History Main / VindicatedByReruns

* A fair number of LooneyTunes animated shorts that weren't fully appreciated in their original big-screen showings were kept alive with the advent of The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show (and later Bugs Bunny & Tweety), and obscure characters such as Tasmanian Devil and Michigan J. Frog have joined Bugs and Daffy as comedy legends. The surviving animators from TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation were back in the game, in a big way.

* A fair number of LooneyTunes animated shorts that weren't fully appreciated in their original big-screen showings were kept alive with the advent of The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, and obscure characters such as Tasmanian Devil and Michigan J. Frog have joined Bugs and Daffy as comedy legends.

* SherwoodSchwartz is very grateful for this trope, as daily syndication took two of his first-run flops (''Series/GilligansIsland'' and ''Series/TheBradyBunch'') and made them unlikely cultural touchstones for a generation.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' lasted three seasons. (Five had been planned and were integral to the show's concept.) It was a modest ratings success until {{NBC}} developed the habit of [[ScrewedByTheNetwork switching its timeslot around]]. Eventually in the third season, ''Trek'' lost its audience and NBC cancelled the show in 1969. An immense fandom emerged not too long afterwards, demanding the return of ''Trek'' to the airwaves. It did, and in time was joined by an animated series, four spinoff series and no fewer than 11 theatrical feature films.

* TwinPeaks gained notoriety in the press for being the most thought-provoking (to say the least) detective series on TV, but failed to gain a strong audience during its 2-season run. Like many of DavidLynch s works, it has gradually carved itself a place in history.

* MySoCalledLife.

** Undeclared.

* A number of British sitcoms lasted only two seasons tops, due in part to the slow process of people warming up to their genius.
** ''ThePrisoner''.
** ''FawltyTowers''.
** ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen''.
** The UK version of ''TheOffice''.

** ''{{Firefly}}''.
** ''ArrestedDevelopment''.

** We also have ''TheNakedGun'' to thank for that.

* ''TheAddamsFamily'' faced heavy competition from ''TheMunsters'', suffered in the Nielsen ratings, and was cancelled at the end of its second season. Before too long, however, reruns propelled ''Addams Family'' into its current status as a pop culture phenomenon, surpassing ''Munsters'' in its appeal to modern audiences.

* ''MobileSuitGundam'' performed so badly the first time around that the series was initially cut down to 39 episodes, only to be brought up to 43 to wrap up the series. When it was shown in reruns, the show became a hit (combined with model sells), giving a greenlight for a movie. When the movie became a hit, [[ZetaGundam the]] [[GundamZZ rest]] [[MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack is]] [[GundamF91 his]][[VictoryGundam tory]].

* ''FreaksAndGeeks'', the teen sitcom which starred James Franco & Seth Rogen and in time became a syndication favorite, alienated critics and was a ratings flop in its initial airings in 1999.

* [[YourMileageMayVary Your opinion may vary]] on recent shows such as ''{{Firefly}}'', ''ArrestedDevelopment'', ''VeronicaMars'' and ''{{Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip}}'', as to whether or not they have gone through enough reruns to cement their status as classics.

* ''ThePrisoner''.
* ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
* ''FawltyTowers''.
* ''FatherTed''.
* ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen''.
* The UK version of ''TheOffice''.

* Newsradio was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork jerked around by NBC]] basically being subjected to every trick in the book except for the FridayNightDeathSlot until it was finally cancelled in 1999 due to the drop in quality due to [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the untimely death of Phil Hartman]] who was one of the most important characters on the show. Through syndication, however, it was discovered by others and now is regarded as the great TV show it really was.

* [[YourMileageMayVary Your opinion may vary]] on recent shows such as ''{{Firefly}}'', ''ArrestedDevelopment'' and ''VeronicaMars'', as to whether or not they have gone through enough reruns to cement their status as classics.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' lasted three seasons. (Five had been planned and were integral to the show's concept.) It was a modest ratings success until {{NBC}} developed the habit of switching its timeslot around. Eventually in the third season, ''Trek'' lost its audience and NBC cancelled the show in 1969. An immense fandom emerged not too long afterwards, demanding the return of ''Trek'' to the airwaves. It did, and in time was joined by an animated series, four spinoff series and no fewer than 11 theatrical feature films.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' lasted three seasons. (Five had been planned and were integral to the show's concept.) It was a modest ratings success until {{ABC}} developed the habit of switching its timeslot around. Eventually in the third season, ''Trek'' lost its audience and ABC cancelled the show in 1969. An immense fandom emerged not too long afterwards, demanding the return of ''Trek'' to the airwaves. It did, and in time was joined by an animated series, four spinoff series and no fewer than 11 theatrical feature films.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' lasted three seasons. (Five had been planned and were integral to the show's concept.) It was a modest ratings success until {{ABC}} developed the habit of switching its timeslot around. Eventually in the third season, ''Trek'' lost its audience and ABC cancelled the show in 1969. An immense fandom emerged not too long afterwards, demanding the return of ''Trek'' to the airwaves. It did, and in time was joined by an animated series and no fewer than 11 theatrical feature films.

A subtrope of VindicatedByHistory that deals specifically with television. Some shows keep going for decades until it's impossible to not come across an episode of it while flipping through channels. Other shows get only one or two seasons before cancellation, but those one or two seasons are so AWESOME that eventually someone decides to give them a repeat broadcast ... and that repeat becomes an established tradition of reruns for that particular show. Each passing generation will then give the show an appreciation that it wasn't given in its day.

Contrast BetterOnDVD, which saves those 15 or 20-season mammoth shows from becoming DeaderThanDisco.

* ''TheHoneymooners'' lasted 39 episodes. Despite Jackie Gleason's status as one of the biggest TV stars of the 50s, ''Honeymooners'' was one of those concepts which somehow just didn't fly. Now it's one of the most remembered and celebrated sitcoms of its era, with a more prolific rerun history than any other series ever broadcast.
* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' lasted three seasons. (Five had been planned and were integral to the show's concept.) It was a modest ratings success until ABC developed the habit of switching its timeslot around. Eventually in the third season ''Trek'' lost its audience and ABC cancelled the show in 1969. An immense fandom emerged not too long afterwards, demanding the return of ''Trek'' to the airwaves. It did, and in time was joined by an animated series and a slew of theatrical feature films.

Examples:

* The aforementioned ''Honeymooners'' and ''Trek'' are probably the ultimate examples.