What is the longest-running TV show?
Meet the Press, an NBC news program first aired in 1947, is the longest-running TV show in the United States. Britain's longest-running is the BBC's Panorama, from 1953.
Meet the Press began as a radio show and moved to television in November 1947. Each week, a host interviews political leaders and experts. It has aired continuously for more than 75 years.
Among scripted shows, soap operas run the longest. Britain's Coronation Street has been on air since 1960 and is the world's longest-running TV soap. In the United States, General Hospital, which began in 1963, is the longest-running daytime soap still on air.
Long-running favorites
Other long-running shows include the BBC's Doctor Who, which first aired in 1963, and NBC's The Tonight Show, from 1954. Sesame Street, launched in 1969, is one of the longest-running children's shows in the world.
Long-running shows often outlast many of their hosts and cast members. Meet the Press has had more than ten moderators, and soap operas regularly recast characters over the decades.
Did You Know?
Each long-running show often holds a different record. The Simpsons, for example, is the longest-running American scripted prime-time series.