When did reruns of network shows begin to be syndicated?

[Stanislav]

What was (were) the first network series to have its reruns subsequently packaged and syndicated?  The practice is so ubiquitous and longstanding that tend to we forget that it had to start sometime. I'm guessing, off the top of my head, that this was not done, or not done much, until the late 50's/early 60's? Also, in addition to the "first," was there a point at which the practice started to become more commonplace? I imagine it wasn't too profitable until there were more independent stations on the air with a lot of hours to fill.
 

[Hal Erickson]

As early as 1953, reruns of DRAGNET were being syndicated as BADGE 714. Also, SILVER THEATER was rebroadcast as HOLLYWOOD HALF-HOUR around that same time.
Early "strip" syndication shows included the sitcoms TROUBLE WITH FATHER and MY LITTLE MARGIE. Both were being shown Monday through Friday at least from 1955 onward in several cities.

[Bob1370]

Jack Webb may have been the first producer/star to get his show into syndication, but it's highly likely that the idea first occurred to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and that they were the first to announce (as soon as the show became a hit in the fall of 1951) that they'd eventually offer their show for off-network rerun. Desi said that one of the main reasons he and Lucy shot I Love Lucy on film was that it could have an eventual second life in resale and replay on local TV stations after the network run was over. Had they done it live in the pre-videotape days, they'd have had to depend on comparatively poor-quality kinescopes. Desilu Productions not only retained ownership of the show instead of selling all rights to the network, but spared no expense to make sure the show was shot on high quality film--and let it be known that the show would be syndicated after the first network run was over. (They also made extra money by selling the network daytime rerun rights as well.)

[searadiofreak]

Jack Webb may have been the first producer/star to get his show into syndication, but it's highly likely that the idea first occurred to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and that they were the first to announce (as soon as the show became a hit in the fall of 1951) that they'd eventually offer their show for off-network rerun. Desi said that one of the main reasons he and Lucy shot I Love Lucy on film was that it could have an eventual second life in resale and replay on local TV stations after the network run was over. Had they done it live in the pre-videotape days, they'd have had to depend on comparatively poor-quality kinescopes. Desilu Productions not only retained ownership of the show instead of selling all rights to the network, but spared no expense to make sure the show was shot on high quality film--and let it be known that the show would be syndicated after the first network run was over. (They also made extra money by selling the network daytime rerun rights as well.)

Exactly right.  Desilu had a vision of the future and did the exact right thing.  I maintain that not only was this one of the funniest and most popular shows on early tv, it was also run by the smartest tv producers of all time.  Everything went right with "I Love Lucy".   It will retain its place as one of the most important shows in the history of television. 

[Ultimajock]

Jack Webb may have been the first producer/star to get his show into syndication, but it's highly likely that the idea first occurred to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and that they were the first to announce (as soon as the show became a hit in the fall of 1951) that they'd eventually offer their show for off-network rerun. Desi said that one of the main reasons he and Lucy shot I Love Lucy on film was that it could have an eventual second life in resale and replay on local TV stations after the network run was over. Had they done it live in the pre-videotape days, they'd have had to depend on comparatively poor-quality kinescopes. Desilu Productions not only retained ownership of the show instead of selling all rights to the network, but spared no expense to make sure the show was shot on high quality film--and let it be known that the show would be syndicated after the first network run was over.

...although distribution of the syndicated reruns was handled by CBS Films, the network's syndication arm, which was later spun off as Viacom...

[cklw800]

"I Love Lucy" came immediately to mind.  I wholeheartedly agree on all points about the Arnazes being the smartest producers of all time.  What an amazing concept for that time. Who'd have had the foresight to see endless rerun potential back then?  Advertisers had a toe-hold on TV shows back then, and the Arnazes had the wherewithal to reproduce the opening and closing credits with that big heart to block out visuals of the sponsor logos for syndicated airings.  I believe they also pioneered a two or three-camera technique that the "All In The Family" producers ended up using for their shows.  I don't know if this should be another strand, but I seem to recall the first publicized editing of reruns happening with the CBS daytime reruns of "All In The Family" in 1975.  So fierce was the issue that Norman Lear had his name removed from the credits on those reruns? Am I remembering this correctly?  I think three minutes were trimmed for commercials. My question is; was that the first edited syndicated rerun, or the first publicized because of the unusually high quality of the scripts?  The show is hard to watch on TV Land even now because it is all chopped up, as is "Sanford & Son". 

[therealjm12]

The other night TV Land ran the Sammy Davis Jr. episode.  One of the greatest, and funniest moments in TV history.  They did leave in the "N" word as spoken by Sammy.  It is amazing the point that can be made with humor.

[TexasTom]

"I Love Lucy" came immediately to mind.  I wholeheartedly agree on all points about the Arnazes being the smartest producers of all time.  What an amazing concept for that time. Who'd have had the foresight to see endless rerun potential back then?  Advertisers had a toe-hold on TV shows back then, and the Arnazes had the wherewithal to reproduce the opening and closing credits with that big heart to block out visuals of the sponsor logos for syndicated airings.  I believe they also pioneered a two or three-camera technique that the "All In The Family" producers ended up using for their shows. 

That three camera technique was commonly used during the production of live shows.  The innovation was in applying it to filmed (and later, recorded) programs.

I don't know if this should be another strand, but I seem to recall the first publicized editing of reruns happening with the CBS daytime reruns of "All In The Family" in 1975.  So fierce was the issue that Norman Lear had his name removed from the credits on those reruns? Am I remembering this correctly?  I think three minutes were trimmed for commercials. My question is; was that the first edited syndicated rerun, or the first publicized because of the unusually high quality of the scripts?  The show is hard to watch on TV Land even now because it is all chopped up, as is "Sanford & Son". 

Editing of shows in reruns was common practice years before Norman Lear had his name removed from the CBS daytime reruns over this issue -- since commercial loads were higher in daytime than primetime back then, any daytime reruns on the networks would have to be edited to allow for the additional commercials.  In the seventies, standard practice was to run just under eight minutes of commercials and promos in a half hour during the daytime and just under five minutes in primetime -- that meant that three minutes would be lopped out of a half hour show for daytime reruns.

In the case of syndicated reruns on local stations, that editing was generally left up to the local stations -- and was often done very badly.  I remember some programs being rendered essentially unintelligible by bad edits that would cut out essential plot points.  Common practices included chopping out the first few minutes of a program (the part that would run before the opening credits), chopping the final moment of a show (the part that would run after the final commercial break, just before the closing credits), or just chopping out a few minutes either right before or after a middle commercial break.