XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: no_offline_contact_please@example.com   
      
   On 2015-05-04 8:13 PM, jeebz@invalid.lan wrote:   
   > On Mon, 04 May 2015 18:21:53 -0400, David  wrote:   
   >   
   >    
   >   
   >> The longest-running scripted show in television history, THE SIMPSONS   
   >> exploded into a cultural phenomenon in 1990   
   >   
   > I watch hardly any TV and yet even I know that there are longer   
   > running scripted shows on TV than the Simpsons.   
   >   
      
   That's correct. The definition that you've cited omits (or implies)   
   another condition that affects which shows meet the definition: it has   
   to be an American show. And a second condition: it has to be a   
   prime-time series.   
      
   For example, the British series, Coronation Street, began in 1960 which   
   means it has been running for 55 years (and presumably 55 seasons).   
   60 Minutes started in 1968, long before the Simpsons did, but is   
   non-scripted. I'm sure some of the sports shows like the various   
   football games started long before the Simpsons, although I'm not a   
   sports person and could be wrong. (I'm Canadian and just learned that   
   Hockey Night in Canada began on radio in 1931 and made the jump to TV in   
   1952 where it's been a staple ever since.) Saturday Night Live has been   
   running 40 years and must be largely scripted (as opposed to improvised)   
   yet it doesn't count because it's after prime time just as soap operas,   
   some of which started long before even Coronation Street, apparently   
   don't count. According to Wikipedia:   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Guiding Light stands as the fourth longest-running program in all of   
   broadcast history; only the American country music radio program Grand   
   Ole Opry (first broadcast in 1925), the BBC religious program The Daily   
   Service (1928), and the Norwegian children's radio program   
   Lørdagsbarnetimen (first aired in 1924, cancelled 2010) have been on the   
   air longer.   
   ======================================================================   
      
   Basically, The Simpsons only gets to make longevity claims by defining a   
   lot of other shows as not being in the same category.   
      
   That is not a slam on The Simpsons. It's a remarkable show and well   
   worth the attention that has been paid to it. It's just that a lot of   
   other shows have been running a lot longer than it has.   
      
   --   
   Rhino   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)