The Longest-Running TV Show Franchise Of All Time

When "Star Trek" celebrated its 57th anniversary in 2024, several pundits and enthused Paramount executives lauded the franchise's longevity. After all, "Star Trek" began in 1966, and it returned for 11 spinoffs over the next few decades (12, counting the upcoming "Starfleet Academy"), which totaled episodes somewhere in the 900s. Some fans even began to muse if "Star Trek" had the most episodes of any TV show in history. 

Of course, a collective scoff arose from the gameshow fans of the world. "Star Trek's" paltry 900-some episodes isn't anywhere close to the record, as some TV shows have been running on a daily basis for decades. Trekkies conveniently forgot that the current version of "Jeopardy!" is in its 40th season, and has already outstripped "Star Trek" tenfold with 9,000 episodes. The 1972 version of "The Price is Right" has racked up about 9,600 episodes, providing several generations with something to watch when they're home sick from school. Meanwhile, a news show like "Access Hollywood" has been simmering since 1996, and has already produced 11,844 episodes. 

Indeed, the third-longest-running show in TV history is the Indian agricultural report "Krishi Darshan," which has been giving news updates to farmers on every morning since 1967. It had recently surpassed 16,780 episodes. These types of news shows and gameshows are the backbone of the medium. 

Immediately, however, I am hearing some complaints that the above programs are not scripted dramas, but extemporaneous "live" presentations. Surely, "Star Trek" is still a record holder when compared to other pieces of scripted, fictional programming.

No. Still not even close. One German production company can be a little smug for producing the most number of episodes in any single entertainment franchise in the history of the televised medium. The stop-motion animated show "Unser Sandmännchen," which began in 1959 and is currently still running, has more episodes than anyone, having surpassed 22,000. 

"Unser Sandmännchen," translating to "Our Little Sandman," is based on the works of Hans Christian Andersen, and it originated in East Germany. The show's fantasy sequences featured high-tech devices and vehicles that were, some critics have posited, the result of socialist labor. Some have said that "Unser Sandmännchen" was propaganda, but it's no more propaganda than "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." 

The title character was a stop-motion puppet — a small man with a long white beard and no mouth — who sprinkled magical sand into the eyes of sleeping children to give them dreams. He would, in turn, have dream-like adventures of his own. He was joined by a kobold named Pittiplatsch, a dog named Moppi, and a duck named Schnatterinchen.

The series is not well-known in the United States and has largely remained in Germany, as well as in several Scandinavian nations. The East German version was eventually re-adapted and redesigned for West German audiences when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but the old East German audience didn't like the redesign. The new Sandmännchen was more detailed and looked like a little old man, rather than a dot-eyed puppet. The East German version was revived. The show has been running ever since on a nightly basis, and it appeals to little kids as well as adults feeling a rush of nostalgia.

The idea of the show is to present little kids with a bedtime story, right at 6:50 p.m. when they are climbing into bed. The little Sandman, a Santa-like elf, would provide a gentle, relaxing fable. When the show was over at 7 p.m., it was lights out. The reliable utility of "Unser Sandmännchen" made it a valuable tool for many German parents, and forced little kids to stick to a schedule. 

There was even a Sandmännchen movie in 2010, subtitled "Adventures in Dreamland." 22,000 episodes remain intact. Sadly, streaming kind of destroyed the idea of the little Sandman.

And if "Unser Sandmännchen" was too obscure for record-seekers, one should recall the vast, wild world of American soap operas. Many of the most popular soaps debuted on TV — or even the radio — back in the 1950s, and writers have managed to keep the characters embroiled in turgid melodrama after turgid melodrama for generations. Evil twins, murders, fake deaths, infidelity, miracle resurrections, illegitimate children, incest, trials, marriages, breakups, dead actors replaced by new ones, unlikely hookups, all of these were fodder for the soap opera writer. It's a wonder that soaps haven't caught on with modern comic book readers, as comics and soaps — both seemingly endless stories — share a lot of the same DNA. 

The longest-running American soap of all time remains "Guiding Light," which put out 15,762 episodes during its lifetime, from 1952 to 2009. "Guiding Light," however, may soon lose its crown to "General Hospital," which currently only has made about 15,600 episodes since its TV debut in 1963, but which is still in production. 

"Days of Our Lives," meanwhile, is also still running, but has only made about 15,000 episodes since 1965, while "As the World Turns" made just 13,858 from 1956 to 2010, when it was finally canceled. Fans of "The Young and the Restless" will have to comfort themselves with the mere 13,000 episodes that the show has made since its 1973 debut. The British soap, "Coronation Street" lags behind with only 11,295 episodes since 1960. 

Soaps have so many episodes because they are filmed and broadcast daily. Production on soaps was swift, and the actors on it are some of the best in the business, having to learn lines and perform scenes, sometimes without rehearsal. Soaps are the workhorses of the medium, and they deserve as much respect as possible. 

"Star Trek's" 900-some episodes are but a drop in the bucket.