The document discusses the success of the television series 'Law and Order,' which aired for 20 years and spawned successful spin-offs. It compares this with other series like 'Hawaii Five-0,' which is in its second season and has secured a syndication deal, and 'Charlie's Angels,' a remake that failed to sustain viewership and was cancelled. The key takeaway is that consistent viewer retention is crucial for a show's success and potential syndication.

1. 10/31/11

2. TV Ratings
• One of the most
successful series in TV
history is Law and
Order. It ran for 20
years, from 1990–
2010, and continues an
extremely successful
syndication run.

3. TV Ratings
This chart shows the number of viewers throughout its 20-year history.
Source for all data: http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/

4. TV Ratings
After five years, Law and Order began syndicating its programs on A&E
and later on TNT. Two very lucrative syndication deals.

5. TV Ratings
The success of Law and Order created two successful spinoffs, Law and
Order: Special Victims Unit and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

6. TV Ratings
• The success of a
series like Law and
Order is very hard to
achieve. The first step
in this trek is to have a
series that runs at least
five years.
• Let’s look at a series in
its second year that
may make it to
syndication.

7. TV Ratings
• Hawaii Five-0, a
remake of a series that
originally aired from
1969–1980, is in its
second season.
Source for all data: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/

8. TV Ratings
This chart shows the number of viewers for its first season and the current
season. (The first season number is an average for the whole season.)

9. TV Ratings
As an indication of how things have changed since Law and Order, there is
already a syndication deal for Hawaii Five-0!

10. TV Ratings
• Hawaii Five-0’s strategy
for success — reviving a
previously successful
series— does not
guarantee success.
• Let’s look at a series that
tried this same strategy
with opposite results.

11. TV Ratings
• Charlie’s Angels, a
remake of a series that
originally aired from
1976–1981, didn’t
make it past five
episodes. Let’s see
why.

12. TV Ratings
While its season premier on 9/22 had a good start, the succeeding weeks
saw a steep dropoff in vewers.

13. TV Ratings
Two consecutive weeks of drops in viewers of over 15%, then settling into
low viewership, is a formula for cancellation.

14. TV Ratings
• A lot of factor determine
whether a TV show will
succeed and eventually
be syndicated. But a
sizable drop in viewers
from one week to
another, or one season
to another, will almost
always guarantee
cancellation.