The History of "Travelers": Recycling in American Prime Time Network Programming

Abstract

This study introduces the term "travelers" to describe programs that move from one broadcast network to another. Travelers represent a form of television recycling common to the television industry, which has used over three times as many travelers as spin-offs. This article examines and accounts for the history and use of travelers over a fifty-year period: their initial popularity with networks and sponsors in the 1950s their decline in the 1970s and 198Os, and their resurgence in the 1990s. Travelers have become an increasingly important television programming tool as broad- cast networks compete for market share.