Long Runners: Difference between revisions

== At least 80 years ==

== At least 70 years ==

* ''[[The Guiding Light]]'': 72 years, 7 months, 26 days (57 of those on television), from January 25, 1937 to September 19, 2009. It ''was'' listed in the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' as the longest continuously-running program on any medium, in any genre, until the ''CBS World News Roundup'' broke its record in November 2010. It would take a listener [[Archive Panic|over eighteen months, 24 hours a day, to listen to it from beginning to end]] (although the large number of [[Missing Episode]]s from the first 40 years would make such an archive binge impossible). It may be the largest single work of fiction in human history.

== At least 60 years ==

== At least 50 years ==

* ''Letter From America'' – 58 years: On [[The BBC|BBC Radio]] from 1946-2004, ending when Alastair Cooke retired less than a month before his death.

* [[Agatha Christie]]'s theatrical play ''[[The Mousetrap]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1952|11}}: Has been running on the West End since November 1952.

* ''[[The Sooty Show]]'' – 52 years: British children's TV favourite ran roughly from 1952-2004 under slightly different title changes and presenters. There are currently plans for a revived new series.

* ''[[As the World Turns]]'' – 54 years: Ran from 1956-2010; 13,858 episodes.

* ''[[The Doctor Demento Show]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1970}}: Barret Hansen first took on the [[Dr. Demento]] persona in 1970 on Pasadena station KPPC-FM, although it would be another four years before his show was nationally syndicated. It shifted to online streaming-only distribution in 2011.

== At least 40 years ==

* ''[[All My Children]]'' – 41 years: 10,712 episodes from 1970-2011

* ''All Things Considered'' – {{Years or months ago|1971}}: News magazine program airing on [[NPR]] since 1971, airing its first instalment just months after NPR itself began broadcasting.)

* ''[[The Fantasticks]]'' – 42 years: ran off-Broadway from 1960-2002.

* ''Folies Bergere'' – 49 years: One of the original Las Vegas showgirl extravaganzas, opened in 1959 at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino and closed a few months shy of what would have been its 50th anniversary in 2009.

* ''[[Golgo 13]]'' – 40 years: 142 volumes spread across four decades; started in 1969.

* ''[[Masterpiece Theatre]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1971}}: has aired on PBS since 1971, although it's just called ''Masterpiece'' now; its sister program, ''Mystery!'' {now known as ''Masterpiece Mystery''}, has aired since 1980.

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1972}}: Manga came around in 1972. An anime show and a second, manga series parallel to the original one were made in that same year, two sequels and several movies in that same decade, a related animé show ([[God Mazinger]]) in the eighties, an OVA series and movie in 2001 and a reboot in 2009. And then you have to count several alternate manga versions and one-shots produced throughout four decades. And this year [[Go Nagai|the creator]] [[Word of God|has stated]] he intends to make more Mazinger manga and anime.

* ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1970|09}}: Running continuously since September 21, 1970, until 2005 on [[ABC]], currently on [[ESPN]].

* ''[[One Life to Live]]'' – 44 years: (11,096 episodes from 1968-2012)

* ''Romper Room'' – 41 years: 1953–94, in various local franchised versions. TVOntario ran a very similar programme as the ''Polka Dot Door'' (1971-1993), which initially was based heavily on the [[BBC]] (UK) version of ''[[Play School]]'' (1964-1988).

* ''[[Die Sendung mit der Maus]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1971}}: German [[Edutainment Show]] for children, airing since 1971

* ''[[Tatort]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1970|11}}: Known as ''Scene of the Crime'' in the USA. A German-language detective series which began airing in November 1970 on Das Erste in [[West Germany]], in 1972 on ORF 2 in Austria, and from 1990-2001 and again starting in 2011 on SF1 in Switzerland. Over 800 episodes have been produced, although the regional ARD broadcasters, ORF, and SF all contribute locally-produced episodes to the series, so that rather than having one central cast and location, different episodes will feature different casts and settings. Its [[East Germany|East German]] counterpart ''Polizeiruf 110'' has aired over 320 episodes since June 1971, on Fernsehen der DDR until 1990 and on Das Erste following the re-unification. Both shows share a timeslot in [[The Berlin Republic]].

* ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' – 42 years: Started in 1964; weekly show stopped in 2006, but lives on in special editions.

* ''[[Newsnight]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1980}}: broadcast on the same channel since 1980 if you don't count its predecessor.

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1975}}: Premièred October 11, 1975 and is still going with more than 800 episodes ([[Archive Panic|and that's not even counting the clip shows and anniversary episodes]]) in its first 45 completed seasons. Survived cast changes, writer changes, executive producer changes (with [[Lorne Michaels]], who was executive producer from 1975 to 1980, left for five years, then returned in 1985, as the most prominent), four directors (Don Roy King is the current director), three announcers [with Don Pardo as their most-used], [[Seasonal Rot]] leading to threats of cancellation in its 6th, 11th, and 20th seasons, several rival sketch shows that aired alongside it, fickle fans, cynical critics, seven cast member deaths (John Belushi,<ref>Died 1982 of a drug overdose</ref> Gilda Radner,<ref>Died 1989 from ovarian cancer</ref> Danitra Vance,<ref>Died 1994 from breast cancer</ref> Michael O'Donoghue,<ref>Also died in 1994 from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by years of migraine headaches</ref> Chris Farley,<ref>Died late 1997 from a drug overdose, much like Belushi did back in '82</ref> Phil Hartman,<ref>Died 1998; was shot and killed by his wife, Brynn, who committed suicide before the police could arrest her</ref> and Charles Rocket <ref>Died 2005 from a slashed-throat suicide</ref>), four writers' strikes (with the 2007-08 one being the most recent), seven Presidential administrations (starting with [[Gerald Ford]]), controversial events behind the scenes (Nora Dunn's boycotting the Andrew "Dice" Clay episode, Chevy Chase's fight with [[Bill Murray]] backstage, Garrett Morris' cocaine-induced nervous breakdown after being forced to play a monkey in a Canadian ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' parody, etc), and a boatload of modern historical events and pop culture trends that have changed society for better and worse (some of which were mocked by ''SNL'').

* ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby Doo]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1969|09}}: Multiple series; at least one series was in first-run almost every year from 1969–91 and since 2002, plus one or more direct-to-video movies each year since 1998.

* The [[w:Walt Disney anthology television series|Walt Disney anthology television series]] – {{Years or months ago|1959}}: Nine different series airing continuously since the premiere ''Walt Disney's Disneyland'' in 1954 and most recently incarnated ''The Wonderful World of Disney''.

== At least 30 years ==

* ''[[American Bandstand]]'' – 37 years: Thirty years on [[ABC]], five years locally in [[Philadelphia (useful notes)|Philadelphia]], one year in syndication, one year on [[USA Network]].

* ''Another World'' – 35 years: (1964–99; 8,891 episodes)

* ''[[Captain Kangaroo]]'' – 30 years: 1954–84

* ''[[Car Talk]]'' – 35 years: Locally on WBUR Boston since 1977, nationally on [[NPR]] since 1987, last new episodes in 2012. Reruns are still on-air on some platforms.

* ''[[The Dark Tower|Dark Tower]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1982}}: The first book was released in 1982. An [[Interquel]] taking place between books four and five was scheduled for release in 2012.<!-- should be in [[Print Long Runners]], not here? -->

* The ''Degrassi'' franchise – about 31 years across five main series: It hasn't been on ''continuously'' for 40 years, but it has been going off on and on from 1979-2019, with some gaps. The order looks somewhat like this: ''The Kids of Degrassi Street'' 1979-1986; ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'' 1987-1989; ''[[Degrassi High]]'' 1989-1992 (counting [[The Movie|the Made-for-TV-Movie]]), ''[[Degrassi|Degrassi: The Next Generation]]''<ref>[[Officially Shortened Title|now titled simply Degrassi]]</ref> (2001–2014) and ''Degrassi: Next Class'' (until 2019).

