List of longest-running American primetime television series

This is a list of the longest running American primetime television series, ordered by the number of broadcast seasons offered by an American 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	December 24, 1951	December 17, 1978	260
			CBS	November 14, 1979	April 30, 1981
			PBS	February 9, 1981	May 6, 1981
			CBS	December 1, 1981	January 29, 1989
			ABC	April 30, 1989	April 23, 1995
			CBS	December 10, 1995	April 24, 2011
			ABC	November 27, 2011	April 20, 2014
			Hallmark Channel	November 30, 2014	present
58	The Wonderful World of Disney[2]	Anthology	ABC	October 27, 1954	June 11, 1961	2,207
			NBC	September 24, 1961	August 16, 1981
			CBS	September 26, 1981	September 24, 1983
			ABC	February 1, 1986	May 21, 1988
			NBC	October 8, 1988	August 25, 1990
			CBS	September 23, 1990	December 1, 1996
			ABC	September 28, 1997	December 24, 2008
				December 12, 2015	present
			Disney+	May 20, 2020	present
57	60 Minutes	News magazine	CBS	September 24, 1968	present	2500+
56 (NFL seasons)	Monday Night Football	Sports, football	ABC	September 21, 1970	December 26, 2005	718 (games)
			ESPN	August 14, 2006	present
53	Sábado Gigante[3]	Spanish programming	Univisión	August 5, 1962 (Chile) May 20, 1986 (United States)	September 19, 2015
52	Nova	Science	PBS	February 24, 1974	present	999 (May 14, 2025)
50	Austin City Limits	Music	PBS	January 3, 1976	present	900
50	Saturday Night Live	Variety show	NBC	October 11, 1975	present	984

30–49 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Genre/subject	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
48	Masterpiece[4]	Anthology	PBS	January 10, 1971	present
47	20/20	News magazine	ABC	June 6, 1978	present	500+
48	Survivor	Reality competition	CBS	May 31, 2000	present	701
46	This Old House	Home improvement	PBS	February 20, 1979	present	1,136
43	Live from Lincoln Center	Music	PBS	January 30, 1976	present[5]	251
42	Inside the NFL	Sports, football	HBO	September 22, 1977	February 6, 2008
			Showtime	September 10, 2008	February 24, 2021
			Paramount+	September 7, 2021	April 5, 2023
			The CW	September 9, 2023	present
43	Frontline	Public affairs	PBS	January 17, 1983	present	813
43	Nature	Documentary	PBS	October 10, 1982	present	615
41	The Challenge	Reality game show	MTV	June 1, 1998	present	565
40	National Geographic Explorer[6]	Documentary	Nickelodeon	April 7, 1985	February 1986	233
			WTBS/TBS	February 1986	September 1999
			CNBC	September 1999	October 2001
			MSNBC[7]	October 2001	July 2004
			National Geographic Channel	July 8, 2004	present
36	The Woodwright's Shop	Woodworking	PBS	1979	2017	468
36	The Victory Garden	Gardening	PBS	April 16, 1975	2010
36	48 Hours[8]	Documentary/news magazine	CBS	January 2, 1988	present	991[9]
37	Cops[10]	Reality	Fox	March 11, 1989	May 4, 2013	1,231
			Spike / Paramount Network	September 14, 2013	May 11, 2020
			Fox Nation	October 1, 2021	present
37	The Amazing Race	Reality competition	CBS	September 5, 2001	present	430
35	Wall Street Week[11]	News, economics	PBS	November 20, 1970	June 24, 2005
36	American Experience	Documentary	PBS	October 1, 1988	present	380
36	The Simpsons[12]	Animated sitcom	Fox	January 14, 1990[13]	present	790
35	America's Funniest Home Videos	Reality, comedy	ABC	November 26, 1989	present	812
37	POV	Documentary	PBS	July 5, 1988	present	400+
34	Firing Line	Public affairs	Syndication	1966[14]	1971	1,504
			PBS	1971	December 26, 1999
				June 22, 2018	present
	The Real World[15]	Reality	MTV	May 21, 1992	January 4, 2017
			Facebook Watch	June 13, 2019	August 29, 2019
33	Dateline NBC[16]	News magazine	NBC	March 31, 1992	present
33	Dancing with the Stars	Reality competition	ABC	June 1, 2005	November 22, 2021	503
			Disney+	September 19, 2022	present
			ABC	September 26, 2023	present
33	WWE Monday Night Raw	Professional wrestling	USA	January 11, 1993	September 18, 2000	1681
			TNN / Spike	September 25, 2000	September 26, 2005
			USA	October 3, 2005	December 30, 2024
			Netflix	January 6, 2025	present

