• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Short lived shows that aired for years

N

nomadcowatbk

Shows that did not even have 100 episodes.

Brady Bunch only had five seasons but ran a longtime in Syndication

Just the Ten of Us only had about 2 1/2 seasons but ran for years on USA after its original rerun.

Nickelodeon only produced a few seasons of a lot of its shows but still ran them years after they ended. "My Brother and Me" only had 1 season but for years on Saturday afternoons in reruns.
 
nomadcowatbk said:
Shows that did not even have 100 episodes.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of shows that fit into that category. "Gilligan's Island" and "Star Trek" each ran for three seasons -- and those three season's worth of episodes were then reran constantly for two decades.

"The Munsters", "The Adams Family", and "F Troop" all originally ran for two seasons -- and stayed in syndication for a long time, as well. On the drama side, "The Outer Limits" and "The Invaders" each ran for 1 1/2 seasons, and still managed to stay around in reruns for years.

The original version of "Battlestar Galactica" ran one season -- and that single season was sold into syndication and reran intermittently for most of a decade.

I'm sure others here can cite other examples, but those are the ones that come to my mind quickly.
 
TexasTom said:
On the drama side, "The Outer Limits" and "The Invaders" each ran for 1 1/2 seasons, and still managed to stay around in reruns for years.
Click to expand...

Though I believe "The Invaders" did not have the same staying power -- I did see "The Outer Limits" locally in syndication and, later, on TNT; I've never seen "The Invaders" (though I've heard of it).
 
24 episodes of "The Jetsons" had staying power for 20+ years.....from network to network, and possibly in syndication in the early 80s....enough staying power for Hanna-Barbera to warrant production of 41 more episodes in 1985 to make the show 5-days-a-week, gathering all the original cast to reunite!

10 more episodes were made in 1987.

cd
 
One of the earliest cases of a short-lived filmed show that had legs for years - heck, even decades - involved the "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners (1955-56), from the moment it was first syndicated in '57. So much so that in the 1980's, there was even a fan club ("RALPH" - the Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of The Honeymooners) that got massive press coverage and even boasted some major celebrities as members. (And this was before so-called "lost episodes" from Jackie Gleason's variety show were added to the mix.)
 
The Twilight Zone (1980s) only had 2 broadcast seasons, but produced a 3rd season for syndication only. Along with the Outer Limits (mentioned by azumanga) this was also shown on TNT.

I remember watching The Outer Limits followed directly by the Twilight Zone (1980s) on my summer vacation back in the mid 90s!
 
100 episodes is setting the bar pretty high for "short lived." Maybe not in the black and white era when shows did 39 episodes in a season but in later decades when 22 episodes is the norm. Most shows don't make it five seasons and five seasons is a pretty good run.

When Nick at Nite and TV Land started, they were running shows from 20-30 years before (50s and 60s). They still are (now that means the 80s and 90s). And when networks start showing repeats a few weeks into the season and are all repeats on Saturday night, it seems a smaller catalog is required to strip a show five days a week and episodes of old shows come up in the cycle more often.
 
wbhist said:
One of the earliest cases of a short-lived filmed show that had legs for years - heck, even decades - involved the "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners (1955-56), from the moment it was first syndicated in '57. So much so that in the 1980's, there was even a fan club ("RALPH" - the Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of The Honeymooners) that got massive press coverage and even boasted some major celebrities as members. (And this was before so-called "lost episodes" from Jackie Gleason's variety show were added to the mix.)
Click to expand...

How could I mention "The Jetsons" and ignore the 39 from "The Honeymooners"?!

cd
 
Certain "one-season wonders" seemed to run forever in local syndication. Here's a few not yet mentioned:
ENSIGN O'TOOLE
McKEEVER AND THE COLONEL
ROOM FOR ONE MORE
THE GREEN HORNET
THE TIME TUNNEL
THE MONROES
THE AQUANAUTS
MR. LUCKY
Special mention to the single season of 90-minute color episodes of WAGON TRAIN, for many years all that was syndicated from that series; and the 1964 portmanteau
series THE WESTERNERS, made up of episodes from the one-seasoners THE WESTERNER and MAN FROM BLACKHAWK and the slightly longer-lived
JOHNNY RINGO and BLACK SADDLE.
 
