TELEVISION HAS BEEN THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM FOR 95 YEARS

Question: Are some of those shows from the past still on the air? Answer: of course. As we continue to define what can be done with television, we celebrate some of the great shows that are still on the air today.

When we talk about TV’s evolution, we may think of long-lasting TV series that we grew up with such as, I Love Lucy in the 1950s, Dallas in the 1970s, Seinfeld in the 1990s or The Big Bang Theory in the 2010s. However, believe it or not there are still shows that have premiered nearly 70 plus years ago that still makes us think, laugh, learn and did I say laugh. These shows may have changed formats, casts and creators in their lengthy runs, but they still are with us.

1930s: FOOTBALL – 82 YEARS ON TV

Although Television began in the late 1920s, it wasn’t until the early 1930s that TV experimented with programming, one of the first successes was sports. Although the show switched networks over the years, it began as NFL on NBC on September 18, 1939. This coverage included champion games and Pro Bowl through the early 1960s. Eventually it secured the rights to carry American Football League, and handling Sunday afternoon games until 1997 when NBC lost the contract to CBS. It would eventually reclaim the rights in 2006, and continually covered the NFL games since.

1940s: MEET THE PRESS – 74 YEARS ON TV

Starting in the early 1940s, news programs continued to surface as informative ways to get the audience their local and national news covered. However, it was the interview style of news anchors talking to politicians and news makers of the day that made Meet the Press, the current longest running show on television to the sensation it was. Though it doesn’t resemble the show it did when it premiered on November 6, 1947, it continues on. It has numerous records attributed to it, including the first live broadcast, as well as the first program to feature a sitting president as its guest, in this case Gerald R Ford in 1975. To keep the show fresh, it has had twelve moderators on the program, including the most tenured, Tim Russert, who stayed on for 17 years, until his death in 2008.

1950s: THE TONIGHT SHOW – 67 YEARS ON TV

The Tonight Show officially started as Tonight! on September 27, 1954, under the comedy legend Steve Allen. Allen set the tone on what the Tonight Show would be: the host would start with a monologue, then move over to a desk to interview a guest, and there would be skits and wacky material sprinkled throughout. Over its history the only major change was the show’s title. For example, it was called The Jack Paar Show between 1957 and 1962, before it permanently changed to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1962, with the host’s name changing in 1992 for Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien in 2009; Leno again in 2010, and finally Jimmy Fallon in 2014. Johnny Carson, whose tenured lasted thirty years is still considered the King of Late-Night Television.

1960s: SEASAME STREET – 52 YEARS ON TV

The show that continues with practically the same cast since it began on November 10, 1969 is Sesame Street. It was the first show to have educational goals shape their content, which in turn allowed for people review and analyze its effect on learning for preschoolers, the content continued to change in it’s forty years of production to meet the current needs for students. It also provided a cultural landscape by including a very diverse group of children and adults to show people what America truly represents, it featured Jim Henson’s Muppets including Elmo, the most popular to help educate our children. Like other children shows of the time, as the world got more complex, it spoke to these cultural concepts, key popular culture references, with a slew of guest stars that appeared on the show.

1970s: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE – 46 YEARS ON TV

The brainchild of Canadian Lorne Michaels produced one of the most popular variety sketch shows that made household names of its many players over the years. Premiered on October 11, 1975, it began with a sketch about wolverines, followed by host George Carlin and Weekend Update with Chevy Chase. For nearly all of its history Lorne continued to oversee the production of this live series. What is interesting is its legacy, it has given us some many famous comedic performers who made careers, including Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. It has even changed the face of late night with Jimmy Fallon hosting The Tonight Show and Seth Meyers handling The Late Night. However, its most enduring legacy is its political humour, especially as it mocks the American election campaign circuit and makes fun of the presidents. 

