The TV shows that produced the most episodes

There are a few shows of this ilk on this list. Back in the early days of television, there was a lot of anthology series with “Theater” in the title along with the sponsor of the show. “General Electric Theater” with its 302 episodes is maybe the most notable of the bunch, even if it aired the fewest number of episodes. The reason? The was hosted by Ronald Reagan. Yes, that Ronald Reagan.

Another element of this list is a few recent CBS dramas that have a reputation of being watched by your Boomer parents and nobody else. “Criminal Minds” managed to squeeze blood out of the stone that is innocent women being horrifically massacred in the midst of a banal procedural for 324 episodes before ending in 2020. In 2022, Paramount+ started airing episodes of "Criminal Minds: Evolution," which is considered a continuation of the show. However, we aren't going to count "Evolution."

Speaking of ending in 2020, “Supernatural” did the same thing. The show was successful enough to make the leap from the WB to the CW once Warner Brothers’ titular network merged with UPN. Fans of the Winchester brothers were a devoted group, giving this supernatural show a cult following that lasted for 15 seasons and 327 episodes.

“ER” wasn’t the first popular medical drama, but it really was like a shot of adrenaline to the genre. It also made some stars, most notably George Clooney, who used it as a springboard to success. The show existed long after Clooney left, though, and didn’t end its run until 2009 after 331 episodes.

“Lux Video Theatre” was an early television show, beginning in 1950 as a spinoff of a popular radio show. It was dedicated to airing original teleplays as well as abridged versions of existing plays. Many future and former stars made appearances over the show’s run of 336 eps, and for a couple of years, it was hosted by James Mason.

“CSI” spawned three spinoffs of varying success, but none of them lasted as long as the mothership. The procedural that bears some responsibility for people’s misperception of how forensic science works proved quite popular, even getting Quentin Tarantino to stop by to direct an episode. After 15 years on air, and with the cast having changed a few times, “CSI” finally came to a conclusion after 337 episodes. There is now a "CSI: Vegas," but it is considered a new show.

The first three seasons of “The Danny Thomas Show” were known as “Make Room for Daddy.” Then they decided to bank on the name recognition of the star. The show also made a jump from ABC to CBS, which is where it came to its conclusion after 343 episodes. “The Danny Thomas Show” also spawned a spinoff you might be familiar with: “The Andy Griffith Show.”

“Dallas” was such a successful primetime soap that it spawned a spinoff that is one of the longest-running shows ever. “Knots Landing” isn’t as popular as the show that originated it, there was no “Who shot J.R.?” moment, but it still managed to rack up 344 episodes between 1979 and 1993.

“American Dad” is still doing new episodes, having lasted 19 seasons and 344 episodes thus far. Seth McFarlane’s show started off on FOX as a parody of the Bush administration, but after moving to TBS it became more of a meta-comedy with less of a political bend.

Ah, the days when a brewery would sponsor a show that aired costumed dramas. Beginning its run in 1951, the “Schlitz Playhouse” won one Emmy for writing and featured rare TV appearances by the likes of Fred Astaire and James Dean. It ran from 1951 to 1959 and aired 347 episodes in total.

“The Big Story” was one of the most popular radio shows of its era. The premise was that radio reporters would send in stories and be dramatized. It proved popular enough that they turned it into a TV show. At first, it was hosted by the radio’s narrator Bob Sloane, it would run for 349 episodes, most of which aired on NBC.

Hey, we mentioned “Dallas” before, and now it’s here on its own merits. Much like its spinoff “Knots Landing,” the iconic primetime soap aired a bunch of episodes, namely 357 of them. The story of the Ewing family captures the imagination, and also had a couple of truly famous moments. One was “Who shot J.R.?” of course, but then there was also when a bunch of the show was wiped away as a dream sequence.

