As I was watching reruns of Becker on WGN this afternoon, I realized that I had never seen an episode while it was in first-run. I know there are a bunch of Buffy fans who first discovered it in syndication. What other shows did you firast start watching after they had ceased to be?
American Gothic was pretty good. A pity it didn’t last. Gary Cole kicked ass.
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. I’m actually kindof glad I did it that way, because in syndication it was on every day instead of every week, so I didn’t have to wait weeks (or months during the off season) to find out what happened next.
I discovered Becker, Seinfeld and Frasier in syndication. Frasier was still in primetime and Seinfeld and Becker might’ve been too, but I never saw any of them in primetime.
That 70s Show. I watch the re-runs early in the afternoon 'cause by the time it comes on primetime I’m usually back in bed catching a nap before work.
Racket Squad. Captain Video, Life of Riley, Strike It Rich.
Hey! I was 7 and couldn’t stay up past 9:30. What can I say? 
'course, the reruns started in 1955 or so…
News Radio: I don’t love it, but I enjoyed it.
Family Guy after it was canceled I discovered on Adult Swim.
Definately a lot of classics. Star Trek, Dick Van Dyke, Lucy, Etc.
Jim
Every single one of the Star Treks with the exception of TNG. I was too young for the original series, but the spinoffs were, at least for me, always scheduled in inconvenient times.
*Early Edition/i].
I obviously did not see my post before I made it.
I have seen the first few episodes of Family Guy and Futurama in its original run. Majority of the episodes, I have seen in syndication.
Wkrp
Buffy
Smallville
Welcome Back, Kotter
WKRP
One Day At A Time
Alice
Soap
Dobie Gillis
My Three Sons
The Patty Duke Show
That Girl
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Donna Reed Show
A Family Affair
…There are more, I’m sure.
I was a WGN, TBS, Nick at Nite kid.
The Sopranos. I refused to watch it for a long time because of the language. I don’t have any problem with foul language, but I figured they must have been using it to make up for poor writing, plot, characters, etc. Then I sat down and watched an episode.
Also Buffy and Family Guy, and several others via Netflix – HBO’s Oz, Veronica Mars, and now The Shield. Does Netflix count as a rerun? Sorta?
Kim Possible.
MAS*H.
The Honeymooners
Freaks and Geeks
Stumbled across it while flipping channels and happened to catch the first episode midway. Hopelessly – and thankfully – hooked after that, my favorite show ever.
Network series became intolerable for me by the time I was 30 or so. The commercials mainly. There were a few exceptions, but for the most part I limited TV to movies and sports and occasional “educational” programming. So I missed getting into almost all the pop culture sources until into the late 80’s. It was about that time that either A&E or Bravo began running daily episodes of old shows like LA Law, Moonlighting, Molly Dodd, etc. I got hooked on that sort of thing because I could keep up with the story lines better.
(I never had the slightest interest in daytime soaps, but seeing what were intended to be weekly soaps on a daily basis was an addictive process.)
Nowadays whatever they’re showing on the rerun channels rarely interests me, and except for what’s available on the “On Demand” option, I’m mostly into first run stuff. I do like watching reruns of things I already saw, but the one show of recent vintage that I got in rerun only has been Curb Your Enthusiasm.
It was of minor interest (30 minute show I suppose) when it first ran, but being able to go through an entire season (or most of it) in one sitting was a real bonus. As a result, I love the show! Fancy that.
I had no clue about **Firefly ** (the greatest show in the history of ever) until I saw several threads here talking about it. Then, when Sci-Fi started showing it, I watched the pilot, went “OMG, how did I live without THIS??” and immediately ordered the DVD.
Several weeks ago, I was up late on a Saturday night channel-flipping and I ran across reruns of **The Shield ** (about the time the money train heist happened), and have been addicted ever since. Glenn Close was great!
The first time I remember seeing Sports Night was late at night on Comedy Central.