Syndication Questions (1 Viewer)

Ok, I have a couple of questions I've been trying to find answers to, but to no avail.

One. Why do networks only show a small handful of episodes when they put a show into syndication. I've been watching the same episodes of Roseanne and Dharma and Greg now for months, and I know they've made more than they show.

Two. This is a question aimed for Roseanne fans. I really hope I can find an answer to it because I've asked it on several different forums. What is the signifigance of "the chicken shirt"? It's been featured in several different episodes and even framed on the wall in the episode "Satan, Darling." I would appreciate it if anyone knew anything about it.

Roseanne liked to wear a white t-shirt that had a large picture of an egg with a chicken.
Tom Arnold HATED this shirt so much shedid not wear it in any episode while they were married. After their divorce Roseanne used the t-shirt in every episode, she either wore it, took it out of the washing machine, had it in her laundry load or Jackie's, and in an episode about her unborn granchild even framed it on the wall as a giant painting! She even stops to look at it! It's a lot of fun to see where it would pop up.

http://www.eeggs.com/items/11292.html

Not all stations do this, and this doesn't usually apply to the more recent shows in syndication (like Friends or Raymond, for instance). This usually applies to older shows (like Roseanne, Soap, etc.) and, generally, just happens among the cable networks (like TV Land and GSN) and not your local independent station.

Anyway, the reason these stations only buy partial runs is pretty simple: in the cut-throat world of TV where ratings are important and everyone seems to be chasing the same demographic groups, most stations don't want to risk buying a long run of something (such as 300+ episodes of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman") and the ratings being lousy. Instead, they'll buy a shorter run (like 30-35 episodes in MH, MH's case on TV Land) and see how they do. It's less of a risk for them, but like Game Show Network, they run the risk of people switching off after the 10th rerun of the same episodes (like on Trio, which only leased half of the run of "Laugh-In" several years ago. They're STILL on the same 70 episodes three years later!).

"ER" is currently like this for the weekend syndication, where two episodes are shown. Everytime the run gets to the end of the previous season, it goes back to sometime in the third season or so. I guess it could have something to do with the first two seasons available on DVD now. Why buy something you can watch for free?