[ijdgaf]

Hmm... you know, I have a hard time seeing ANY modern sci fi series becoming popular in syndication, regardless of critical/personal perception of quality. It's just a knee-jerk reaction for many viewers flipping through channels to race right through anything with spaceships and rayguns.

Also, I'm not sure syndicated reruns are quite as big an indicator of popularity as they used to be. I think DVD is the new syndication, actually. Where before, people might have wandered upon shows accidentally (particularly when there weren't so many channels to chose from -- a factor in Star Trek's success story, no doubt). Now, people seem a little more aware. DVD sales are a good indicator of the word-of-mouth popularity of a show. And it doesn't hurt that you don't have to wait until a show reaches 100 episodes and a network decides to pick it up anymore. Now you just head down to Best Buy and pick up whatever you hear is good.

Of course, there are other factors at play here, including price. I doubt Voyager could have been a success story no matter what at $100 a season.