List of longest-running television shows by category

This is a list of the longest-running television shows by category. The criterion for being the longest-running show is by the number of years the show has been on the air and not the number of episodes produced.

The Brazilian show Programa Silvio Santos is the longest-running television show of all time hosted by the same person.

Rank	Years	Category	Show name	Country	Duration	Channel/network	Episodes
1	79	Outside broadcast	Lord Mayor's Show	United Kingdom	1937–1938, 1946–present (not broadcast during WW2 1939–1945)[1]	BBC Television Service, BBC One
2	77	Sports outside broadcast	The Championships, Wimbledon[2]	United Kingdom	1937,[3] 1939, 1946–2019, 2021–present (not played during World War II, nor in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns)	BBC Television Service, BBC One/Two
3	75	News show	Meet the Press	United States	1947–present	NBC	4,946+
4	73	Newscast	CBS Evening News	United States	1948–present	CBS	16,400+
5	73	Religious program	Le Jour du Seigneur	France	1949–present	TF1 (1949–87) France 2 (since 1987)
7	70	Sports show	Hockey Night in Canada	Canada	1952–present	CBC, City/Sportsnet, CTV
8	68	Sports magazine show	La Domenica Sportiva	Italy	1953–present	RAI	3318 (as of 10 May 2020)
		Music talent show	NHK Nodo Jiman	Japan	1953–present	NHK	2,900 (as of 2012)
		Current affairs series	Panorama	United Kingdom	1953–present	BBC One
9	67	Talk show	The Tonight Show	United States	1954–present	NBC
10	66	Song contest	Sanremo Music Festival	Italy	1955–present	RAI (radio broadcast since 1951, TV broadcast since 1955)
		Annual live international beauty pageant	Miss Universe	United States	1955–present	CBS, NBC, FOX	64
		Annual live national beauty pageant	Miss America	United States	1955–present	ABC, NBC, CBS	63
11	67	Song contest	Eurovision Song Contest	Various participating countries	1956–present	European Broadcasting Union	The most recent contest (2023) is hosted in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on behalf of Ukraine.
12	65	Science show	The Sky at Night	United Kingdom	1957–present	BBC One, BBC Four	804 (as of September 2020)
		News show	Telediario	Spain	1957–present	TVE
13	63	Historical drama	Zenigata Heiji	Japan	1958–2005
		Agriculture information	Plodovi zemlje	Croatia	1958–present	HRT 1	1900 (as of 1 March 2017)
		Children's show	Blue Peter	United Kingdom	1958–present	BBC One, CBBC	5,000 (as of 1 February 2018)
14	62	Animated	Sandmännchen	Germany	1959–present	Deutscher Fernsehfunk, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg	22,200
		News show	Telejornal	Portugal	1959–present	RTP 1
		Soap opera	Coronation Street	United Kingdom	1960–present	ITV	10000+
16	60	Comedy	KVN	Soviet Union (1961-1991) Russia (1991-present)	1961–present	Channel One Russia, KVN TV
		TV feedback show	Points of View	United Kingdom	1961–present	BBC One, BBC Two
		Quiz show	It's Academic	United States	1961–present[4]
16	60	Song contest	Festivali i Këngës	Albania	1962–present	RTSH
17	60	Medicine talk show	Trupi dhe Shëndeti	Albania	1962–present	RTSH	1000+
18	60	Variety show	Sábado Gigante	Chile United States	1962–1986; Univision 1986–2015	Canal 13	2,800+
19	60	Science fiction	Doctor Who	United Kingdom	1963–1989, 1996,[5] 2005–present	BBC One	871 (as of 23 October 2022)
20	58	Variety show	Programa Silvio Santos	Brazil	1963–present	SBT	3000+
21	59	Music chart show	Top of the Pops	United Kingdom	1964–2006; Christmas shows only 2006–present	BBC One, BBC Two	2,219
		Documentary	Four Corners	Australia	1961–present	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
22	56	Game show	Des chiffres et des lettres	France	1965–present	France 2 (1965-2006) France 3 (since 2006)	20,000 (as of October 2012)
23	59	Soap Opera	Days of Our Lives	United States	1965-present	Corday Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television	14,600+
24(tie)	56	Children's show (preschool)	Play School	Australia	1966–present	Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)	4,500+
24 (tie)	56	Comedy special	Áramótaskaupið	Iceland	1966–present	Ríkisútvarpið	56
26	55
25	53	Anime for kids	Sazae-san	Japan	1969–present	Fuji Television	7000+[6]
		Kids Educational	Sesame Street	America	1969-present	NET (1969-1970), PBS (1970-), HBO (2016-2020), HBO Max (2020-)	4000+
25	52	Police procedural	Tatort	Germany	1970–present	Das Erste	1,136 (as of 6 September 2020)[7]
26	50	Sketch comedy show	Sábados Felices	Colombia	1972–present	Segunda Cadena/Cadena Dos(1972-1976,1987-1991,1998) Primera Cadena/Cadena Uno (1977-1983,1984-1987, 1992-1997) Canal Caracol/Caracol Televisión (1998–present)	2,900+
29	49	Charity show	The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon	United States	1966–2014	Various	48
		Sports variety	Grandstand	United Kingdom	1958–2007	BBC One, BBC Two	3500
27	47	Film review	Film	United Kingdom	1971–2018	BBC One
30	45	Political satire	Extra 3	Germany	1976–present	Das Erste
		Automotive	Top Gear (relaunched in 2002)	United Kingdom	1976–2001, 2002-present	BBC Two, BBC One
28	44	Variety show	Eat Bulaga	Philippines	1979-present	RPN 9, ABS-CBN, GMA Network, TV5
29	38	Glove puppetry show	Pili	Taiwan	1984–present[8]	Pili TV	2,000+
30	37	Sitcom	Last of the Summer Wine	United Kingdom	1973–2010	BBC One	295
31	35	Music video show	Rage	Australia	1986–present	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
32	34	Comedy drama	Kopi kade	Sri Lanka	1987–present	ITN	1,900+
33	34	Anime for kids	Anpanman	Japan	1988 - present	Nippon TV	1,600+
34	33	Reality show	America's Funniest Home Videos	United States	1989–present	American Broadcasting Company
35	33	Adult animation	The Simpsons	United States	1989–present	Fox Broadcasting Company	700+
38	26	Adult Animation	South Park	United States	1997-present	Comedy Central	325
40	28	Variety Show	Siempre en Domingo	Mexico	1969-1998	Televisa	1,480
41	24+	Adult Animation	Family Guy	United States	1999-present	Fox Broadcasting Company	400+