Why is "West Wing" Ending So Early, But Not "ER"?

[Patty Winter]

Is there any particular reason for why they've plowed straight ahead
with WW this season, while having (what feels like) every other ep
of ER be a repeat?

their mini-series REVELATIONS.

Or maybe it's the case that NBC is using that slot for "Revelations"
because they decided to end TWW early, not vice versa.

I've seen it stated a number of times that the reason for the fairly
uninterrupted runthrough on TWW is because its episodes don't do well
in reruns. (In one-off reruns, I mean; it's probably doing okay as a
completely rerun series on "Bravo.") Any thoughts on why that is?


Patty

(I added the WW newsgroup to get thoughts from there, too.)

[David]

Post by Patty Winter

Is there any particular reason for why they've plowed straight ahead
with WW this season, while having (what feels like) every other ep
of ER be a repeat?

their mini-series REVELATIONS.

Or maybe it's the case that NBC is using that slot for "Revelations"
because they decided to end TWW early, not vice versa.

The decision was made last May, based on "West Wing"s ratings from
last season. NBC's plan was to divide the season into two story arcs
and then have "Revelations" take over the slot in-between. But this
season the ratings went up so they decided to save "Revelations" for
later.

[David Johnston]

Post by Patty Winter

Is there any particular reason for why they've plowed straight ahead
with WW this season, while having (what feels like) every other ep
of ER be a repeat?

their mini-series REVELATIONS.

Or maybe it's the case that NBC is using that slot for "Revelations"
because they decided to end TWW early, not vice versa.
I've seen it stated a number of times that the reason for the fairly
uninterrupted runthrough on TWW is because its episodes don't do well
in reruns. (In one-off reruns, I mean; it's probably doing okay as a
completely rerun series on "Bravo.") Any thoughts on why that is?

One obvious possibility is because West Wing has a cherce timeslot.
There's other stuff on at that time that people want to watch instead
of a rerun. West Wing also has no action, or sex, and that reruns
better than less visceral content.

[a***@aol.com]

Series with ongoing storylines tend to do poorly in reruns, i.e.,
Alias, 24. Successful sitcoms repeat well and so do self-contained
dramas like the Law & Orders and CSIs, Cold Case, Without a Trace - any
show where viewers can tune in without having seen the show before.

Lost and Desperate Housewives have been doing reasonably well in the
ratings, and it'll be interesting to see if the trend continues. NBC
still reruns ER even though it loses to Without a Trace because it's
ratings are still high enough for originals that the rerun ratings
aren't bad. Besides, otherwise they'd have to show another L&O repeat
;)

[a***@aol.com]

Series with ongoing storylines tend to do poorly in reruns, i.e.,
Alias, 24. Successful sitcoms repeat well and so do self-contained
dramas like the Law & Orders and CSIs, Cold Case, Without a Trace - any
show where viewers can tune in without having seen the show before.

Lost and Desperate Housewives have been doing reasonably well in the
ratings, and it'll be interesting to see if the trend continues. NBC
still reruns ER even though it loses to Without a Trace because it's
ratings are still high enough for originals that the rerun ratings
aren't bad. Besides, otherwise they'd have to show another L&O repeat
;)