I thought there was an unwritten (!!) rule that a network can only air the current season they're in. Meaning, once an episode has aired in snydication already (the following September), it's too stale to air in primetime.
For example: This is the 2010/211 season (9) of FG. They can air repeats of that season, including all Summer, until beginning of September 2011. Then that season will air in local TV station syndication (when locals can air for the first time, as Fox preps the 2011-2012 season).
Hmm? My cable company's STB (set top box) says it's that episode (and it's probably wrong), but Fox's website says it's "Welcome Back Carter"'. Either way, in 10 minutes, they're airing last season's season finale of The Simpsons "Judge Me Tender", so they're still showing a stale episode.
Tonight's lineup would have been preempted by baseball if the NLCS had gone seven games. They probably figured they'd get more viewers for an episode that aired a few months ago than for one that aired within the last few weeks. They've only got, what, three fresh reruns to choose from?
If you ask me, such a rule would be foolish if it existed. Surely the objective is to entertain as many people as possible and if an older episode of something will entertain more people than one that lies within this "rule", then the older episode is probably the best move.
Back in the 1980s, a local station showed the pilot of the Beverly Hillbillies, which was in black-and-white and dated from the very early 1960s. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! In fact, I think it would still stand up today as pretty hilarious. I was certainly more entertained by it than by most current shows.
Now, I'm not saying that they should show ONLY very old programs as "replacements" when the baseball season ends earlier than expected (or whatever) but I think they should keep an open mind and not limit their options unduly.
Early episodes of Beverly Hillbillies and, believe it or not, Gilligan's Island contain elements of social satire. While not Swiftian, it added to the humor. Evidently the network suits got in and "fixed" this aspect of the shows, rendering what came later a good deal more inane.
On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:45:26 -0700 (PDT), Taylor wrote:
That's never been true as far as I know. Networks air repeats from previous seasons all the time. The written rule is the number of repeat episodes specificied in the original episode contract (typically three, but it can vary). They can still air an episode after they've reached the contracted number, but they have to pay for it again.
This is specific to the agreed on episode orders for specific shows. Picking on Buffy for examples, In Buffy's first season, the license contract specified each episode fee covering the original airing plus 4 repeats (an extra repeat because of the shortness of that season's episode order). Following seasons specified each episode fee covering the original airing plus 3 repeats. Until the WB had reached the maximum number of airings, they could still air the episode with no additional cost, even in succeeding seasons (and routinely did).
I didn't watch Seinfield regularly, but it seemed that every time I did (still in its regular Thursday network time slot), it was the same episode (The Contest) even years after its original airing, and long after Seinfield was syndicated.
I'm fairly certain that the actual "rule" is very definitely written: once an episode starts airing in local syndication, Fox can no longer air it without jumping through massive amounts of hoops. (This is certainly the case with "The Simpsons", where it took so long to get permission to air the Michael Jackson episode after he died that they couldn't air it until the second Sunday after his death.)
However, they usually don't release all of the episodes into syndication at the start of the fall season. Some premiere in November, some in February, and some in May. Until it is actually in syndication, Fox can keep airing it. (This is why, for example, Fox can air last year's Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode on November 7, just before this year's episode.)