Burning off

Up through the 1990s, contractual obligations often meant the airing of pilots for shows that were not going to be picked up, such as The Art of Being Nick, Poochinski, Heart and Soul, and Barney Miller, usually during the summer months to provide some form of 'new' programming in the technical sense of the word. In a few cases, the pilot may prove popular enough that a series is eventually commissioned; such was the case with Barney Miller and The Seinfeld Chronicles, the latter of which led to the long-running sitcom Seinfeld. Anthology series such as Love, American Style were devoted to many such failed pilots, most famously Garry Marshall's failed pilot, "New Family in Town", which was rebranded "Love and the Television Set" when aired as an episode of Love American Style; ABC ultimately changed its mind after all and picked up the series as Happy Days. The term can also apply to programming agreements or network affiliations where the ratings strength and programming quality of a network or syndicated program declines to a point where its existence can harm a station or cable channel's further existence. For instance, MyNetworkTV, which launched in 2006 with the intention of being a broadcast network with the same programming strength of its most direct competitor The CW, has declined to a syndication service carrying nightly rerun blocks of syndicated programming which themselves are already widely aired otherwise on other cable channels, broadcast networks and streaming services. Because of this, many stations have pushed its programming to the graveyard slot due to its lack of viability or even another digital subchannel. Thus, the service is being 'burned off' in a timeslot where it cannot cause further harm to the station's schedule, with the service's affiliates merely using the "My" branding assets for their visual identity, or not at all. Burning off shows was more common on the main broadcast networks before reality television, when that format became a cultural phenomenon in the summer of 2000. While new episodes of canceled shows would often earn decent ratings (by summer standards) compared to repeats of established shows, CBS's results in that with a successful reality show in Big Brother and a massive blockbuster in Survivor led to a turn towards other less-expensive new reality-TV episodes during the summer and away from bothering to air burn-off products at all. The arc of the last 20+ years (since around 2002) has been for canceled shows to have unaired episodes air in one of three locations: an affiliated cable network (the final episodes of Freaks and Geeks were shown this way), a DVD release of the show (which was not that common for most of these unsuccessful shows but did happen sometimes), and/or on a network or conglomerate's streaming portal. Outside series with universal negative reception or other external issues, the phenomenon has become rare as of the late 2010s, with networks and services more apt to air the entire series run, or through another venue to ensure the entire work will air as originally intended. It also does not apply to series where a lead actor, producer, or writer died suddenly, and the network and the show's personnel agreed mutually to end the series, airing the final produced and completed episodes as a tribute to their departed colleague. == Examples ==