List of longest-running American primetime television series

This is a list of the longest running U.S. primetime television series, ordered by the number of broadcast seasons offered by a U.S. broadcast network or cable network in prime time on the show's original run. Broadcast syndication that could have been scheduled by local stations in prime time have been omitted.

Longest lasting series

Series shaded in light blue are in production.

50 seasons or more

Number of seasons	Series	Genre/subject	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
69	Hallmark Hall of Fame^[1]	Anthology	NBC	Dec 24, 1951	Dec 17, 1978	260
			CBS	Nov 14, 1979	April 30, 1981
			PBS	Feb 9, 1981	May 6, 1981
			CBS	Dec 1, 1981	Jan 29, 1989
			ABC	April 30, 1989	April 23, 1995
			CBS	Dec 10, 1995	April 24, 2011
			ABC	Nov 27, 2011	April 20, 2014
			Hallmark Channel	Nov 30, 2014	present
58	Walt Disney Presents^[2]	Anthology	ABC	Oct 27, 1954	June 11, 1961	2207
			NBC	Sep 24, 1961	Aug 16, 1981
			CBS	Sep 26, 1981	May 3, 1983
			ABC	Feb 2, 1986	May 22, 1988
			NBC	Oct 9, 1988	Aug 26, 1990
			Disney Channel	Sep 23, 1990	Sep 21, 1997
			ABC	Sep 28, 1997	present
			Disney Junior	March 23, 2012	present
56	60 Minutes	News magazine	CBS	September 24, 1968	present	2500+
54 (NFL seasons)	Monday Night Football	Sports, football	ABC	September 21, 1970	December 26, 2005	718 (games)
54 (NFL seasons)	Monday Night Football	Sports, football	ESPN	August 14, 2006	present	718 (games)
53	Sábado Gigante^[3]	Spanish programming	Univisión	August 5, 1962 (Chile) May 20, 1986 (United States)	September 19, 2015
50	Nova	Science	PBS	March 3, 1974	present	959 (May 24, 2023)

30–49 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Genre/subject	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
48	Masterpiece	Anthology	PBS	January 10, 1971	present
49	Saturday Night Live	Variety show	NBC	October 11, 1975	present	965
46	20/20	News magazine	ABC	June 6, 1978	present	500+
	Austin City Limits	Music	PBS	January 3, 1976	present	900
43	Live from Lincoln Center	Music	PBS	January 30, 1976	present^[4]	251
27	Live from the Met^[5]	Music	PBS	1977	present^[4]
42	Inside the NFL	Sports, football	HBO	September 1977	February 6, 2008
42	Inside the NFL	Sports, football	Showtime	September 10, 2008	present
44	This Old House	Home improvement	PBS	February 20, 1979	present	1,136 (as of June 22, 2023)
46	Survivor	Reality competition	CBS	May 31, 2000	present	670
38	The Woodwright's Shop	Woodworking	PBS	1981	present	481
36	Frontline	Public affairs	PBS	January 17, 1983	present	813 (as of November 21, 2023^[update])
39	The Challenge	Reality game show	MTV	June 1, 1998	present	545
39	National Geographic Explorer^[6]	Documentary	Nickelodeon	1985	1986	233
			WTBS/TBS	1986	1999
			CNBC	1999	2001
			MSNBC^[7]	2001	2005
			National Geographic	2005	present
36	The Victory Garden	Gardening	PBS	April 16, 1975	present
35	Wall Street Week^[8]	News, economics	PBS	November 20, 1970	June 24, 2005
36	48 Hours^[9]	Documentary/news magazine	CBS	January 2, 1988	present	991^[10]
26	Mystery!	Anthology	PBS	February 5, 1980	present
	Firing Line	Public affairs	Syndication	1966^[11]	1971
	Firing Line	Public affairs	PBS	1971	December 26, 1999
33	The Real World^[12]	Reality	MTV	May 21, 1992	August 22, 2019	614
36	Cops^[13]	Reality	Fox	March 11, 1989	May 4, 2013	1,175
36	Cops^[13]	Reality	Spike/Paramount Network	September 14, 2013	May 11, 2020	1,175
35	American Experience	Documentary	PBS	October 1, 1988	present	366
	Nature	Documentary	PBS	October 10, 1982	present
36	The Amazing Race	Reality competition	CBS	September 5, 2001	present	415
34	The Simpsons^[14]	Animated sitcom	Fox	December 17, 1989	present	765
34	America's Funniest Home Videos	Reality, comedy	ABC	November 26, 1989	present	787
34	POV	Documentary	PBS	July 5, 1988	present	400+