20–29 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Genre/subject	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
29	Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel	Monthly sports news magazine	HBO	April 2, 1995	December 19, 2023	320
29	The Bachelor	Romance, reality	ABC	March 25, 2002	present	306
28	America's Most Wanted	Reality	Fox	February 7, 1988	June 18, 2011	1,101
			Lifetime	December 2, 2011	October 12, 2012
			Fox	March 15, 2021	present
29	Antiques Roadshow	Bargain hunt	PBS	January 1, 1997	present
27	Live from the Met[17]	Music	PBS	1977	present[5]	95
27	South Park	Animated sitcom	Comedy Central	August 13, 1997	present	330
26	Mystery!	Anthology	PBS	1980	2006
26	Grand Ole Opry[18]	Music	TNN	April 20, 1985	August 2001
			CMT	August 2001	2003
			GAC[19]	2003	2011
27	Big Brother	Reality competition	CBS	July 5, 2000	present	952
25	Camera Three	Anthology	CBS	January 22, 1956	1979
			PBS	1979	July 1, 1980
25	What's My Line?[20] (network version)	Panel game show	CBS	February 16, 1950	September 3, 1967	CBS: 876 Syndication: 1,320 Total: 2,196
			Syndication	September 1968	September 3, 1975
25	Nick News[21]	Children's news program	Nickelodeon	April 18, 1992	December 15, 2015
				June 29, 2020	present
26	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit[22]	Crime drama	NBC	September 20, 1999	present	573
24	The Ed Sullivan Show[23]	Variety show	CBS	June 20, 1948	June 6, 1971	1,068
24	Concentration	Game show	NBC	August 25, 1958	March 20, 1973	3,770 (1958–1973) 975 (1973–1978) 1,090 (1987–1991)[24]
			Syndication	September 10, 1973	September 8, 1978
			NBC	May 4, 1987	August 30, 1991
23	Crossfire	Talk/news program	CNN	1982	June 3, 2005
				September 9, 2013	August 6, 2014
24	Law & Order[25]	Crime drama	NBC	September 13, 1990	May 24, 2010	523
				February 24, 2022	present
22	E! News[26]	Entertainment newscast	E!	September 1, 1991	present	7,500+
22	Investigative Reports	Reality	A&E	September 27, 1991	2004
23	Family Guy	Animated sitcom	Fox	April 11, 1999[27]	February 14, 2002[28]	444
				May 1, 2005	present
22	Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour[29]	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
23	American Idol	Reality	Fox	June 11, 2002	April 7, 2016	718
			ABC	March 11, 2018	present
21	The New Yankee Workshop	Western woodworking	PBS	January 1988	June 27, 2009	284
22	NCIS	Military police procedural	CBS	September 23, 2003	present	487
20	NFL Primetime	Sports, football	ESPN	1987	present
20	Biography[30]	Documentary	A&E	April 6, 1987[31]	August 2006
			Biography Channel	August 2006	present[32]
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[33]	Drama	CBS	September 10, 1955	March 31, 1975	635
20	Moneyline	Editorial	CNN	June 1, 1980	November 11, 2000
21	American Dad!	Animated sitcom	Fox	May 1, 2005[34]	September 21, 2014	388
			TBS	October 24, 2014	present
21	Grey's Anatomy[35]	Drama	ABC	March 27, 2005	present	448

