How long syndicated shows usually were?

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Fireminer
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How long syndicated shows usually were?

Post by Fireminer »

I've read some where that back in the early days of anime in America, Americans much preferred if the anime series were 52 episodes or more so that they could syndicated it to local stations. Was this the lowest length of syndicated shows back then? If we just limited to animation, then how long did these shows usually run?
davemerrill
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Re: How long syndicated shows usually were?

Post by davemerrill »

It depends on a lot of factors, but generally the more episodes you can package, the more likely TV stations are to show it. A 50+ episode series stripped in once a day on weekdays (which is how most non-network syndicated shows aired) can get you through ten weeks of material before you start re-running. Astro Boy had 104 episodes, Gigantor and Prince Planet had 52, Kimba had 52, Speed Racer had 52, Battle Of The Planets did 78, Star Blazers had 52 (with another 25 added in 1984), the Force Five series wound up with 125, Voltron had 124, Maple Town had 52, Robotech had 78, Captain Harlock & Queen of 1000 Years as well as Tranzor Z had 65 episodes, which I'm told was the minimum number of episodes stations wanted in the mid 1980s. However, some series managed to get to syndication with a lesser number of episodes - Thunder Sub and Thunderbirds 2086 only had 24 episodes each, Macron 1 had 26. Saber Rider & The Star Sheriffs had 52. Saban's 1990 Dragon Warrior release only saw 13 episodes, which is the least number of episodes I've been able to find for any of these shows.
George W
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Re: How long syndicated shows usually were?

Post by George W »

That's one reason why Harmony Gold built their "Robotech" mess from Macross, Southern Cross and Mosepeda.

You have to be careful with domestic products, which get sold based on their story arc, but die if the audience doesn't come. Key examples (non-Anime) are Captain Power and Babylon 5 (which was cancelled after the 4th season, and restored after the producer (comic book author J. Michael Straczynski) found a new funding source / studio. So they finished their complete story arc.

Sometimes they get soooo close, and then BAM - done.
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