What Is The Longest Running TV Show In History?

Back in the day, TV shows featured dozens of episodes per season, with long-running series racking up massive episode counts. Take "Gunsmoke," for example, which logged a staggering 39 episodes in its first season alone back in 1955. Airing for 20 seasons, the western-themed drama produced 635 episodes total from 1955 to 1975. But in recent years, the rise of streaming platforms has made episode counts plummet. Today's viewers often binge-watch series in short, easily digestible segments. The first season of Amazon Prime Video's "The Summer I Turned Pretty," had just seven episodes in 2022.

There are exceptions, of course. "The Simpsons" continues to churn out episodes 35 years after its debut on Fox, and its recent Season 34 featured a full 22 episodes. But the 757 total episodes of "The Simpsons" are a drop in the bucket compared to the show that remains the longest-running TV series ever. 

According to Variety, the soap opera "The Guiding Light" reigns as the longest-running television show of all time. Based on Irna Phillips and Emmons Carlson's 1937 radio serial, the series hit CBS in 1952 and was planted there until 2009. With its radio and TV seasons combined, "The Guiding Light" logged an impossible 72-year run and 18,262 episodes.  Just its TV longevity alone earned it the Guinness World Record for the longest-running soap opera in history. And no regular TV show has touched "The Guiding Light's" record, even though it's been off the air for 15 years.

Not only was it on the air forever, but "The Guiding Light" served as a starting point for some big-name stars. Set in the fictional midwestern town of Springfield, the series focused on the Bauer family. And over 72 combined seasons, they had a lot of people come in and out of their lives — including a bunch of future Oscar winners. In 1954, a young Christopher Walken originated the role of Michael Bauer on the show. As child actors, Walken and his brother, Glenn, alternated the part on the CBS soap for two years.

Billy Dee Williams and Cicely Tyson also scored roles on "The Guiding Light" in the 1960s. James Earl Jones ultimately replaced Williams as Jim Frazier on the daytime drama in 1967. Three years before "Footloose" catapulted him to fame, Kevin Bacon played troubled teen T.J. Werner on "The Guiding Light," from 1980 to 1981. Bacon told The Huffington Post that the steady acting job enabled him to quit his job as a waiter. "It was probably around when I started doing soaps," he said. "I started doing 'The Guiding Light.' After a year on 'The Guiding Light,' I got 'Diner.'"

In 1991, Mira Sorvino briefly played Julie Camaletti on the long-running soap, but she turned down a screen test for a permanent role. "I was on 'Guiding Light' for three episodes," Sorvino told The AV Club in a 2011 interview. "But I wasn't made for soaps. It wasn't my dream job. I wanted to do film."