A Brief History
On August 5, 1957, the iconic pop music show American Bandstand made its debut, starting a 37-season run of 3002 episodes and making host Dick Clark a national icon. Despite its impressive record, Bandstand is far from the longest running TV show, and here we list some of the shows that beat Bandstand. Which is your favorite?
Digging Deeper
Meet The Press, a Sunday morning talk show since November of 1947, over 3600 episodes.
CBS Evening News, daily newscast since May of 1948, well over 16,000 episodes.
Music & the Spoken Word, a religious LDS show since October of 1949, 4800+ episodes.
The Archers, British soap opera, since January of 1951, almost 20,000 episodes. This entry is actually a radio drama and is included to show that these are still around, too.
The Tonight Show, variety and talk, since September of 1954, over 15,000 episodes.
General Hospital, soap opera, since April of 1963, over 14,000 episodes
Scooby Doo, cartoon, since September 1969, over 2800 episodes.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Edgerton, Gary. The Columbia History of American Television. Columbia University Press, 2009.
Jackson, John. American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Empire. Oxford University Press, 1999.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by 1dancer of American Bandstand‘s 50th anniversary reunion in 2002, has been released into the public domain worldwide by the copyright holder of this work.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
