The failure of Legend of the Seeker shows that syndication for hour long dramas is dead.
Actually, it's very much alive and well, but it's gone back to how it was prior to TNG, with syndication consisting of repeats from network shows. You'll find
Bones, the various
CSI and
Law & Order shows,
Ghost Whisperer,
Cold Case, and others running throughout the country in syndication. Even TNG is back in syndication in some markets. Syndication is
chock-full of hour-long dramas. Perhaps even
too many, in a way.
There just isn't much
room (or demand) for
original hour-long dramas in syndication, IMO. First-run syndicated dramas were pretty much dead too back in 1987, until TNG came along. It was successfully sold across the country as a sequel/continuation to TOS, which had been a proven hit in syndication since 1969. TNG's success paved the way for a slew of new original action/sci-fi/fantasy shows--including
Babylon 5,
Xena,
Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, etc.--that lasted for more than a decade.
But the thing with
Legend of the Seeker, IIRC, is that it was purchased mainly by Tribune, which aired it on their various stations across the country. When Tribune decided to pass on buying a third season of
Seeker, the show no longer had enough stations for a syndication package to keep going. Pretty much all of
Seeker's eggs had been placed with Tribune, and when Tribune cancelled it (which might had as much--if not more--to do with Tribune's thin wallets as it did with ratings), it was akin to a network show being cancelled, IMO...
