Did Some Of These Run Too Long?
Movies can turn billion-dollar grosses, but television can be an even bigger cash cow for actors. If you get on a long-lasting show, syndication dollars roll in, as happened for these incredibly long-running primetime hits.
Law And Order Special Victims Unit
We've saved the longest-running show for last, so we'll kick the list off with Law & Order: SVU. People simply can’t get enough of Ice-T saying, “that’s messed up”. That’s why, at 26 seasons, this show has lasted longer than the original Law & Order.
Wolf Films, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-)
Law And Order
Amusingly, Law & Order hasn’t actually been on as long as the spin-off, hitting 24 seasons. That’s due to being cancelled after a long run in 2010, then being resurrected in 2022.
Family Guy
Seth MacFarlane’s transgressive cartoon initially struggled with ratings when debuting in 1999, leading to its cancellation in 2002. Thankfully, an impressive second life on home video led to it being renewed in 2005 and coming to 23 seasons.
NCIS
HBO shows like Succession may get all the buzz, but as for what Middle America is actually watching in droves, it’s procedurals like NCIS. There’s a reason it’s 22 seasons strong at this point.
Grey’s Anatomy
Back in the mid-2000s, medical drama Grey’s Anatomy was a ratings juggernaut that was amongst the most popular television shows. It currently holds a mere fraction of its original popularity, but there’s certainly something to it currently being in its 21st season.
American Dad!
Coming in at 21 seasons, the longevity of both Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane’s other animated sitcom really puts into perspective spin-off The Cleveland Show only lasting four. People just really love Roger the alien, we suppose.
20th Television, American Dad! (2005-)
Gunsmoke
Debuting during the height of the American film Western in the 1950s and ending while the genre was being deconstructed in the mid-70s, Gunsmoke was a major institution of American television, lasting 20 seasons. It also helped launch the career of a certain Eastwood fella.
Lassie
Lassie is such a passed-down relic of boomer culture that it often becomes hard to remember if the miraculous dog came from a film or television show. Well, it was the latter, and it lasted 19 seasons.
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds had an impressive run on CBS, lasting from 2005 to 2020. It was resurrected as a Paramount+ show in the streaming era and now totals 17 seasons.
Paramount, Criminal Minds (2005-)
CSI Crime Scene Investigation
Considering how popular it was and how many spin-offs the overall franchise launched, it’s actually kind of surprising that CSI was only on-air for 15 seasons. The short-lived spin-off CSI: Vegas served as somewhat of a continuation but doesn’t count technically towards the overall run.
Alliance Atlantis, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015)
ER
At one point in the 90s, ER was far and away the hottest drama on television. It may have become eclipsed by more developed cable shows that emerged later, but it still lasted for 15 seasons.
Supernatural
A horror-themed show in the wake of The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural had a truly surprising lifespan. You may be shocked that it was on the air for 15 seasons.
The CW, Supernatural (2005-2020)
Bob’s Burgers
Another animated mainstay from Fox along the lines of The Simpsons and Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers is currently in its 15th season. It says something that these animated shows can maintain a fanbase so strongly.
Wilo Productions, Bob's Burgers (2011-)
The Jack Benny Program
This one is for the real old-school people. Radio personality Jack Benny’s show debuted at the very beginning of television history and lasted 15 seasons.
CBS, The Jack Benny Program (1950–1965)
The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet
These adventures of the American nuclear family were, until the 2020s, the longest-running live-action sitcom ever. Coming in at 14 seasons, people simply couldn’t get enough of the family.
ABC, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966)
Bonanza
Bonanza ranked alongside Gunsmoke as a Western television show institution. Lasting 14 seasons, it came short of that other show’s longevity but is equal in legacy.
Dallas
“Who Shot JR?” was on the tip of everyone’s tongue in 1980. That being said, Dallas still went on for another 11 years, totaling 14 seasons.
Knot’s Landing
A spin-off of Dallas, Knot’s Landing had an equally impressive run, coming in at 14 seasons. The two shows together introduced the concept of the primetime soap opera.
CBS, Knots Landing (1979-1993)
NCIS Los Angeles
Unlike the show it spun off from, NCIS: Los Angeles might not still be on the air, but its run is pretty staggering all the same. Impressively, show stars LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell remained on for the entirety of the show’s 14-season run.
CBS, NCIS: Los Angeles (2009-2023)
Blue Bloods
Can you name anyone you know who’s seen all of the procedural drama Blue Bloods? You laugh, but it did run 293 episodes across 14 seasons.
CBS Productions, Blue Bloods (2010-2024)
Chicago Fire
NBC’s Chicago-based franchise is the gift that keeps on giving. At 13 seasons, this firefighter drama shows no sign of slowing down.