1980s: THE SIMPSONS – 32 YEARS ON TV

Started as just filler on The Tracy Ullman Show back in the late 80s, it has gone on to be the longest running American animated series, longest running American sitcom and the longest running American scripted primetime television series, both in season numbers and episode counts, clocking it at over 700 episodes as of March 21, 2021. Not only does it get credit for its longevity, but it also actually has records for its cast, which has remained unchanged since it premiered on December 17, 1989. The characters don’t age, but the technological innovations that have happened in the last thirty years keeps them relevant. The Simpsons also has the most Emmys one by an animated TV series, including 11 for Best Animated Program, 16 for Outstanding Voice-Over Performances, Two for Outstanding Music and Lyrics and Five for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. The Simpsons records also include most guest stars featured in an animated series, with over 810 famous names having made an appearance. The fact that I will also attribute to this family is its cooky way it has predicted the future years before it happened, including in 2000, naming Donald Trump as president, correctly predicting the Super Bowl winner in 1992 and Disney buying 20th Century Fox in 1998.

1990s: THE DAILY SHOW – 25 YEARS ON TV

This list has already included a variety program, Saturday Night Live, a late-night show, The Tonight Show, and a news show. Meet the Press, but The Daily Show program premiered on July 22, 1996, showed us that a program can be all three. It brought breaking news with humorous satire, describing itself as a fake news program. Though, Craig Kilborn originated the show as the first presenter in 1996. Jon Stewart made his debut in 1999, staying on air until 2015, when Trevor Noah became the host. Interestingly, 10% of its audience watch it for news headlines, 2% for in-depth reporting and 43% for entertainment, whereas 64% of CNN’s audience watch for new headlines, 10% for in-depth reporting and 4% for entertainment. This study was conducted ten years ago, one wonders if the data would change now. During Jon Stewart tenure the political focus and pop culture centric was its staple, and his correspondents over the years became hosts or stars of their own shows, like Samantha Bee (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee), Michael Che (Weekend Update), Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report, The Late Show), Steve Carell and Ed Helms (The Office), and John Oliver (Last Week Tonight),

2000s: SURVIVOR – 21 YEARS

Reality TV was an unknown quantity to mainstream audiences until Survivor premiered on May 31, 2000. It took sixteen strangers from all over America, marooning them on a desert island to build a society, and eventually kick one member off the island, where the last remaining person would win $1,000,000. Jeff Probst would welcome the losing tribe of that week’s competition, and ask them questions, calling castaways out for something they said, or actions they have done, and allowed them to speak their piece before the vote takes place. Recently the discussions have been revealing, outside of the traditional strategizing, like how women are perceived in the real world, the errors of outing people’s sexuality, and culturally relevant topics you don’t see on reality shows that much. Each season brought on new twists to keep the reality game fresh, with immunity idols, tribe swaps, and even pinning family members against each other. Survivor has been about two things, how can strangers build a society, and how can we convey that story to the broader American public

2010s: AMERICAN HORROR STORY – 10 YEARS

American Horror Story debuted on October 5, 2011 is unique in that it is an anthology show, the type we haven’t seen on air since the late 1940s and 50s. Where those anthology narratives brought on new casts every year, for the most part this series kept the same principal cast playing different roles each season. This allowed the cast to explore different ranges and characters all the time. What continues to make each season standout is its concept of fear, and the major theme each season imparts to us, from the traditional haunted house and horror at summer camp in Season 1’s Murder House in Season 9’s 1984, an insane asylum in Season 2’s Asylum, to taking on witches and the circus freak show. It even had a story that allowed some of its main cast to bring back some of its characters in Season 8’s Apocalypse. The most enduring feature of this lengthy show that it continues to break new ground on what an anthology series could do.

2020s: WANDAVISION – 1 YEAR

Though we are just one year into the new decade, there was a Marvel Television Series that was only nine episodes long, and premiered on January 15, 2021, showed us that there are new ways to entertainment, thrill and excite us. It toyed with the audience giving the hardcore fans a huge red hearing in revealing a character they thought they new, but didn’t, it even toyed with dimensional formats of its programming mirroring the old style sitcoms of the 1950s and 60s, but using those changes it showed us what was real and what was fiction. Some shows are comedies, others are dramatic, with others covering both humour and seriousness, but we never have we seen a tale go from sitcom zaniness to emotional seriousness that is the corner sone of any dramatic story. Added to that this is the first television show in the history of the medium that is infused with commercials, that are key components to the plot. Although this series is likely to be one season, it’s storylines and characters will continue on in other franchises and films owned by Marvel.

When we think of ground breaking television that makes us think, feel and laugh, we might now need to embrace the concept that new shows may thrill us in fresh ways, but it’s the decade long traditional shows