20–29 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Genre/subject	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
32	Dateline NBC^[15]	News magazine	NBC	March 31, 1992	present
32	Dancing with the Stars	Reality competition	ABC	June 1, 2005	November 22, 2021	492
32	Dancing with the Stars	Reality competition	Disney+	September 19, 2022	present	492
32	WWE Monday Night Raw	Professional wrestling	USA	January 11, 1993	September 18, 2000	1613
			TNN/Spike TV	September 25, 2000	September 26, 2005
			USA	October 3, 2005	present
26	Grand Ole Opry^[16]	Music	TNN	April 20, 1985	August 2001
			CMT	August 2001	2003
			GAC^[17]	2003	2011
28	The Bachelor	Romance, reality	ABC	March 25, 2002	present	297
28	America's Most Wanted	Reality	Fox	February 7, 1988	April 21, 2012	1095
			Fox	March 15, 2021	April 12, 2021
			Lifetime	December 2, 2011	October 12, 2012
25	Camera Three	Anthology	CBS	January 22, 1956	1979
25	Camera Three	Anthology	PBS	1979	July 1, 1980
27	Antiques Roadshow	Bargain hunt	PBS	January 1, 1997	present
	Nick News with Linda Ellerbee	Children's news program	Nickelodeon	April 18, 1992	December 15, 2015
24	The Ed Sullivan Show^[18]	Variety show	CBS	June 20, 1948	June 6, 1971	1,068
23	Crossfire	Talk/news program	CNN	1982	June 3, 2005
23	Crossfire	Talk/news program	CNN	September 9, 2013	August 6, 2014
22	E! News^[19]	Entertainment newscast	E!	September 1, 1991	present	7,500+
26	South Park	Animated sitcom	Comedy Central	August 13, 1997	present	327
22	Investigative Reports	Reality	A&E	September 27, 1991	2004
22	Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour^[20]	Reality	DuMont	January 18, 1948	October 1949
			NBC	October 1949	September 1954
			ABC	October 1955	June 1957
			NBC	July 1957	October 1958
			CBS	May 1959	October 1959
			ABC	March 1960	September 26, 1960
			CBS	October 2, 1960	September 27, 1970
21	The New Yankee Workshop	Western woodworking	PBS	January 1988	June 27, 2009	284
25	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit^[21]	Crime drama	NBC	September 20, 1999	present	548
25	Big Brother	Reality competition	CBS	July 5, 2000	present	897
20	NFL Primetime	Sports, football	ESPN	1987	present
20	Biography^[22]	Documentary	A&E	April 6, 1987^[23]	August 2006
20	Biography^[22]	Documentary	Biography Channel	August 2006	present^[24]
20	The Red Skelton Show	Variety show	NBC	September 30, 1951	June 21, 1953	672
			CBS	September 22, 1953	June 23, 1970
			NBC	September 14, 1970	August 29, 1971
20	Gunsmoke^[25]	Drama	CBS	September 10, 1955	March 31, 1975	635
23	Law & Order^[26]	Crime drama	NBC	September 13, 1990	May 24, 2010	498
23	Law & Order^[26]	Crime drama	NBC	February 24, 2022	present	498
22	Family Guy	Comedy	Fox	January 31, 1999	February 14, 2002	424
22	Family Guy	Comedy	Fox	May 1, 2005	present	424
21	American Idol	Reality	Fox	June 11, 2002	April 7, 2016	695
21	American Idol	Reality	ABC	March 11, 2018	present	695
20	Moneyline	Editorial	CNN	June 1, 1980	November 11, 2000
20	Grey's Anatomy^[27]	Drama	ABC	March 27, 2005 –	present	425

