often, a show that reaches its fifth season or beyond may grow stale or start to lose its audience, especially if it is reported to be picked up for more seasons. This can happen either because a series is changing its tone "excessively" or sometimes not changing enough. A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books and comic strips. ...

Most long-running series, ranging from The X-Files to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The Simpsons, will be accused by both critics and fans of "jumping the shark" once they get to this time. However, it should be noted, for every fan who shares this opinion, there are usually fans who think the opposite. A good example is Seinfeld, which many fans think of the early or middle seasons as best. It has a large fanbase who consider the final seasons to be superior. The X-Files is an American television series created by Chris Carter. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that originally ran from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. ... The Simpsons is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Network, becoming one of the first hits for the network, and is one of the most successful television shows ever produced. ... Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water skis. ... For the actor, see Jerry Seinfeld. ...

See also

• Rerun