So we'd end up with a list full of old repeats rather than new shows
No, it doesn't have to be one or the other. We get a list of shows that are coming soon that people are interested in, which is either new shows or reruns of shows that we wont have already had series recordings for.
You can set recordings for any old shows you can think of. They don't need to be on now
No you can't. Only if it has been in IceTV and still exists as a series recording, which isn't the case for old shows being rerun. You would have to set up complicated keyword searches. And why would I set up a series recording for any old show I can think of, that would be hundreds of shows. It would be better if a rerun of an old classic show that hasn't been on for many years would be flagged as coming soon.
Good to see they've finally added about 5 of the 40+ new shows already announced by the networks
It's reasonable that shows get added once there is an idea of what channel they will be on rather than coming sometime in 2016. But, I agree there could be more.