Why do reruns air intermittently during the season?
In the US, network television sticks to a system wherein each “season,” they debut new shows and air new episodes of continuing shows. Each season runs from late September/early October through the end of May. (Summer is then filled with mostly reruns, specials, etc.) Thus, the season is roughly 36 weeks long. The standard amount of episodes for a network TV show to produce each season is about 22. So, with about 22 episodes to air over the course of about 36 weeks, each show ends up with roughly 14 weeks of reruns per season. These are generally spread out over the course of the season December, January, and March tend to be most rerun-heavy. (November, February, and May are “sweeps” months, when the ratings are more important and used to determine advertising rates, and thus the networks generally air new episodes during those months to attract viewers.) If you look at the Episode Lists for previous seasons, you can take note of the original airdate of each episode to get a feel for
