One thing I noticed in reading these magazines and watching Youtube, is that there were quite a few short-lived sitcoms (<50 episodes) that went into daily syndication in the early/mid-80s. So far, I've seen TV or print ads for
On the Rocks*, Carter Country, House Calls (57 eps. actually),
I'm a Big Girl Now, It's/Making a Living, Private Benjamin, and
It Takes Two. What's interesting to me is that, some of these shows aired reruns in prime access time slots, which seems odd, considering they didn't run very long.
Any rhyme or reason to this "trend", seeing as how you'd prolly never see this happen today? Perhaps they were testing the waters for syndication;
It's a Living did start making new episodes in 1985? Cheaper alternative for stations that couldn't afford the juggernauts like
M*A*S*H or
Wheel? Or is the answer simply "because it could make a little money"?
Then again, USA and GSN aired the same 65
Hot Potato eps. for years, so maybe this is all moot.
*Mid-70s prison sitcom. I cannot find any syndication info about this one, but there's a promo on YT from WTAF in Philly. Apparently they aired the show c. 1985. I'm very intrigued by this one.
ObGameShow: I could name at least one star of each of those shows who appeared on a game show.
ETA: I got a partial answer. Golden West syndicated
Big Girl, Living, and
It Takes Too as one cumulative package, airing over
summer of 1984.