With the influx of television shows over the last decade thanks to more and more cable channels and the introduction of streaming services allowing for easily accessible content, audiences are seeing more frequent cancellations to make room for other projects due to over-saturated television markets. Therefore, it is becoming less and less likely for television dramas to last for many seasons, as was more common years ago.
However, there are a few beloved television shows that manage to, with the help of committed fanbases and high ratings, make it through the minefield of TV cancellations and air for multiple years or even decades.
10 Criminal Minds Had A Beloved 15 Season Run
Criminal Minds was a popular CBS police procedural that followed the many line-ups of the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI. The team was seen traveling across the US, hunting and tracking down serial killers through the means of criminal profiling. While many characters came and went, the core group of agents stayed for most of the show's run and became extremely loved by viewers. The show had a passionate fanbase while it was airing, which still exists today, and many more viewers are discovering the show through streaming. Criminal Minds remains one of the most streamed and binged television shows of recent years.
9 Supernatural Had A Passionate Fandom For 15 Seasons
Supernatural followed brothers Sam and Dean Winchester as they continued the family legacy of hunting demons and supernatural creatures for 327 episodes. The show ran for fifteen years on The WB and The CW and garnered a huge fandom. Fans loved watching the relationship between the brothers develop throughout the series, and grew attached to many of the side characters, including the angel Castiel, who joined the show in the fourth season. While the ratings and popularity of the series did decrease towards the end of the run, committed fans kept hype about Supernatural circulating the internet, with the finale becoming one of the most memorable final episodes in recent years.
8 ER Aired For 15 Seasons
Airing for fifteen years and propelling George Clooney to stardom, ER was a medical drama that followed the doctors and patients of the emergency room at the fictional Chicago County General Hospital. Creating the format for the modern-day medical drama, ER is one of the most successful and longest-running dramas of all time, falling into second place in the US behind Grey's Anatomy. The show was extremely popular with viewers and earned many accolades. Over its run, the show achieved 124 Emmy nominations and won a Peabody award.
7 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Has Become A Franchise (15 Seasons)
CSI is a police procedural drama that follows the work of forensic scientists and crime scene investigators in Las Vegas as they uncover clues and evidence pertaining to unusual deaths.
The series ran for fifteen years to a committed audience of viewers. CSI has since become a franchise with CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and CSI: Cyber all beginning while the original show was still airing. The series concluded in 2015 with a feature-length series finale and has since spawned yet another spin-off; CSI: Vegas.
6 Grey's Anatomy Is Going Strong At 18 Seasons
Beloved medical drama Grey's Anatomy has been on viewers' screens since 2005 and is still watched by fans every Thursday night. The show focuses on Meredith Grey and the employees of Grey Sloan hospital in Seattle and has a huge ensemble of characters that have changed a lot since the show's first episode. Grey's Anatomy's popularity resulted in two spin-off shows, Private Practice, which ran for six seasons, and Station 19, which is about to conclude its fifth season, proving that almost 20 years in, fans still want as much content from the Grey's world as possible.
5 NCIS: Naval Crime Investigative Service Has Grown To 19 Seasons
NCIS is a procedural drama that follows a Major Case Response Team of the NCIS, based in a Washington D.C. field office. NCIS is technically a spin-off from the American legal drama JAG, and the characters were introduced in JAG's eighth season. Like many other successful procedurals, NCIS is the first in a line of many spin-off series, with backdoor pilots for NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, and NCIS: Hawaii, all airing as episodes of NCIS. As of 2022, the show has been renewed for a 20th season.
4 Law & Order Has Returned To Screens For Its 21st Season
Law & Order is a police procedural from creator Dick Wolf that launched the hugely successful Law & Order franchise. The show follows the New York City Police Department and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office as they solve crimes and prosecute those behind them.
Law & Order initially ran from 1990 to 2010 before it was canceled, being taken over in length and popularity but its successor Special Victims Unit. However, the show was revived in 2021 for the 21st season and has since been renewed for the 22nd season.
3 Gunsmoke Found A 20 Season Long Life On Television
Gunsmoke was an American western drama that began as a radio show before becoming a television series in 1955. The show ran for 20 seasons, until 1975, and became extremely popular with audiences. The show follows an ensemble of characters led by James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon as he attempts to keep the peace in Dodge City. The series concluded with a total of 635 beloved episodes overall. A decade after it originally ended, Gunsmoke returned to TV with a series of five made-for-TV movies.
2 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Is About To Reach 24 Seasons
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, often referred to simply as SVU, is one of the most successful shows to come out of Dick Wolf's production company, Wolf Entertainment. The series stars Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler of the New York City Police Department's Special Victims Unit, a unit that deals primarily with sexually oriented crimes. In 2019, SVU became the longest-running US live-action primetime series in history and is still going strong into its 24th season and bypassing the 500-episode milestone.
1 Doctor Who's Original Run Lasted 26 Seasons
Doctor Who is one of the most well-known and beloved science fiction dramas of all time, following the Time Lord known only as 'The Doctor' as they travel through space and time with various companions. Being an alien, The Doctor regenerates every few years, allowing a new actor to step into the role and the show to continue. The original series aired for 26 seasons from 1963 to 1989 and saw eight different men take on the role. The show was then rebooted in 2005 and has seen a further five actors inside the TARDIS, with a sixth version on the way, meaning Doctor Who has technically been on viewers' screens for 39 seasons in total.