# TV series with the most inexplicable longevity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703 "2008-06-29T22:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/41 "2008-06-30T10:10:56Z")
Red Dwarf and Blackadder. When I started watching both, they were in their prime, about mid way through their run, I assumed they were this good from the beginning. Having caught the first season of both, I can barely watch, it makes me wonder how they got a renewal. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/42 "2008-06-30T10:21:21Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Red Dwarf and Blackadder. When I started watching both, they were in their prime, about mid way through their run, I assumed they were this good from the beginning. Having caught the first season of both, I can barely watch, it makes me wonder how they got a renewal. [/QUOTE] I disagree, I recently had a Red Dwarf marathon (all eight series over the course of a week), and despite the lack of visual polish (due no doubt to a miniscule budget) the writing for the first series is fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/43 "2008-06-30T11:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=Leechboy] \*\*Wings \*\* Nine seasons, and I’ve never met anyone who’s ever watched more than one episode. [/QUOTE] Methink you’re being too harsh. I was never a big fan, nor were my roommates back in grad school. Still, we all saw a good number of episodes, and we agreed that it was a decent show. And that’s exactly what it was. Not a star performer, but a steady one. It’s longevity was hardly surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/44 "2008-06-30T11:43:12Z")
The Gong Show. How did it survive past the first week? This is what they should show to break a person during interrogation. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/45 "2008-06-30T11:45:18Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] I disagree, I recently had a Red Dwarf marathon (all eight series over the course of a week), and despite the lack of visual polish (due no doubt to a miniscule budget) the writing for the first series is fantastic. [/QUOTE] For my money, the first series is the best of the lot. Hmm…well, maybe second to the second. But for my money, a) the last 2 series weren’t at all bad, even if they weren’t up to the earlier series, and b) the first series of Blackadder was also the best, snivelling Edmund, and all. So, you know, YMM - and probably does - V. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/46 "2008-06-30T11:49:09Z")
I was brought up on BBC production values, so I’ve never held a wobbly set against any show! Some shows just seem to start off with great characters, which are then given progressively lazier plots, other start off with shaky characters which are then given tighter plots. For me RD and BA were the latter, something like Frasier was the former. Your M may V of course. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/47 "2008-06-30T12:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] And there have been shows that by every measure should have been cancelled after their fourth episode, yet somehow managed to go on and on. [/QUOTE] I don’t think there are any of these, because the only measure that matters to the network is ratings. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/48 "2008-06-30T12:54:31Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Some shows just seem to start off with great characters, which are then given progressively lazier plots, other start off with shaky characters which are then given tighter plots. [/QUOTE] Well, I think the RD characters changed a lot over the years and I have to admit I enjoy the later episodes more (particularly with the rewritten Cat and reintroduced Kryten). But, the first season’s Lister/Rimmer relationship was brilliant… no doubt helped by the fact that Charles and Barrie were at each other’s throats for most of the time. I think your sentiments are shared on BA with most people. I remember reading an interview with either Atkinson or Robinson saying that they needed to rewrite the characters after BA as it was touch and go for a while as to whether BAII would get made at all. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/49 "2008-06-30T12:58:27Z")
**My Wife & Kids** –The only real actor on the show is the kid who played Franklin. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/50 "2008-06-30T13:16:02Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] America’s Funniest Home Videos is still on? I had no idea. I loved it when it was a new show, but I assumed that it died in the mid-90s. I was happier then. [/QUOTE] That’s exactly what I thought when I read that it was still on. Is it still hosted by Bob Saget? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/51 "2008-06-30T13:16:40Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I’m amazed I’m the first to mention _Knot’s Landing_. It was a mediocre prime time soap opera that got on the air because that was a huge genre back in the seventies. And then it somehow managed to stay on for fourteen seasons, long after the genre that initiated it had passed. My theory is that not even the people at CBS were watching it so they just assumed it had already been cancelled. [/QUOTE] _Knot’s Landing_ was a spinoff of the incredibly popular _Dallas_, which, in the early 80s, was guaranteed gold. It had a Ewing brother, it had California smut sensibilities, it had pretty women with substance abuse issues. It had Alec Baldwin at one point. It DID peter out toward the last couple of seasons and kind of limp along, relatively unnoticed until it finally just kind of last-gasped and jumped off the cliff behind the cul-de-sac. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/52 "2008-06-30T13:31:40Z")
[QUOTE=chorpler] That’s exactly what I thought when I read that it was still on. Is it still hosted by Bob Saget? [/QUOTE] From [the Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Funniest_Home_Videos) (there’s always a Wikipedia page), Saget hasn’t hosted it for over a decade. Bob Saget (1989-1997) Daisy Fuentes and John Fugelsang (1998-2001) Tom Bergeron (2001-current) The page mentions also that all episodes of the show are in syndication. So-- not only is the show cheap to make, ensuring a first-run profit, but they then pull in more over the years. (Plus I wouldn’t be surprised if, just as AFHV used clips from a Japanese show, the Australian version of this show also shares clips, thus spreading the costs that much farther…) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/53 "2008-06-30T13:38:55Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] 163 episodes over 7 seasons: [Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115341/) [/QUOTE] While it’s not a show I’d ever gone out of my way to watch, I’ve seen a number of Sabrina episodes. For the most part they struck me as pretty well-written and decently acted for the sort of show it was. I can certainly understand why it would be popular. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/54 "2008-06-30T14:52:31Z")
**Sabrina** was better than it had any right to be. All the elements were silly, the acting was broad, and the mechanical cat was the worst special effect in TV history. But the show was fun to watch. I’d take it over **Full House** or **Home Improvement** , or even **Seinfeld** in a flash. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/55 "2008-06-30T14:59:35Z")
I’ve been stabbed in the heart. Am I stuck in the **Twilight Zone** or **The Outer Limits**? **Wings** was a very good show. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/56 "2008-06-30T17:43:50Z")
Jag ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/57 "2008-06-30T18:32:33Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] There are soap operas that have been on the air since the '50s. [/QUOTE] And yet, it is only “three days later…” in soap opera land. There was an episode of The Golden Girls where Bea Arthur sits down to watch some TV with her mother. She asks, “What are you watching?” Her mother answers “Guiding Light.” Arthur responds by saying, “I haven’t watched that show in 30 years.” Her mother says, “Well, it’s later that same day…” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/58 "2008-06-30T18:36:09Z")
**Saturday Night Live**. In any given episode, maybe one funny bit. Long, loud sketches that consist of beating to death one joke or one catch phrase. And year after year, the least funny actors are the ones who stay on. **Mad TV**. Entirely humor-free since 1995. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/59 "2008-06-30T18:37:38Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] And yet, it is only “three days later…” in soap opera land. There was an episode of The Golden Girls where Bea Arthur sits down to watch some TV with her mother. She asks, “What are you watching?” Her mother answers “Guiding Light.” Arthur responds by saying, “I haven’t watched that show in 30 years.” Her mother says, “Well, it’s later that same day…” [/QUOTE] I thought that was Rose and Dorothy talking about the soapish comic strip _Apartment 3-G_. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703/60 "2008-06-30T19:11:37Z")
Originally Posted by Leechboy Wings Nine seasons, and I’ve never met anyone who’s ever watched more than one episode. I liked Wings…mostly for Tony Shalhoub…he was a standout in that show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-with-the-most-inexplicable-longevity/454703.md?page=4)