Rerun

A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a media, (usually television) program. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. Some viewers find reruns annoying, although many viewers appreciate the opportunity to re-watch a programme they enjoyed or watch one they missed the first time round. There are two types of reruns, those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.

In the UK, the word "rerun" is rarely used; instead "repeat" is the more common term. "Repeat" is also used for programs shown less than a week after the original broadcast, before the next episode of the series.

Reruns in the United States of America

During Hiatus

In the United States, currently running shows will rerun older episodes from the same season in order to fill the timeslot with the same program. This is often done for headliner shows because the length of the year (52 weeks) is far more than the length of a pick-up (13 weeks) or a full season (around 26 weeks). Shows will tend to start re-running episodes around November and show only reruns from mid-December until Sweeps Week in February (where a show will return to new episodes in order to spike their ratings). This winter phase is often used to trial new shows in order to see if they deserve a 13-episode run. Headliners will return from February Sweeps until May Sweeps, with only limited reruns used.

Syndication

When a television program becomes popular, it often goes into syndication. This is when many episodes of the program are sold as a package for a large sum of money. Generally the buyer is either a cable company or a host of local television stations. Often, programs are not economical until they are sold for syndication. Unfortunately since local television stations often need to sell more commercial airtime than network affiliates, syndicated shows are usually cut to make room for extra commercials. Often about 100 episodes ( four seasons worth ) are required for a weekly series to be rerun on a daily schedule (at least five times a week). Very popular series running more then four seasons may start daily reruns of the first seasons, while production and airings continue of current seasons episodes.

DVD retail

With the rise of the DVD video format, box sets featuring season or series runs of television series have become an increasingly important retail item. Some view this development, as a rising new idea in the industry of reruns as an increasingly major revenue source in themselves instead of the standard business model as a draw for audiences for advertising. This is also the only place to see many of these shows in their unedited form, though shortened episodes have turned up on some sets.

Repeats in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, most drama and comedy series run for shorter seasons - typically 6, 7 or 13 episodes - and are then replaced by others. An exception is soap operas which are either on all year round (for example EastEnders and Coronation Street), or are on for a season similar to the American system.

As in the US, fewer new episodes are made in summer. Until recently it was also common practice for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to repeat classic shows from their archives, but this has more or less dried up in favour of newer (and cheaper) formats like reality shows, except on the BBC where older BBC shows, especially sitcoms like Dad's Army and Fawlty Towers, are frequently repeated.

Syndication did not exist in Britain until the arrival of satellite, cable and later, from 1998 on, digital television. Nowadays the UK has many channels (for example UKTV Gold) which repackage and rebroadcast "classic" programming from both sides of the Atlantic. Some of these channels, like their US counterparts, make commercial timing cuts; others get around this by running shows in longer time slots, and critics of timing cuts see no reason why all channels should not do the same.

Early on in the history of British television, agreements with the actors' union Equity and other trade bodies limited the number of times a single programme could be broadcast, usually only twice, and these showings were limited to within a set time period such as five years. This was due to the unions' fear that the channels filling their schedules with repeats could put actors and other production staff out of work as fewer new shows would be made. It also had the unintentional side effect of causing many programmes to be junked after their repeat rights had expired, as they were considered to be of no further use by the broadcasters. Although these agreements changed during the 1980s and beyond, it is still expensive to repeat archive television series on British terrestrial television, as new contracts have to be drawn up and payments made to the artists concerned. Repeats on multi-channel television are cheaper, as are re-showings of newer programmes covered by less strict repeat clauses.

Rerun abuse

"Rerun abuse", a term coined by the online game show fan community, refers to when a television network excessively reruns a show. The term is mostly used for shows that had a short run or otherwise had a limited number of episodes produced, but are still very prominent on the network's schedule. It can also refer to stations which acquired only a small selection of episodes from a longer-lasting show and then airs them repeatedly (e.g., a station that decides to air only the fourth through sixth seasons of "Friends").

Considering that this term was created by game show fans, the term usually refers to GSN's excessive rerunning of short-lived shows such as The Weakest Link, Greed, and Dog Eat Dog; or shows that they only acquired a limited number of episodes of, such as Jeopardy!, Win Ben Stein's Money, and The Newlywed Game. GSN also treats their originals – such as Lingo and Russian Roulette – in this manner. The Sci Fi Channel also airs many short-lived shows that were cancelled in their first or second seasons, or before the 100 episode mark.

In the UK, this is often used with Keeping Up Appearances, a show which is repeated quite frequently on both BBC ONE and UKTV Gold. It is often used by the BBC to plug gaps in the schedule, and is nearly always shown on Bank Holidays.