15–19 seasons

Number of seasons	Series	Network	First broadcast	Last broadcast	Number of episodes
19	ESPN Sunday Night Football[36]	ESPN	November 8, 1987[37]	January 1, 2006
19	Lassie	CBS	September 12, 1954	March 21, 1971	591
		Syndication	October 7, 1971	March 24, 1973
20	America's Got Talent	NBC	June 21, 2006	present	471
18	ESPN Major League Baseball[38]	ESPN / ESPN2[39]	April 15, 1990	present
17	Outside the Lines	ESPN	1990	present
17	RuPaul’s Drag Race	MTV	February 2,9009	present
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
18	Criminal Minds	CBS	September 22, 2005	February 19, 2020	354
		Paramount+	November 24, 2022	present
17	Unsolved Mysteries	NBC	January 20, 1987[40]	September 5, 1997	611
		CBS	November 13, 1997	June 11, 1999
		Lifetime	July 2, 2001	September 20, 2002
		Spike	October 13, 2008	April 27, 2010
16	Bleach	Cartoon Network (Toonami)	October 5, 2004	March 27, 2012
16	Ghost Hunters	Sci Fi Channel / 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
16	MTV Unplugged	MTV	November 26, 1989	present
16	RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked!	MTV	February 1, 2010	present
16	Booknotes	C-SPAN	April 2, 1989	December 5, 2004	801
16	The Lawrence Welk Show[41]	ABC	July 2, 1955	September 4, 1971
15	Supernatural	The 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 Syndication (1972–1973): 39 CBS (1976): 4 Oxygen (2000–2001): 120[42] GSN (2006): 40
15	The Jack Benny Program	CBS	October 29, 1950	September 15, 1964	261
		NBC	September 25, 1964	September 10, 1965
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
14	World Poker Tour	Fox Sports Networks	March 30, 2003	present	420
14	Armstrong Circle Theatre	NBC	June 6, 1950	June 1957	370
		CBS	October 1957	August 28, 1963
14	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet[43]	ABC	October 10, 1952	September 3, 1966	435
14	Bonanza[44]	NBC	September 12, 1959	January 16, 1973	431
	Dallas	CBS	April 2, 1978	May 3, 1991
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
14	Video Soul	BET	June 26, 1983	1997
14	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	September 22, 2009	May 21, 2023	323
15	Bob's Burgers	Fox	January 9, 2011	present	297
13	Private Screenings	TCM	1995	2010	28
14	King of the Hill	Fox	January 12, 1997	September 13, 2009	269
14	Mystery Science Theater 3000	KTMA	November 24, 1988	May 28, 1989	230
		The Comedy Channel	November 18, 1989	February 2, 1991
		Comedy Central	June 1, 1991	May 18, 1996
		Sci Fi Channel	February 1, 1997	August 8, 1999[45]
		Netflix	April 14, 2017	November 22, 2018
		Gizmoplex	May 6, 2022[46]	present
13	Tim Russert	CNBC	1994	2008
12	American Horror Story	FX	October 5, 2011	present	132
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
12	CBS Reports	CBS	October 27, 1959	September 7, 1971
12	My Three Sons	ABC	September 29, 1960	September 2, 1965	380 (184 in black-and-white, 196 in color)
		CBS	September 16, 1965	August 24, 1972
12	NYPD Blue	ABC	September 21, 1993	March 1, 2005	261
12	Wild America	PBS	1982	1996	120
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	282
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 (and 1 special)

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
			September 27, 2018	December 20, 2018
11	Kraft Television Theatre[47]	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
		NBC	1962	1971
11	The Carol Burnett Show	CBS	September 11, 1967	March 29, 1978	279
11	M*A*S*H	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)
		CBS	1957	September 14, 1964
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[48]	The WB	August 26, 1996	May 8, 2006	243
		The CW	September 25, 2006	May 13, 2007
11	Modern Family	ABC	September 23, 2009	April 8, 2020	250
11	Will & Grace	NBC	September 21, 1998	April 23, 2020	246
10	The Goldbergs	ABC	September 24, 2013	May 3, 2023	229
10	Arthur Godfrey and His Friends	CBS	January 12, 1949	April 28, 1959
10	Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts[49]	CBS	December 6, 1948	July 21, 1958
10	Studio One[50]	CBS	November 7, 1948	September 29, 1958
10	The Arthur Murray Party[51]	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[52]	Showtime	July 27, 1997	May 17, 2002	214 + 2 DVD films
		Sci Fi	June 7, 2002	2007[53]
10	Alfred Hitchcock Presents[54]	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[55]
		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
10	Friends	NBC	September 22, 1994	May 6, 2004	236 (+ 1 special)
10	JAG	NBC	September 1, 1995	May 22, 1996[56]	227
		CBS	January 3, 1997	April 29, 2005
10	Beverly Hills, 90210	Fox	October 4, 1990	May 17, 2000	293
10	Pantomime Quiz[57]	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
		CBS	July 6, 1955	August 13, 1963
10	Smallville[58]	The WB	October 16, 2001	May 11, 2006	218[59]
		The CW	September 28, 2006	May 13, 2011
10	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	NBC	September 30, 2001	May 21, 2007	195
		USA	October 4, 2007	June 26, 2011
10	CSI: Miami	CBS	September 23, 2002	April 8, 2012	232

See also

• Lists of longest running American shows by broadcast type:
  • List of longest-running American television series
  • List of longest-running American broadcast network television series
  • List of longest-running American cable television series
  • List of longest-running American first-run syndicated television series
  • List of longest-running scripted American primetime television series
• Lists of longest running shows internationally:
  • List of longest-running television shows by category- international list
  • List of longest-running Australian television series
  • List of longest-running British television programmes
  • List of longest-running Philippine television series
• List of franchises by length:
  • List of television franchises by episode count
• List of shortest running shows:
  • List of television series canceled after one episode
  • List of television series canceled before airing an episode