Wolf Films, Chicago Fire (2012-)
King Of The Hill
For an animated sitcom with a far more subtle sense of humor than most of its counterparts from the 90s and 2000s, the longevity of this show was truly impressive. King of the Hill ran for 13 seasons with a recently announced reboot on the horizon.
Deedle-Dee Productions, King of the Hill (1997–2026)
My Three Sons
Fred MacMurray will be known to a lot of cinephiles as a film noir actor, but to a good swath of America, he was the dad from this sitcom. At 12 seasons long, it probably had reason to be his most famous role.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Hawaii Five-O
Procedurals will always have their place on television, and having some scenery to go with it will help matters. This is why Hawaii Five-O lasted for 12 seasons.
CBS, Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980)
The Big Bang Theory
Evidence of Chuck Lorre’s stranglehold over the mainstream sitcom world can’t be better evidenced than in The Big Bang Theory, which lasted 12 whole seasons. It evidently took a long time for people to get tired of “Bazinga!”.
Warner Bros., The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019)
Murder She Wrote
For millennials, Murder She Wrote probably feels like the kind of thing you associate with A&E reruns on at your grandma’s place. But debuting during the year of Reagan’s re-election and ending when Clinton triumphantly won again, this 12-season show was a total juggernaut in its time.
Universal Television, Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996)
Two And A Half Men
For what initially seemed like such a tightly run ship of a mega-popular sitcom, Two And A Half Men had a pretty chaotic history, as star Charlie Sheen’s offscreen drama would allude to. But Ashton Kutcher quickly stepped in to make sure the show could hit 12 seasons and get Jon Cryer a lifetime’s riches of residual money.
Warner Bros., Two and a Half Men (2003-2015)
NYPD Blue
If you need a sign of what a cultural touchstone NYPD Blue was, just look at the number of jokes about it on The Simpsons in the 90s. For that reason, it was able to last 12 whole seasons.
Bones
Many procedurals can just sleepwalk their way to a dozen seasons, as the Fox show Bones did. For that reason, show stars Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz might be more readily identifiable to the average person than most Oscar winners.
Twentieth Century, Bones (2005-2017)
Chicago PD
It’s unbelievable to imagine how much money must be in Dick Wolf’s bank account thanks to the bevy of long-running franchises he’s created. Even this Chicago-based cop procedural has been on for 12 seasons.
Wolf Films, Chicago P.D. (2014-)
The Danny Thomas Show
You’ve probably got to be a real television head to remember The Danny Thomas Show. That being said, this sitcom about a nightclub performer did run for 11 seasons from the 1950s into the 60s.
ABC, The Danny Thomas Show (1953-1965)
Cheers
Being that the show Cheers was centered around the general concept of characters taking comfort in an environment, and other people, it makes sense that the feeling extended to viewers. For this reason, the sitcom lasted 11 seasons.
Frasier
It can be easy to forget that Frasier was a Cheers spin-off, as the show established such a strong legacy on its own. With the new streaming reboot counting, the show has 11 seasons to its name.
Murphy Brown
A zeitgeisty sitcom during most of its 11-season run, Murphy Brown even drew ire from conservative politicians such as Vice President Dan Quayle. That being said, the 2018 revival didn’t quite draw the same importance, being cancelled after one season.
Warner Bros., Murphy Brown (1988-2018)
Married With Children
Never a ratings juggernaut, this crass sitcom nonetheless maintained such a consistent audience that Fox kept it on the air for 11 seasons. Watching it today, though, you wonder how anyone could tolerate it.
Columbia TriStar, Getty Images
M*A*S*H
The joke famously goes that the show M*A*S*H lasted longer than the actual Korean War. At 11 seasons, the legacy of the show has probably eclipsed that of the pretty good Robert Altman movie it was inspired by.
Twentieth Century, M*A*S*H (1972-1983)
Happy Days
Happy Days, as a sitcom, was considered to have gotten irrevocably worse when Fonzie “jumped the shark”. This happened in the fifth season, and there were still six more to go.
Paramount, Happy Days (1974–1984)
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons was a historically important sitcom, being the first to be about an African American family. But it also connected with audiences beyond just social significance, lasting 11 seasons.
CBS, The Jeffersons (1975-1985)
Modern Family
Modern Family’s conceit when it debuted in 2009 was to apply The Office’s mockumentary format to the tired family sitcom. The gambit worked and resulted in 11 seasons.
The Simpsons
At 36 seasons and running, the consensus amongst fans is that The Simpsons’ cancellation needed to happen decades ago. For many, the gags just aren't the same, and even more heartbreakingly, some say the Simpsons family have become too rude and unkind to each other in recent years. Having just been renewed for three more seasons, though, the show will likely be on until the end of the world as we know it.
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