* ''Don McNeill's Breakfast Club'' – 35 years: Aired on NBC Blue (later ABC Radio) from 1933-68.

* ''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'' – {{Years or months ago|1981}}: Started in 1981 and is still in production.

* ''[[From Eroica with Love]]'' – 36 years: first published in 1976 and concluded in 2012.

* ''Front Page Challenge'' – 38 years: (Canadian celebrity panel quiz show that ran from 1957–95.

* ''[[Grange Hill]]'' – 30 years: BBC children's drama, ran from 1978-2008.

* ''Here's Humphrey'' – 37 years: Australian children's show, 1966-2003

* ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'' – 33 years on radio and television: 1932–65

* ''[[Jackanory]]'' – 32 years: (1965-1996, brief relaunch in 2007)

* ''Jubilee!'' – {{Years or months ago|1981}}: The sole remaining traditional showgirl revue in Las Vegas, has been running at Bally's Hotel and Casino since 1981.

* ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' – 37 years: British [[Sitcom]], 1973-2010.

* ''[[Look and Read]]'' – sporadically, across about 20 different years: A children's educational programme produced irregularly from 1967-2004.

* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' – 39 years: The original theatrical series ran from 1930-69. In that period it went through various directors, animators, producers, and not to mention characters. And that's not counting the various spinoffs, revivals, and movies. It [[Wartime Cartoon|didn't even stop]] for the [[World War II|darkest days of war]] as it had a duty to fulfil.

* ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood]]'' – 33 years: 1968-2001. Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) [[Author Existence Failure|is no longer with us]], although reruns still air.

* ''Mr. Squiggle'' – 36 years: Australian children's show, 1959–95.

* ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'' – about 36 years: Minnesota Public Radio variety show. Ran from 1974 to 2016 with interruptions; two very similar shows ran during the breaks from 1987–89 and 1989-92. Garrison Keillor hosted this show until 2016, but did not host the very similar ones that ran during its breaks. Minnesota Public Radio forced Keillor out on November 29, 2017 because of "allegations of his inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him," announcing on the December 16, 2017 broadcast that it would replace the show with ''Live from Here''.

* ''[[Royal Canadian Air Farce]]'' – 35 years: Since 1973 on radio, since 1993 on TV; ended with a New Year's Eve special on December 31, 2008.

* ''[[Search for Tomorrow]]'' – 35 years: 9,130 episodes, from 1951–86.

* ''[[Soul Train]]'' – 35 years: 1971-2006.

* ''Wetten, dass...?'' – {{Years or months ago|1981}}: German language show, broadcast in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 1981.

* ''[[Wide World of Sports]]'' – 37 years: (1961–98)

* ''Wonderama'' – 31 years: A weekly children's show that ran on New York's WNEW and other stations owned by the Metromedia syndicate. The 1955-1986 timespan runs from just before the demise of the [[DuMont]] network (Metropolitan Broadcasting/Metromedia were DuMont's former owned-and-operated station group) to their relaunch as [[FOX]] thirty years later.

* ''[[Woody Woodpecker]]'' – 32 years, plus sequels: He made his first appearance in 1940 (although he wouldn't get his own series until the next year) and his theatrical cartoons lasted all the way up to 1972 (and are still being re-run on television in some parts of South America). He also had a brief revival in the late 1990s.

* ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' – 26 years: The manga ran from 1988 to 2014.

* ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]'' (original pilot aired in November 1989, launched January 1990. From 1999-2000, it ran only as occasional specials, but the Tom Bergeron-hosted revamp returned it to series status)

* ''Evening at Pops'' – 25 years: PBS Boston Pops concert program, aired 1970-2005