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Even if the new TV season has started about a month ago (although most series returned last week), I find myself watching loads of reruns. Thanks to satellite TV and the likes, TV viewers have many choices of shows to catch in reruns at all times of day. If you like all three versions of CSI, you could even probably find a way to watch it 24/7!
I occasionally watch reruns of shows that are currently on the air and that I didn’t have time to watch when they first aired: the CSIs, the Law & Orders, Eureka, Pysch, Monk, etc. When I’m really bored and find nothing to watch on the 100+ channels I have at home, I’ll watch reruns of The Simpsons, Futurama, Seinfeld, Friends and other sitcoms. However, I find myself making weekly, if not daily, appointments with canceled TV series I didn’t watch at all or in their entirety during their run. Is your TV viewing schedule filled with reruns of canceled TV series? Are my picks on your list? Read on!
When I was young, my mother loved watching mystery or investigating series. Back then Lieutenant Columbo and Jessica Fletcher were the best fictional crime solvers around. Due to my age, I didn’t understand much of what was going on in the Columbo TV movies and on Murder She Wrote. However, my interest in such series was developed. Nowadays, I make a daily appointment with Jessica Fletcher and a weekly one with Columbo. Even if the picture quality is so-so when compared to the series today, I find myself entertained by the episodes/movies offered by both series.
Back in the ’90s, I missed the entire run of Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman. I knew of the series but I didn’t have time to watch it. Thanks to reruns and cable, I can now catch the good doctor and hunky Sully everyday (twice on Fridays)! Since I was glued to my TV when Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea aired, it was only a matter of time for me to find Quinn and add it to my TV viewing schedule.
Even if I caught the entire series when it aired last year, I make it a weekly event to watch cutie Alex O’Loughlin on French reruns of canceled-way-too-early Moonlight (no reruns in English in my area).
Which canceled shows do you find yourself watching daily or weekly? Why are you watching them now? Let your voice be heard in comments below!
Clacked by Isabelle Carreau 
on Oct 05, 2008 @ 15:05 EST5EDT
speaking of dr. quinn – one of the daughters (don’t know the character name) worked in my local deli/market which sadly closed 2 months ago…and what channel is columbo on? one of my all time faves.
*POST AUTHOR*
I watch Columbo on the French version of a channel called “Mystery.” Sadly, no reruns of Columbo in English in my area :( But the dubbing was well-done so that’s that.
I’m always watching Star Trek on my PC when I’m bored, just finished DS9 this summer. But mostly, I barely manage to see the shows I need to run my blogs….
I missed the entire run of Charmed, so I spent last summer watching the reruns out of order, and I’m pretty sure I’m all caught up now. I’ve moved on to Angel, as I was a huuuuuuuuge Buffy fan but somehow never got into Angel. Its not really a good replacement though because the episodes don’t really stand alone. I guess shows like Psych, Monk, CSI, Charmed, etc. are the best reruns to catch because they’re mostly stand alone plot and the long-running plots just add an extra layer of enjoyment if you’re familiar with them.
Well this On Universal HD I was able to watch the entire run of “Philly”, watch “South Beach” and “Sex, Love and Secrets”. I really enjoyed “Philly” with Kim Delaney and Tom Everett Scott. They also started showing “Touching Evil” which I loved in it was originally on TNT a few years back.
The year “Dawson’s Creek” went off the air I watched the entire run on TBS (seemed like a matter of weeks- 4 episodes a day). I had never gotten into that show and I saw that they were showing it all and was like why not
And I was working a lot when “Six Feet Under” was originally on Showtime and never watched that show — but then Bravo started showing it and watched the entire series. Of course they edited the episodes so that sucks, but I really enjoyed the series.
I was really enjoying the reruns of Ed on TBS a couple of years back, especially as it seems that the show will never be released on DVD. Damn music rights.
I used to catch alot of shows this way. That’s how I got into Magnum, MacGyver, Knight Rider, The Equalizer, Quantum Leap . . . but those were what one might call the golden age of re-runs on USA and A&E. Now that A&E seems to show rubbish 24/7 and USA has gotten into the Law and Order and original programming games, there just don’t seem to be that many shows available.
Similarly Sci-Fi’s journey into original programming seems to have done away with most of the things that they used to show, such as the original Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman and all those wonderful one season shows that were in their “Vault” such as Probe, She-Wolf of London, VR-5, Otherworld, and, yes, Manimal. The loss of the Sci-Fi “Vault” particularly hurts because, with the exception of the new Dark Shadows, I don’t think any of the shows I watched there have come out on DVD.
Maybe it’s just our cable line-up, but it seems pretty hard to find many interesting re-runs on TV these days.
My husband (a stay at home dad) watches ‘Gilmore Girls’ every day and I enjoy catching ‘Joan of Arcadia’ on Sci-fi too.
A while back I was able to catch Murder One in it’s entirety (on A&E IIRC) and wished I would have watched it when it was first run. I really liked Daniel Benzali in the first season.
Can’t beat the West Wing for Re-Runs on DVD, sit there watching the glory of Season 1, 2 & 3 before it all went a bit pear shaped before returning to its best in late Season 6 & 7. Sometimes whole weekends can go by without noticing. Also HOUSE, you might know the ending but the scrambling to get there is so much fun
Slan from Ireland