You could also split this into two categories: 1. series that ran on major network and then went on to do first run syndication for years. 2. Series that aired for short time on network television, but continues into reruns for years.

1st Category examples:

Charles in Charge
It's A Living


2nd Category Examples
Star Trek
Jetsons
 
azumanga said:
TexasTom said:
On the drama side, "The Outer Limits" and "The Invaders" each ran for 1 1/2 seasons, and still managed to stay around in reruns for years.
Click to expand...
Though I believe "The Invaders" did not have the same staying power -- I did see "The Outer Limits" locally in syndication and, later, on TNT; I've never seen "The Invaders" (though I've heard of it).
Click to expand...

"The Invaders" was certainly less significant in reruns that "The Outer Limits" -- but it did exhibit significant staying power. The original run was in 1968/69, and I saw reruns popping up as late as the late eighties...
 
I think that the two seasons of "The Monkees" might be added to the list. In the St. Louis area, it was syndicated on KDNL-TV in the early to mid 1970s. It then aired on KPLR-TV in the mid-1980s, before it ended up on Nickelodeon's lineup on Saturdays.

By the way, the Monkees, after their original network run, aired on CBS on Saturday mornings before it entered broadcast syndication.
 
Shows that ran for five years or shorter like Martin, Living Single, Good Times and Sanford and Son seem to have a longer shelf life than others. They are still on cable to this day.
 
Another four-season wonder (which ran from 1985-1989 and lasted 96 episodes) was the small kind--if you know what I mean. (OK, fine. I'll give you a hint: "She's a ______ ______..." [fill in the blanks; bonus points if you can post all the lyrics].)

Here in Los Angeles, the show of which I write was rerun on KTTV channel 11, my local Fox affiliate until the end of the summer of 1996!

BTW, the first two seasons are on DVD.
 
Mr. Mike said:
I think that the two seasons of "The Monkees" might be added to the list. In the St. Louis area, it was syndicated on KDNL-TV in the early to mid 1970s. It then aired on KPLR-TV in the mid-1980s, before it ended up on Nickelodeon's lineup on Saturdays.

By the way, the Monkees, after their original network run, aired on CBS on Saturday mornings before it entered broadcast syndication.
Click to expand...

Actually, after The Monkees left CBS in 1972, ABC picked up the reruns for at least one more year, until 1973 (according to Wikipedia; I thought ABC carried the series until 1975).
 
But there was one certified shorty (in terms of series run) which had legs (and then some) for many years in syndie-land: One Step Beyond.
 
wbhist said:
But there was one certified shorty (in terms of series run) which had legs (and then some) for many years in syndie-land: One Step Beyond.
Click to expand...

According to Wikipedia, "One Step Beyond" had 97 episodes produced, so it wasn't quite a "shorty".

In 1978, a new version of the series, "The Next Step Beyond", was produced with the same host and producers -- it ran for only one season, and was practically quickly forgotten.
 
Hal Erickson said:
Certain "one-season wonders" seemed to run forever in local syndication. Here's a few not yet mentioned:
ENSIGN O'TOOLE
McKEEVER AND THE COLONEL
ROOM FOR ONE MORE
THE GREEN HORNET
THE TIME TUNNEL
THE MONROES
THE AQUANAUTS
MR. LUCKY
Special mention to the single season of 90-minute color episodes of WAGON TRAIN, for many years all that was syndicated from that series; and the 1964 portmanteau
series THE WESTERNERS, made up of episodes from the one-seasoners THE WESTERNER and MAN FROM BLACKHAWK and the slightly longer-lived
JOHNNY RINGO and BLACK SADDLE.
Click to expand...

Also in one season syndication:

Gidget
No Time For Sergeants
Mr. Roberts
Wendy and Me
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom