History Main / VindicatedByReruns

** Not that the Munsters were slouches in reruns, either.

* ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' only saw weak ratings during its original run on Creator/{{MTV}} and the protests it received in India over the portrayal of clone Gandhi as a party dude gave the network a convenient excuse to pull and cancel the show before it could even air all of its thirteen episodes. Then, reruns on Canada's Teletoon Detour gave it a cult following, while an announcement of a reboot in 2020 and clone JFK suddenly becoming a FountainOfMemes shortly afterwards led to an even wider audience watching it via uploads on Website/YouTube. Tellingly, Creator/ViacomCBS, MTV's parent company, later put the entire series on Creator/CBSAllAccess.

[[folder:New Media]]
* Website/YouTube user Benthelooney was unpopular during his original run of videos, and had support from very little fans to keep his videos going (His original intention was only to make videos once in a while). When more people found out about the user via his rants on Cartoon Network, he was ruthlessly criticized. However, this was also when he started to gain a wider fanbase. Ben Tannehill ended his rants segments in 2011, after running out of topics to talk about but the outcry from fans was so monumental that the series was UnCancelled in 2012, where he blossomed in popularity and became one of the most popular ranters on Website/YouTube.
[[/folder]]

* ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' had poor ratings and was cancelled, but due to popularity in reruns was later brought back as ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket''.

** History has repeated itself. After the show (and the brand as a whole)'s popularity crashing and burning in the mid to late 2000s, Nickelodeon started to bring Rugrats reruns back to the network to commemorate its 20th anniversary in late 2010 to mid 2011, followed by regular reruns on Creator/TeenNick's The '90s Are All That (Now called "The Splat") starting from late 2011. This ended up creating a whole new generation of Rugrats fans who had never seen the show when it was first airing while bringing back long time viewers, enabling the show to regain its popularity and become a cult hit. Since then, the show has seen memes spawned off of it, new DVD releases, multiple airings of the first two movies on the main network thanks to popular demand, a marathon to coincide with the Superbowl in 2013, syndication on other Viacom related networks (It aired on Nick Jr during the NickMom block in 2013, and aired on primetime in mid 2014), new merchandise, clothing, fans reciting quotes from the show on a regular basis, references in popular media and several fan campaigns to resurrect the show. This has caught the eye of Nickelodeon's executives, as in addition to greenlighting ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'', they have considered doing a revival the show.

* Anime/KinnikumanNisei was considered a failure in Japan, being cancelled at the end of a filler arc breaking off in the middle of the Chojin Crown Arc. It was [[Creator/FourKidEntertainment 4kids Entertainment]] that funded 26 more episodes to finish it off due to its popularity in the States. In Japan these episodes were known as "Ultimate Muscle 2", or "Kinnikuman: Ultimate Muscle".

* Anime/KinnikumanNisei was considered a failure in Japan, being cancelled at the end of a filler arc breaking off in the middle of the Chojin Crown Arc. It was Creator/{{4KidsEntertainment}} that funded 26 more episodes to finish it off due to its popularity in the States. In Japan these episodes were known as "Ultimate Muscle 2", or "Kinnikuman: Ultimate Muscle".

* ''Series/OutOfTheBox'' was not as popular as other Playhouse Disney shows during its' original run, but had its' fans. The show experienced a surge in popularity when the series was added to Creator/DisneyPlus, most likely due to nostalgic parents sharing the show with their kids.

* ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' kept shifting timeslots while on the air, so only during summer reruns, when it was on at a consistent time, did it gain a significant audience. When the series finally ended and went into syndication, it got those consistent timeslots once again. Its popularity ''skyrocketed'' (just as Klugman himself had confidently predicted).

* Anime/KinnikumanNisei was considered a failure in Japan, being cancelled at the end of a filler arc breaking off in the middle of the Chojin Crown Arc. It was Creator/4KidsEntertainment that funded 26 more episodes to finish it off due to its popularity in the States. In Japan these episodes were known as "Ultimate Muscle 2", or "Kinnikuman: Ultimate Muscle".

* Anime/KinnikumanNisei was considered a failure in Japan, being cancelled at the end of a filler arc breaking off in the middle of the Chojin Crown Arc. It was Creator/4KidsEntertainment that funded 26 more episodes to finish it off due to its popularity in the States. In Japan these episodes were known as "Ultimate Muscle 2", or "Kinnikuman: Ultimate Muscle"

* ''Series/CobraKai'' was acclaimed by critics and had a sizable fanbase ever since it debuted on YouTube Red in 2018, but it's audience was bottlenecked by the service's limited subscriber base. When the show made its ChannelHop to Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2020, it's larger audience allowed it to quickly became one of the most streamed shows of the year.

* In 2006, NBC ran a broadcast version of ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' on their creator/{{qubo}} block that featured segments taking place at Bob the Tomato's house and was more secular in nature. Despite having good ratings, the show was very controversial since all references to God were edited out. This version lingered in obscurity for several years, only remembered by those who watched it as it aired. It wasn't until this version hit syndication in 2015 that it began to grow in popularity.

* Several of Creator/HannaBarbera's series were just overlooked [[note]]remember, their earliest series are from the 50s and 60s, a time when television animation was still considered ''odd'' to regular viewers [[/note]] and ruthlessly criticized for their LimitedAnimation and sound effects, especially ones that were just [[RecycledInSpace rehashes of their more popular series]]. However, reruns on Cartoon Network and later, Boomerang gave several of those shows, including their biggest series, like ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', newfound popularity and more recognition. There are still some critics (and hardcore animation fans) that criticize the shows, but most people have generally warmed up.

** To a lesser extent, ''WesternAnimation/{{Waynehead}}'' fell into this trope as it did very poorly during its Creator/KidsWB. Most people didn't find out about the show until Cartoon Network started airing reruns. However, the following wasn't as big as the two shows mentioned above as the show has basically been [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes lost media]] for years but Creator/HBOMax will have the entire series at some point.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' were already popular shows (the latter [[VindicatedByHistory getting more popular after its initial run]]) but when [[Creator/DiscoveryFamily The Hub]] aired the series, both shows found a whole new audience getting as popular as ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' at one point. This attributes to them airing frequent marathons and giving tons of promotion despite both shows being over 20 years old. However, the former got [[ScrewedByTheNetwork canned]] in October 2014 when The Hub was changed to Discovery Family and the latter stayed around before getting canned in July of the next year.

* Music/{{Journey}}'s "Don't Stop Believin'" was a #9 hit in 1981. While one of their better showings, [[ChartDisplacement it was far from their biggest hit]]; that would be the #2 "Open Arms" a year later. In the middle of the 2000s, the song was starting to be used more and more in media, notably on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy.'' Then, it was used at the end of ''Series/TheSopranos'', and sales of the song soared. It kept a very high profile and established itself as a generational anthem, especially after it became the first song ever covered by ''Series/{{Glee}}.'' It has sold over ''six million'' copies in the U.S. alone, by far the most of any 20th-century song.