I don't disagree that The Golden Girls was an excellent show. No doubt about it.
But, the fact that it is constantly in syndication keeps it in our memories and unlikely to drop from our radar. The same cannot be said of other shows, also excellent, but not replayed in constant syndication.
When a show goes "MIA" for many, many years (nearly 30 years in the case of Empty Nest), that show is not afforded the same opportunity to remain in our collective consciousness.
Also, don't forget, some of these shows are rerun in syndication today, but were actually produced years -- if not, decades -- before. What that means is that the old shows (if they are rerun in syndication) have the opportunity and the ability to collect new fans from the younger generations who had never seen the show in original airings so many years ago.
So, for example, The Golden Girls can easily pick up new fans who see it now in syndication, but who had never seen it in its original airing back in 1985 (for whatever reason). That was 30 years ago! Some of these new fans were probably not even born at that time. Even though for older fans like me, it seems like yesterday that I was watching The Golden Girls in original airings on TV.
Other excellent shows -- such as the ones you mentioned and many more -- do not get that opportunity to attract a new audience via syndication and/or DVD releases.
Actually, all of those shows that you mention (Amen, 227, and Empty Nest) were absolutely great! I loved them all. And I miss seeing them, after all these many years.
So, it's really a "chicken and egg" thing. Does the syndicated show stay in syndicated reruns because it has a lot of fans? Or does it have a lot of fans because it is indeed in syndication?
As far as the second question, a lot of shows don't get that opportunity, unfortunately. And Empty Nest was/is one of them.
Nonetheless, it's a great show. It's one of only two shows (Empty Nest and The King of Queens) for which I would ever go out and purchase a DVD set. I did so for The King of Queens, but Empty Nest was never released in DVD.
You are right, though. It (Empty Nest) does pop up in syndication now and again. Pretty rarely, though. And it had not done so in many years. It is now on Laff-TV, however. So, that's a good thing.
I also had no luck finding it on You Tube. But quite a few episodes were on another channel (website) similar to You Tube called "The Daily Motion".
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