the "regional broadcasters getting the rights" was part of the business plan for all the shows of that time: re-runs in syndication. Those would regularly not b

the "regional broadcasters getting the rights" was part of the business plan for all the shows of that time: re-runs in syndication. Those would regularly not be in order, and the TV stations would schedule more popular episodes to run more often. So it's not just that people couldn't record/watch later what they missed; the shows were actively made to be run out of order, so they had to be standalone for the business model to work.