Have The Rules For What Makes a Successful TV Series Changed?

I was just wondering, Have The Rules For What Makes a Successful TV
Series Changed? It used to be that for a series to be considered
successful it had to run for a minimum of three years and have at least
75 episodes. This was mostly because of the re-run market I think.

But a lot has changed in TV land now. First you have so many more
channels that will re-run a show even if it only lasted one season (half
season, or 13 episodes in some cases). Also, you now have the retail DVD
market which sees shows get put out on DVD before they even hit the
re-run market. It's not unusual to see the first season of a show like
Lost get put out on DVD while the second season is still being first run
on the air.

So it would seem like the old rule of thumb doesn't apply anymore. Has
this also affected the way people think when they make a show now? Is
there less pressure to try and keep a show on the air longer (3 seasons)
because the production money can be recovered other ways now? Is this
also contributing to shows getting canceled faster now (or so it seems)?

Just wondering.

bklyntv...

I'm sure it has affected it.

The old rules still apply, word is "Scrubs" was coming back this year
one way or another. If NBC didn't renew it, Touchstone which produces
it was going get it moved to ABC (owned by their mutual parent company
Disney) so it could make it's magic 100 for a syndication deal.

But I think it's early to determine how much secondary reruns on cable,
DVD sales and direct to consumers (like the $1.99 eps iTunes sells)
affect TV series decisions.

Maybe in the future a show like Fox's Reunion will be able to finish
it's story arc because financing will be in place to release it on pay
per view or DVD before the show even premieres. Certainly nets (and
unfortunately consumers) are going to have to face up to the fact that
an advertiser-driven business model is losing ground to direct to
consumer.