Did anyone ever suspect that the Simpsons would past eptsode 300? Did any Tv show reach 1000 episodes?
I guess it will be another 20 years before the Simpsons reach 1000
Here’s a site claiming to list the longest-running American weekly shows. Non-news, of course.
Plenty of daily soap operas have gotten to 1,000 episodes, I’m sure, but no weekly series has. At 22 episodes a year, it would take The Simpsons another 14 seasons (not counting the current season) to get even with Gunsmoke. I’m gonna say there’s no way that’ll happen.
i agree.
no way in hell.
even though it’s a goal, would you want to keept he series on life support long enough?
…for your selfish ends???
…would you???
yeah, i knew you would.
but no, it won’t happen.
Well, Johnny Carson was on nightly (instead of weekly) for 30 years; according to my extremely cursory research, he did 4,531 episodes. That’s not quite the same, though.
The longest-running TV show is “Meet the Press”; it started on the radio in 1945, moved to TV in 1947, and is still going strong. I can’t find a specific number of episodes, but if we assume 50 episodes a year (I’m giving them two weeks’ vacation, but only because I get union kickbacks) and count only TV (not the two years of radio), that comes to 2,950 weekly episodes. (2006-1947 * 50.)
Again, that’s not quite the same, because it’s not a scripted show with actors and editing and plot and camera angles and locations and all that. Still, it’s a lot of episodes.
There are also soap operas and game shows; “The Price is Right” is now in its 31st season, so a conservative estimate would suggest over 6,000 shows.
As for 30-minute prime-time comedies, there’s a list on this site that says the Simpsons is now the longest-running, at 15 years. (I don’t know when this site was updated. In fact, I have no idea if it’s remotely trustworthy. Believe at own risk.) “Ozzie and Harriet” ran 14 years, and “All in the Family”/“Archie Bunker’s Place” (counted as one show) ran 12.5 years.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a database of info anywhere that I can find. I’m sure there are foreign shows I’ve never heard of that have been around for ages as well.
(By the way, if any of you are fans of “The Price is Right,” there’s some funny stuff on this fansite.)
People have such short memories. 
I give you “Captain Video and his Video Rangers.” It ran from 1949-1955, five (and sometimes six) days a week. AFAIK, it did not go into reruns, though it may have taken a hiatus in the summer. Or maybe not – it was the Dumont networks only hit and they needed to keep it on the air as long as possible. It also aired in what was considered prime time (which was 7:00 pm).
Assuming 5 episodes a week, 50 weeks a year (for a vacation), for five years, that’s well over 1000 episodes, not even counting Saturdays.
Ah! I underestimated. The IMDB lists a total of 1537 live episodes.
And Don Hastings, who costarred in the show, is still working as a TV actor today (on a soap opera)
Personally, I’d like to see them reach 365 episodes, one for every day of the year, though I don’t think it’ll happen. Though I suppose with 260 weekdays in a year, they already have enough episodes that they can run an episode each day without a repeat all year.
Actually, the Simpsons currently stands at 365 episodes. The one that runs tonight will be number 366. Cite.
According to this past thread, they’re already signed to do seasons 18 and 19 with an option on season 20. If they make it that long it’d at least become the sit-com with the most episodes. I don’t see it catching Gunsmoke in episodes, but it’s got a good chance of surpassing it in number of seasons.
Sazae-san was celebrating its 20th season when The Simpsons premiered and is still going strong, routinely pulling a 25% share. I don’t know how many new episodes Fuji TV makes each season, but if they only make 26 a year, it will pass 1,000 in 2008.
From Wikipedia: “In October 1969, Fuji Television started an animated comedy series [of the Sazae-san comic strip], which is still on the air today and currently in production (making it Japan’s longest running TV anime and the longest running TV show in history). It has been broadcast every Sunday from 18:30 till 19:00”