The following is a listing of the longest-running series on nighttime broadcast network television, excluding movies and newscasts. A series is counted as having aired in a season if it was on for at least two months during that season. Seasons in which a series aired at other times of the day (for example, in the daytime), or on local stations, are not counted. Also not counted are late-night reruns (on ABC Late Night and The CBS Late Night Movies) of series that originally aired in prime time (for example, Baretta, Police Woman and M*A*S*H).
Meet the Press is the longest-running series in all of television, having been on the air continuously since 1947. Only the 18 seasons that it spent on the nighttime schedule (post 6:00 P.M.) are counted here, however.
Alternate titles are given in parentheses. The 2006-2007 season is the last one counted.
53 Seasons
The Tonight Show
39 Seasons
60 Minutes
36 Seasons
Monday Night Football
34 Seasons
Walt Disney
32 Seasons
Saturday Night Live
30 Seasons
20/20
26 Seasons
Late Show with David Letterman (Late Night with David Letterman)
24 Seasons
The Ed Sullivan Show (The Toast of the Town)
20 Seasons
America's Most Wanted
48 Hours
Gunsmoke
The Red Skelton Show
19 Seasons
Cops
18 Seasons
Candid Camera (Candid Microphone) Friday Night Videos
Meet the Press Monday Night Baseball The Simpsons What's My Line
17 Seasons
America's Funniest Home Videos
Lassie
Law & Order
The Lawrence Welk Show (Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party)
16 Seasons
Dateline NBC
Kraft Television Theatre (Kraft Suspense Theater.
Kraft Mystery Theater) Primetime (Primetime Thursday)
15 Seasons
I've Got a Secret
The Jack Benny Show
The Jackie Gleason Show (The Honeymooners)
The Perry Como Show (Chesterfield Supper Club)
14 Seasons
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet
Armstrong Circle Theatre (Circle Theatre)
Bonanza
Dallas
The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (The Cavalcade of ports)
Knots Landing
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
13 Seasons
All in the Family (Archie Bunker's Place)
The Danny Thomas Show (Make Room for Daddy, Make Room for Granddaddy)
The Dinah Shore Show (The Dinah Shore Chevy Show) ER Later
Dragnet
Hawaii Five-O
The Lucy Show (Here's Lucy)
MadTV
Murder, She Wrote
My Three Sons
N.Y.P.D. Blue
The Original Amateur Hour
Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts (International Boxing Club
Bouts, The Wednesday Night Fights)
The 20th Century (The 21st Century)
11 Seasons
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (The Alfred Hitchcock Hour)
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
The Arthur Murray Party
CBS Reports/News Hour/News Special
The Carol Burnett Show
Cheers
Fireside Theatre (Jane Wyman's Fireside Theater, The Jane Wyman Show)
Frasier
General Electric Theater (General Electric True)
Happy Days
JAG
The Jeffersons
King of the Hill
M*A*S*H
Married — with Children
The Milton Berle Show (The Texaco Star Theater, The Buick-Berle Show, Milton Berle Starring in the Kraft Music Hall)
Pantomime Quiz (Stump the Stars)
7th Heaven
To Tell the Truth
Unsolved Mysteries
The Voice of Firestone
You Bet Your Life (The Groucho Show)
10 Seasons
Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (The Arthur Godfrey Show)
Beverly Hills 90210
Columbo
Friends
Murphy Brown
Perry Mason (The New Adventures of Perry Mason)
The Steve Allen Show (The Steve Allen Comedy Hour)
Studio One
The Twilight Zone
The U.S. Steel Hour
Your Hit Parade
9 Seasons
ABC in Concert
Alice
The Andy Williams Show
Beat the Clock
The Beverly Hillbillies
Break the Bank
Coach
The Dean Martin Show
The Drew Carey Show
Dynasty
Everybody Loves Raymond
The F.B.I.
The Facts of Life
Falcon Crest
Family Matters
Father Knows Best
Goodyear TV Playhouse (Goodyear Theater)
The King of Queens
Little House on the Prairie (Little House: A New Beginning)
The Love Boat
Masquerade Party
Matlock
The Midnight Special
Mission: Impossible
Night Court
One Day at a Time
Roseanne
Seinfeld
This Is Your Life
Three's Company (Three's a Crowd)
The Tomorrow Show
Touched by an Angel
The Virginian (The Men from Shiloh)
The Waltons
The X-Files
You Asked for It (The Art Baker Show)
8 Seasons
The Alcoa Hour (Alcoa Theatre, Alcoa Presents, Alcoa Premiere)
The Andy Griffith Show
Barnaby Jones
Barney Miller
The Bell Telephone Hour
Bewitched
Big Brother
The Big Story
Cheyenne
The Cosby Show
Diff'rent Strokes
The Donna Reed Show
Full House
The Garry Moore Show
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
The Golden Girls (The Golden Palace)
Home Improvement
I Love Lucy (The Sunday Lucy Show, The Top 10 Lucy Shows)
Ironside
It's a Miracle
L.A. Law
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Laverne & Shirley
The Lone Ranger
The Loretta Young Show (A Letter to Loretta)
Lux Video Theatre (Lux Playhouse)
Magnum, P.I.
Mama
Mark Saber (Mystery Theater, Inspector Mark Saber— Homicide Squad, The Vise, Saber of London)
Melrose Place
Midwestern Hayride
Newhart
People Are Funny
Perfect Strangers
Person to Person
The Practice
Rawhide
Robert Montgomery Presents
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (Schlitz Playhouse)
Simon & Simon
Survivor
WWE Smackdown (WWF Smackdown)
Wagon Train
Walker, Texas Ranger
Who's the Boss?
Will & Grace
Wings
7 Seasons
Adam 12
Benson
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Cagney & Lacey
Captain Video and His Video Rangers
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Designing Women
Diagnosis Murder
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Eddie Fisher Show (Coke Time with Eddie
Fisher)
Empty Nest
Family Guy
Family Ties
Fantasy Island
Ford Theatre
The Gene Autry Show
Gilmore Girls
Girlfriends
Growing Pains
Hill Street Blues
The Hollywood Palace
Homicide: Life on the Street
Hunter
In the Heat of the Night
Just Shoot Me
Kukla, Fran & Ollie
Life Begins at Eighty
The Life of Riley
MacGyver
Mad About You
Malcolm in the Middle
Marcus Welby, M.D.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
McCloud
Medical Center
Name That Tune
Petticoat Junction
Philco TV Playhouse
The Price Is Right
Quincy, M.E.
The Quiz Kids
Red Barber's Corner (Red Barber's Clubhouse, The
Peak of the Sports News)
Rescue 911
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Step By Step
Suspense
This Is Show Business
Trapper John, M.D.
The West Wing
Who Said That?