From: euclid@NOSPAMTHANKSshaw.ca   
      
   On Mon, 21 May 2007 20:59:25 +0100, Max  wrote:   
      
   >On Thu, 17 May 2007 10:50:37 -0700, Starbugaboo   
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   >>I've heard this before but I just don't buy it. I'm sure the   
   >>powers-that-be knew that the show was only aired on PBS stations in   
   >>America and nearly no one watches those channels.   
   >   
   >The idea was that with series 7 and 8 being longer than the standard 6   
   >they would make up the correct number of episodes to go into   
   >syndication and sell the show to the bigger channels in the US, I   
   >think.   
      
   As an American who has been a RD fan for almost 15 years (!) now, I   
   have to echo what SBB said.  I just don't buy that they were really so   
   naive to think that the only requirement for success in US syndication   
   was simply having the "right" number of episodes.   
      
   Didn't they learn anything from their experience with NBC and the two   
   aborted pilots?  RD just wasn't going to make it in the US market, in   
   syndication or as a weekly show.   
      
   Maybe now, with the success of the US version of The Office and the   
   announced port of the IT Crowd (when is S2 coming out for that in the   
   UK anyway) leading the way, it might be viable to try the syndication   
   route again.  The problem is that the old episodes are really starting   
   to show their age...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)