Back-to-back current shows! “Grey’s Anatomy” is steamier and more of a soap opera than “ER,” but it has some similarities. The fact they are both medical dramas, of course, but also being able to handle changes to the cast. The likes of Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey may come and go, but 369 episodes in, and “Grey’s Anatomy” hasn’t stopped yet 

You know the gist of it at this point. This is another anthology show that featured a lot of future famous actors. The show began as a half-hour show, but moved to an hour and then started telling “ripped from the headlines” stories. When it moved from NBC to CBS, those stories were often about Cold War Topics. Two episodes were written by “The Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling, an experience that certainly helped with his career. The show lasted until 1963 and produced 370 episodes.

For a long time, “My Three Sons” was the go-to reference for old-school sitcoms. There’s a reason for that. The show aired from 1960 through 1972, so a generation grew up watching the Douglas family on the air. It’s also notable that “My Three Sons” aired 184 episodes in black-and-white before doing 196 episodes in color.

We arrive at another show that is still on the air. Although, that wasn’t always true. “Family Guy” came close to being a beloved but short-lived TV show. It ran for a few seasons on FOX but then got canceled. However, due to DVD sales and rerun ratings in syndication, “Family Guy” was given a second chance. Now, the Griffin family has been on for 21 seasons and aired exactly 400 episodes.

Westerns were huge in the early days of television, and several of them ran for hundreds of episodes. However, only a couple of titans appear on this list. The first of those is “Bonanza” which focuses on the Ponderosa Ranch and the Cartwright family. “Bonanza” technically spanned three decades, as it began in 1959 and ended its run in 1973 after 431 episodes.

The longest-running live-action sitcom? That would be “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” The show was based on the real Nelson family, and starred them as well. Ozzie and Harriet Nelson were a real married couple, and their kids, Ricky and David, were also on the show. The Nelsons hung out on the air for 435 episodes.

This is the first show on the list that has aired over 400 episodes. “NCIS” is the quintessential CBS procedural that nobody you know watches but somehow enough people watch to stay on the air for years. A spinoff of “JAG,” “NCIS” has had a few spinoffs of its own as well. It may never get any critical love, and you may not know a single thing about it, but tons of people clearly love it still after 446 episodes.

Is “Law & Order” the quintessential procedural? You could argue that’s the case. It’s both a cop drama and a law drama, two things that people love. The cast came and went. Jerry Orbach was sarcastic and taciturn. Stories were ripped from the headlines. In the end, “Law & Order” lasted 20 seasons, two decades, and 456 episodes...or did it? "Law & Order," the original, was rebooted in 2022, and it is now up to 477 episodes.

Here we have the longest-running of the anthology series from the ‘50s. Part of it is that “Kraft Television Theatre” is one of the earliest TV shows. It began airing all the way in 1947. They churned out episodes and staged plays until 1958, racking up 525 episodes on NBC. Tip your cap to the champion of the anthology shows.

It seems like “Law & Order” did an unfathomable number of episodes, and yet its spinoff has surpassed it in terms of its run. Mariska Hargitay has anchored the procedural since 1999, and it’s still going strong. "SVU" is now up over 500 episodes, hitting 527 with no end it sight.

How many times could Timmy fall into a well? OK, so that didn’t happen in every episode of “Lassie,” but it had to happen more than once. After all, the story of a boy and his dog ran for 591 episodes. As it ran from 1954 through 1971, needless to say, there was more than one Lassie during the show’s run.

For years, “Gunsmoke” was the champion of duration on television. It was the quintessential Western and ran forever. The CBS show was on for two decades of doing episodes seemingly every week of the year. “Gunsmoke” finally ended its run in 1975, long after the heyday of the Western, after a whopping 635 episodes. It’s the longest-running live-action show to date.

That being said, “The Simpsons” has begun to dwarf the competition. Perhaps the most iconic TV show ever, the denizens of Springfield have been on the air since the ‘80s with no signs of stopping. Homer Simpson has been on the air for 34 seasons to date and for 740 episodes. We feel confident saying that no show is going to end up passing “The Simpsons” on this list. As perhaps the best comedy show ever, that’s cool with us.