# Who has starred in the most successful TV series? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007 "2020-01-06T02:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/101 "2021-01-15T03:45:02Z")
Bumping this because Ted Danson now has a new show **Mr Mayor** where he is the lead. Obviously just one season so far, but he certainly has been getting starring roles on TV for many decades. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/102 "2021-01-15T03:51:37Z")
wait the guy who played frost was in duckula ? wow i bet he played the butler …i miss that show … it was so off the rails ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/103 "2021-01-15T05:59:00Z")
Never too late to add something: Michael Langdon _Bonanza_ [yes, part of an ensemble cast, but core cast - 428 episodes] _Little House on the Prairie_ _Highway to Heaven_ ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/104 "2021-01-15T06:32:35Z")
_DI Frost_ (actor **David Jason** ) voiced the actual _Count Duckula_. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/105 "2021-01-15T07:02:32Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > Never too late to add something: > > Michael Langdon > > _Bonanza_ [yes, part of an ensemble cast, but core cast - 428 episodes] > > _Little House on the Prairie_ > > _Highway to Heaven_  Kind of too late - see post#22… (and Landon, not Langdon) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/106 "2021-01-15T09:14:46Z")
Read the whole thread and was surprised Ed O’Neill didn’t even get an honorable mention. It’s only two series (Modern Family and Married w Children) but he was top-billed on both and each one ran _eleven seasons._ That has to count for something. Maybe the better criterion would be “total number of seasons as the top-billed star across more than one show.” That makes O’Neill’s number 22. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/107 "2021-01-15T11:10:22Z")
Thanks. I did do a search, but clearly with the wrong spelling. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/108 "2021-01-15T18:48:33Z")
I realize that the man is disgraced now, but we didn’t know it back then. I nominate Bill Cosby _I, Spy_ _The Bill Cosby Show_ (the one where he’s a gym teacher) _Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids_ (animated) _The New Bill Cosby Show_ (Variety Show, which had Groucho Marx as a guest!) _The Cosby Show_ (Doc Huxtable; ran 8 seasons) _Cosby_ (the one with Phylicia Rashad and Madeline Kahn) _Kids say the Darndest Things_ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/109 "2021-01-15T20:04:36Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Read the whole thread and was surprised Ed O’Neill didn’t even get an honorable mention. It’s only two series (Modern Family and Married w Children) but he was top-billed on both and each one ran _eleven seasons._ That has to count for something. > > Maybe the better criterion would be “total number of seasons as the top-billed star across more than one show.” That makes O’Neill’s number 22. I thought that Modern Family was considered an ensemble show, with no one top-billed star. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/110 "2021-01-15T20:21:51Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > > [@RealityChuck](#): > > > > Harry Morgan: _December Bride, Dragnet,_ and _Mash_. _Pete and Gladys_ ran two seasons, so that’s close. > > > > Bea Benaderet: _Burns and Allen, The Flintstones, Petticoat Junction_ > > > > John Forsythe: _Bachelor Father, Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty_ > > I don’t see Harry Morgan as starring in December Bride, nor Bea Benaderet as a star of Burns and Allen. Depends on how you want to define “starring.” I think it applies to anyone who is part of the regular cast. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/111 "2021-01-15T21:38:23Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I thought that Modern Family was considered an ensemble show Traditionally, ensemble casts are billed alphabetically. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/112 "2021-01-15T21:46:22Z")
And what? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/113 "2021-01-15T22:46:54Z")
From IMDB, Ed O’Neill and Sofia Vergara are credited first in Modern Family. But Ed O’Neill does come first alphabetically among the adult actors (but not the kids) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/114 "2021-01-16T08:46:31Z")
Modern Family credits order: Ed O’Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet. Not alphabetical. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007/115 "2021-01-16T11:53:59Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Read the whole thread and was surprised Ed O’Neill didn’t even get an honorable mention. It’s only two series (Modern Family and Married w Children) but he was top-billed on both and each one ran _eleven seasons._ That has to count for something. > > Maybe the better criterion would be “total number of seasons as the top-billed star across more than one show.” That makes O’Neill’s number 22. Add LA Dragnet, which ran for a season and a half, and is really good. I need to rewatch it having finally found someone on the torrents who seeded it (DVD not for sale). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-starred-in-the-most-successful-tv-series/846007.md?page=5)