Edmund, a wretched creature with which we all share sympathy, goes from royalty to disgruntled Tomy in less than 24 episodes, a feat unmatched by any American sitcom. Corner Gas, a surprisingly funny Canadian show has retreated into cartoon format, and I apologize in advance for any discomfort that fact generates.

LL&P

Heh. I can relate to that. Ever read "All You Zombies" by Robert Heinlein (short story)? Similar solipsistic ending...

Balthasar [2] -

Good point. I only did limited research for this article, because I started finding so MANY shows, from the early TV days to the present.

Isn't that the same Amos as Famous Amos cookies? Inquiring minds want to know.

Kick [3] -

D'oh! Good point! I should have said: "the longest-running scripted PRIME TIME show of all time."

Because, as we all know, SNL was started by the
Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

:-)

[4] -

OK, I gotta remember that ASCII art, too. Never seen it before, but it's brilliant!

~(_8^(|)

Woo hoo!

Kick [5] -

I will check that documentary out. Sounds like a wild ride! Thanks!

:-)

Balthasar [6] -

Daytime doesn't count either. Thpppbbt! And MTP has been reminding everyone of the 70 yr thing throughout their anniversary year...

The argument for Dr. Who is better, but also not continuous. Not the doctors -- they change, we all know that... but the show itself. How many reboots has it gone through now? I lost count...

Don Harris [9] -

Um... The Weather Channel? Just a stab in the dark, really...

TheStig [12] -

Thing about the Conners was there was two of them. They were rarely both out of work at the same time, so they had the luxury of occasionally quitting or getting fired. But they were always living on the ragged edge...

The motorcycle shop was a little bit of money-from-nowhere, but the diner they tried to get a loan and a small business grant, and got turned down, so they had to turn to silent investors (the gay former Roseanne boss, and Roseanne's mom) to get it off the ground, so that wasn't as fantastical.

ListenWhenYouHear [14] -

Roseanne was always pretty gay-positive, back in the 1990s, when gay characters barely existed (and were usually pretty stereotypical). Roseanne had a gay boss (um... Leon?), a gay best friend (Nancy), and even eventually a gay mom (Roseanne's mom "came out" at Thanksgiving dinner, no less). Roseanne even had an on-air woman/woman kiss in a gay bar.

These days, pretty standard stuff, but it was fairly gutsy back then -- especially portraying gays as downright normal instead of a collection of cliches.

Don Harris [16] -

Kids show... kids show... um... Dora the Explorer? I give up.

chaszzzbrown [18] -

OK, you lost me, there...

Glad to see everyone enjoyed this detour from the normal thing!

:-)

-CW

Obscure is right! That'd be 'Uncle Floyd' Vivino; carrying on in the tradition of other ostensible 'kids shows' like the more well-known Soupy Sales.

Saw him and his crew do a live show in the 70s, in Huntington, I think...

I would guess Open Mind.

The gay & lesbian communities haven’t been nearly as supportive of the trans community as we should have been. But when it comes to kids, there is no question that they deserve to be protected, regardless of how they identify themselves.

Meet the Press is scripted? Of course, we're not talking about non-scripted series.

I'm pretty sure that even Chuckie has some idea of what he wants to ask, do, and say to the camera, i.e., has a script.

Even more so with the Tonight Show, which has employed a team of writers since the 1950's. They're not there to bus tables, y'know.

The Seinfeld series also aired mostly during the 90's and followed the Larry David rule of NO Hugging-NO Learning. I liked the Seinfeld series very much. Dead on social satire about young urban professionals of the time.

Of course, we're not talking about non-scripted series.

Let's at least try to stay on topic, shall we? :)

Meet the Press is scripted?

I'm pretty sure Chris is aware of the long history of MTP.

Gunsmoke held the crown for 42 years (since 1975), clocking in at a whopping 635 episodes.

The Simpsons have now surpassed that with a cool 639 episodes and counting.

But Dr. Who, which premiered in 1963, has aired for a total of 37 seasons, compared to The Simpsons' 29 seasons.

The Guiding Light was the longest-running television show ever: it was on the air continuously for 57 years (15,000+ episodes), for 72 years if you count the years it was on radio. I believe it might also have the record for longest continuously told story.

But the granddaddy of them all, fellow news junkies, is Meet the Press, which has been on the air continuously since November 6, 1947, a whopping 70 seasons, and is miraculously still there.

I guess they forgot:

** Their righty outrage when Roseanne screamed the National Anthem off key and then grabbed her crotch and spit. George H. W. Bush called her "disgraceful" while the righties had multiple meltdowns on cue.

** Their righty meltdowns when Roseanne tweeted out the home address and phone number of the parents of George Zimmerman, the NRA and Fox News poster boy at the time. Zimmerman's parents sued Roseanne and lost.

** Pro marijuana, pro gay marriage, pro single-payer universal health care, and pro just about every lefty cause you can name Roseanne coming in second to Jill Stein for the nomination as the Green Party presidential candidate in 2012 and subsequently running for and winning the 2012 presidential nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party. Fact is indeed stranger than fiction when you consider the 2012 presidential election had Roseanne Barr coming in 6th place behind the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Party candidates.

I have a treat for you CW. There is a documentary movie about Roseanne's 2012 candidacy: Roseanne For President! Streaming on Hulu. It's kind of crazy, includes quite a bit of her life story, intended for mature audiences, viewer discretion advised. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

~(_8^(|)

Doh!

You have perhaps forgotten SNL? For shame! ;)

Sapphire's brother, LeRoy comes to live with them. He goes to work for Kingfish and Andy at their parking lot. Thinking it is a used car lot, he inadvertently sells one of the cars.

Although the show was the first show on television to feature an all-black cast, it (understandably) came under fire from civil rights groups for its stereotypical and degrading depictions of its characters, and was finally cancelled in 1953, after four seasons. It stayed on television in reruns however, into the early sixties, when it was finally taken off the air for the same reasons.

:D