100 episodes
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The 100-episode mark is frequently cited in entertainment industry and popular media as a key number for enabling a series to enter syndication. [link] [link] [link][link] [link] [link][link][link]
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 that 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. 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.
Lower Expectations and Disappointments
On the other hand, 100 episode series are 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.
Often, a series reaching 100 episodes does not necessarily mean that a) it will be picked up for syndication, or b) that these 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.
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 because of dated references in early seasons, or plotlines in later seasons (while a show continues to air on a network) 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.
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 on weekends only. 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.
Additionaly, 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 [link]. 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 and many broadcast stations have moved the show to weak, low-rated timeslots as placeholders for other cancelled shows.
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.
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" (that is, of losing the initial qualities that attracted their early fans) 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 - while many fans think of the early or middle seasons as best - has a large fanbase who consider the final seasons to be superior.
See also
- Rerun
- 65 episode policy (for Disney Channel programs)
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