15–19 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
19	ESPN Sunday Night Football^[28]	ESPN	November 8, 1987^[29]	January 1, 2006
19	Lassie	CBS/syndication	September 12, 1954	March 21, 1973	591
18	ESPN Major League Baseball^[30]	ESPN, ESPN2^[31]	April 15, 1990	present
21	NCIS	CBS	September 23, 2003	present	465
20	American Dad!	Fox	February 6, 2005	September 21, 2014	366
20	American Dad!	TBS	October 24, 2014	present	366
17	Outside the Lines	ESPN	1990	present
25	What's My Line?^[32] (network version)	CBS	February 16, 1950	September 3, 1967	CBS: 876 Syndication: 1,320 Total: 2,196
17	Showbiz Today	CNN	October 29, 1984	2001
17	USA Tuesday Night Fights	USA	March 30, 1982	1998
17	Capital Gang	CNN	September 7, 1988	2005
16	Bleach	Cartoon Network (Toonami)	October 5, 2004	March 27, 2012
16	MTV Unplugged	MTV	November 26, 1989	November 10, 2005^[33]	108
16	Booknotes	C-SPAN	April 2, 1989	December 5, 2004	801
16	The Lawrence Welk Show^[34]	ABC	July 2, 1955	September 4, 1971
16	Criminal Minds	CBS	September 22, 2005	February 19, 2020	334
15	Supernatural	CW	September 13, 2005	November 19, 2020	327
15	ER	NBC	September 19, 1994	April 2, 2009	331
15	I've Got a Secret	CBS	June 19, 1952	April 3, 1967	CBS 1952–1967: 680 Syn 1972–1973: 39 CBS 1976: 4 Oxygen 2000-2001: 120^[35] GSN 2006: 40
24	Concentration	NBC	August 25, 1958	September 20, 1991	3,770 (1958–1973) 975 (1973–1978) 1,020 (1987–1991)
15	The Jack Benny Program	CBS	October 29, 1950	September 15, 1964	260
15	The Jack Benny Program	NBC	September 25, 1964	September 10, 1965	260
15	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	CBS	October 6, 2000	September 27, 2015	337

12–14 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
16	Unsolved Mysteries	NBC	January 20, 1987^[36]	September 5, 1997	602
		CBS	November 13, 1997	June 11, 1999
		Lifetime	July 2, 2001	September 20, 2002
		Spike TV	October 13, 2008	April 27, 2010
14	World Poker Tour	Fox Sports Networks	March 30, 2003	present	420
14	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet^[37]	ABC	October 10, 1952	September 3, 1966	435
14	Bonanza^[38]	NBC	September 12, 1959	January 16, 1973	431
14	Dallas	CBS	April 2, 1978	May 3, 1991	357
14	Knots Landing	CBS	December 27, 1979	May 13, 1993	344
14	An Evening at the Improv	A&E	February 3, 1982	January 1, 1996
12	Wild America	PBS	1982	1996	120
14	Video Soul	BET	June 26, 1983	1997
18	America's Got Talent	NBC	June 21, 2006	present	440
13	Private Screenings	TCM	January 1, 1996	2010
29	Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel	HBO	April 2, 1995	present	320
13	King of the Hill	Fox	January 12, 1997	September 13, 2009	259
14	Armstrong Circle Theatre	NBC	June 6, 1950	June 1957	370
14	Armstrong Circle Theatre	CBS	October 1957	August 28, 1963	370
13	Tim Russert	CNBC	1994	2008
14	SpongeBob SquarePants	Nickelodeon	May 1, 1999	present	299
12	The Big Bang Theory	CBS	September 24, 2007	May 16, 2019	279
12	To Tell the Truth	CBS	December 18, 1956	September 6, 1968
16	Ghost Hunters	Syfy	October 6, 2004	October 26, 2016	251 (+ 12 specials not included)
		A&E	August 21, 2019	May 27, 2020
		Discovery+	December 31, 2021	March 19, 2022
		Travel Channel	October 1, 2022	present
12	CBS Reports	CBS	October 27, 1959	September 7, 1971
12	My Three Sons	ABC	September 29, 1960	September 2, 1965	380
12	My Three Sons	CBS	September 16, 1965	August 24, 1972	380
12	NYPD Blue	ABC	September 21, 1993	March 1, 2005	261
12	Murder, She Wrote	CBS	September 1, 1984	May 19, 1996	264 (+ 4 TV movies)
12	Hawaii Five-O	CBS	September 26, 1968	April 26, 1980	281
12	Don Francisco Presenta	Univision	October 10, 2001	January 30, 2012
12	Two and a Half Men	CBS	September 22, 2003	February 19, 2015	262
12	Bones	Fox	September 13, 2005	March 28, 2017	246
12	Curb Your Enthusiasm	HBO	October 15, 2000	April 7, 2024	120

