Editing Rerun (section)

===During hiatus===
In the United States, currently running shows rerun older episodes from the same season to fill the time slot with the same program during the "off-season" period when no new episodes are being made. Shows tend to start rerunning episodes after the November [[sweeps|sweeps period]] (the ratings that determine the cost of a commercial run during that time slot), and usually show only reruns from mid-December until mid-January or even February [[sweeps]].  This winter (or "mid-season") phase is also used to try out new shows that did not make it onto the fall schedule to see how they fare with the public. These series usually run six to 13 episodes. If they do well with the public, they may get a renewal for a half (13 weeks) or full season in the new schedule. Shows that are already popular return from February sweeps until the end of the season (which sometimes ends before May sweeps) with only limited reruns used.

The number of episodes per season, originally well over 30 episodes during the 1950s and 1960s, dropped below 26 (the number of episodes required to fill a time slot for a year without rerunning any episode more than once) in the 1970s. [[Television special|Specials]] typically pad out the remainder of the schedule.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/tv/tvspecials/| title = THE LOONEY TUNES TELEVISION SPECIALS| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050311001103/http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/tv/tvspecials/| archive-date = March 11, 2005| url-status = dead}}</ref>