Dragon Tattoo

I hope the answer to this is self-evident.

wz42

This.

Grammer was musing about it on his Twitter account before his agent shit his pants since he was working on what turned out to be Boss. But...really I'm not sure Grammer has anything left and Frasier is an iconic character.

Gizmo

It was renewed before an episode even aired.

It was a failure.

Plenty of failures get renewed to save face. Touch. Eli Stone. Mindy Project. Plenty of others. Too bad they couldn't get out of it like HBO did with luck.

Gunde

No, it was a failure in only one aspect: ratings.

Gizmo

Which is an opinion.

If everyone liked the show, the ratings would have improved (or stayed the same) and it would have got a third Season.

Grammer's last three shows were failures.

wz42

Although I can't speak to Boss (haven't seen it...not my type of show) in all fairness to Back to You it was a good show and Grammer's performance was fine. It even had the creative team behind Modern Family. I'm more inclinded to blame Fox for it's failure than anything else.

Now Hank...Grammer was horrible in it and the show itself was pedantic as fuck.

My Other Self

Is Frasier even on in syndication any more? I haven't seen it in awhile. My local Fox affiliate was airing it in 16:9 at 2am for awhile and it looked good, but they've stopped airing it.

TheMovieman

Yes. There are something like 4 episodes every weeknight on, IIRC, Hallmark Channel and then another 2 episodes on Saturday but not in the same order as the weekday ones (i.e. on the weeknights, season 4 is airing but on Saturday they're on season 8).

wz42

I'm pretty sure they're on the Buffalo CW station latenight as well so checking the more low rent stations may find episodes.

Either way dying out in syndication isn't a comment on the quality of the shows...Nobody is airing I Love Lucy, Mash, Barney Miller or even Cheers much anymore.

Just seems to be what happens when a show gets old for some reason.

TheMovieman

Well, it's about ratings (even at the lowest). In terms of Frasier, it's probably cheap filler programming for Hallmark. Ditto for TBS with Friends and Seinfeld. Then you have The Big Bang Theory on NBC (here it airs at 7 after the local news) and TBS, CSI on Spike, CSI: Miami on A&E, etc. I would be curious what kind of residual pay the actors get on the syndication deals.

Also, I know many years ago Wings was in syndication and now that's gone as well.

AaronHernandez

For older shows Friends and Seinfeld have strong legs. I see both in cushy slots locally every night in syndication.Not to mention Seinfeld and Friends both also air on TBS and Friends reruns on NIN at 11pm are beating Conan and other shows in cable ratings. By contrast I can't think of a single 70s sitcom besides Mash that was cleaning up anywhere near that well in reruns in the 1990s.

RichC2

Syndication is still huge it's just very different than it has been in the past. There are so many cable channels out there you have to fill it with something. It doesn't hurt that re-runs of The Big Bang Theory are almost always in the top 10 of all cable programming almost every night, the same goes for Family Guy.

ie - last Thursday night, the #1 and #2 show was Pawn Stars (new ep), followed by a repeat of Family Guy, the NBA Draft Preview, The Big Bang Theory and another episode of Family Guy. All this plus Swamp People before the new episode of Burn Notice.

to note, Hallmark channel actually does air I Love Lucy. TV Guide and Hallmark channels air Cheers, M*A*S*H is on TV Land (5 - 6 pm), but you are correct on Barney Miller. I Love Lucy and Barney Miller are free online these days. Everything has a shelf life.

wz42

The person I quoted referenced not finding Frasier on an OTA station therefore I continud with a reply based upon that. Others migrated over to referencing cable tv.

I do understand it's ratings that only matter...but I'm baffled why more don't want to watch the great shows to make them worth airing on more stations/OTA.

I am surprised Family Guy repeats rate so high on cable. In Canada it barely airs in repeats. Outside of Peachtree (WPCH and formerly WTBS) and US OTA border stations stations only one channel airs it on cable and NO OTA stations in the Toronto market airs repeats daily anymore.

RichC2

Ah gotcha, well there are a couple OTA channels that air nothing but classic repeats.

They have channels dedicated to "classic" TV though, like MeTV (available via antenna in 89% of the country), typical schedule for that channel:
Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, The Lucy Show, That Girl, Family Affair, Leave It To Beaver, Perry Mason, Ironside, original Hawaii Five-0, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency!, Rifleman, MASH, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Dick Van Dyke, Odd Couple, Hogan's Heroes, Night Gallery, Perry Mason, Kojak, Honeymooners, Mission Impossible, Combat!, 12 O'Clock High, Star Trek TOS, Get Smart, Car 54 Where Are You, Burke's Law, The Green Hornet, She-Ra, He-Man and Masters of the Universe, Gomer Pyle, Make Room for Daddy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Mothers-in-Law, Naked City, Route 66, The Saint, etc;

The only reason Family Guy was picked up again after cancellation was because of how well it did in repeats on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.