10–11 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
11	Murphy Brown	CBS	November 14, 1988	May 18, 1998	260
11	Murphy Brown	CBS	September 27, 2018	December 20, 2018	260
11	Kraft Television Theatre^[39]	NBC	May 7, 1947	October 1, 1958	650
11	The Voice of Firestone	NBC	September 5, 1949	June 1954
		ABC	June 1954	June 1959
		ABC	September 1962	June 16, 1963
11	You Bet Your Life	NBC	October 5, 1950	June 29, 1961	529 + 1 unaired
11	The Andy Williams Show	CBS	1957	1959
11	The Andy Williams Show	NBC	1962	1971
11	The Carol Burnett Show	CBS	September 11, 1967	March 29, 1978	279
11	MASH*	CBS	September 17, 1972	February 28, 1983	256
11	Happy Days	ABC	January 15, 1974	May 8, 1984	255
11	Cheers	NBC	September 30, 1982	May 20, 1993	275 (including three double-length episodes and a triple-length finale)
11 (all episodes filmed in black-and-white)	The Danny Thomas Show	ABC	September 20, 1953	1957	90 (MRFD) 253 (TDTS) 343 (total) 24 (MRFG)
11 (all episodes filmed in black-and-white)	The Danny Thomas Show	CBS	1957	September 14, 1964	90 (MRFD) 253 (TDTS) 343 (total) 24 (MRFG)
11	Frasier	NBC	September 16, 1993	May 13, 2004	264
11	Married... with Children	Fox	April 5, 1987	June 9, 1997	259
11	The Jeffersons	CBS	January 18, 1975	July 23, 1985	253
11	7th Heaven^[40]	The WB	August 26, 1996	May 8, 2006	243
11	7th Heaven^[40]	The CW	September 25, 2006	May 13, 2007	243
10	Arthur Godfrey and His Friends	CBS	January 12, 1949	April 28, 1959
13	Mystery Science Theater 3000	KTMA	November 24, 1988	May 28, 1989	230
		Comedy Central	November 18, 1989	May 18, 1996
		Sci Fi	February 1, 1997	September 12, 1999
		Netflix	April 14, 2017	November 22, 2018
14	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	September 22, 2009	May 21, 2023	323
11	Modern Family	ABC	September 23, 2009	April 8, 2020	250 (+1 special)
11	Will & Grace	NBC	September 21, 1998	April 23, 2020	246
10	The Goldbergs	ABC	September 24, 2013	May 3, 2023	229
10	The Fairly OddParents	Nickelodeon	March 30, 2001	July 26, 2017	172 (294 segments)
10	Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts^[41]	CBS	December 6, 1948	July 21, 1958
10	Studio One^[42]	CBS	November 7, 1948	September 29, 1958
10	The Arthur Murray Party^[43]	ABC	July 20, 1950	September 1950
		DuMont	October 1950	March 1951
		ABC	April 1951	May 1952
		CBS	July 1952	August 1952
		NBC	October 1953	September 1955
		CBS	April 1956	September 1956
		NBC	July 1957	September 6, 1960
10	General Electric Theater	CBS	February 1, 1953	September 16, 1962	302
10	Stargate SG-1^[44]	Showtime	July 27, 1997	May 17, 2002	214 + 2 DVD films
10	Stargate SG-1^[44]	Sci Fi	June 7, 2002	2007^[45]	214 + 2 DVD films
10	Alfred Hitchcock Presents^[46]	NBC	October 2, 1955	June 26, 1960	268 (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) 93 (The Alfred Hitchcock Hour) 361 (total)
		CBS	September 25, 1960	June 26, 1962^[47]
		NBC	September 20, 1962	July 3, 1964
		CBS	October 5, 1964	May 10, 1965
10	Nashville Now	TNN	March 1, 1983	January 1, 1993	Unknown
11	All That	Nickelodeon	April 16, 1994	October 22, 2005	210
11	All That	Nickelodeon	June 15, 2019	December 17, 2020	210
10	Friends	NBC	September 22, 1994	May 6, 2004	236
10	JAG	NBC	September 1, 1995	May 22, 1996^[48]	227
10	JAG	CBS	January 3, 1997	April 29, 2005	227
10	Beverly Hills, 90210	Fox	October 4, 1990	May 17, 2000	293
10	Pantomime Quiz^[49]	CBS	July 1, 1950	August 1951
		NBC	January 1952	March 1952
		CBS	July 1952	May 1952
		CBS	July 1952	August 1953
		DuMont	October 1953	April 1954
		CBS	June 1954	August 1954
		ABC	January 1955	March 1955
		CBS	July 1955	July 1957
		ABC	April 1958	September 1959
10	The United States Steel Hour	ABC	October 27, 1953	June 21, 1955	315
10	The United States Steel Hour	CBS	July 6, 1955	August 13, 1963	315
10	Smallville^[50]	The WB	October 16, 2001	May 11, 2006	217^[50]
10	Smallville^[50]	The CW	September 28, 2006	May 13, 2011	217^[50]
10	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	NBC	September 30, 2001	May 21, 2007	195
10	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	USA	October 4, 2007	June 26, 2011	195
10	CSI: Miami	CBS	September 23, 2002	April 8, 2012	232

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