100 Episodes - Reality Television

Reality Television

Most forms of reality shows have found syndication problematic even if they reach the 100 episode milestone. The serial episodic nature of the shows, 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, all hamper attempts to give the programs a second life in syndication. For example, previous seasons of The Amazing Race ran nightly on GSN starting in 2005, but with the winning team at the end of each season already known and thus the loss of the unexpected drama within each episode, not many viewers were drawn to the second-run episodes; in 2006, GSN bumped the repeats to overnights. MTV's 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 of frequent full-season marathons of the show on the network reduced the value of the episodes as more of a filler than a series. However, these marathon events, where networks such as MTV or VH1 have shown an entire season of a reality program in a block, have been successful enough for them to become common on the networks: in 2008, both channels have frequently broadcast a season of America's Next Top Model in this fashion, airing all of the episodes in order in a single day. Reality series that originally aired on a cable channel also have the disadvantage of having been limited to a relatively small niche audience during their original run and not being popular to a wide enough audience to warrant airing it in reruns after its original run ends. Another concern, especially with musical competitions, is the securing of rights to the music used, which is generally much more expensive and complicated than securing other rights (an issue with some scripted series that rely heavily on music as well) and may require editing and replacement by sound-alike tracks.

Additionally, NBC's Fear Factor (a reality series in which each episode was self-contained) 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. However, after a strong start, 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 (though it began to air in mid-morning again in the fall of 2006), and the show's syndicated run ended quietly in mid-September 2006.

There have been exceptions to this rule, the best-known being the widely syndicated COPS, due to its extremely low cost, high volume of episodes, presence on a broadcast network during its original run, and self-contained documentary format.

A potential solution to this problem is re-versioning, which takes the original source material and adds original content to create a new product. American Idol Rewind, a re-version of the Fox reality competition American Idol (a show that has been the most watched television series in the United States for most of its run), lasted five years in syndication and on cable.