Pretty soon 'Ozzie and Harriet' may not be the longest-running sitcom in history

Things are looking sunny for 'It's Always Sunny.'

The Everett Collection

Premiering in the fall of 1952, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet run for a whopping 14 seasons. It was a family affair for its stars, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, and their boys David and Ricky. Over that decade and a half, the Nelson family grew up before America's eyes. Ricky Nelson, in particular, became a teen idol and pop star. When the series wrapped in 1966, it became the longest-running live-action sitcom in television history.

That record has stood for more than half a century. But it may soon fall.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which has run on FX and FXX since 2005, will air its 14th season later this year. The irreverent sitcom has turned former Taxi star Danny DeVito into a comedic icon for Millennials, while co-stars Kaitlin Olson and Glenn Howerton have landed lead roles in other sitcoms and films. Fellow castmembers Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, who also created and developed the series, recently received glowing praise from FX Networks president John Landgraf.

"As long as they can still make episodes of Sunny that are as good as any that were ever made, I think the show has a chance of continuing. And I’d say there is a good chance it might go past Season 14, which is the last one we’ve currently ordered," Landgraf said TCA 2019, as reported by Cinema Blend.

Yep, it seems as if Sunny is going to hit season 15, as long as the cast and creators are up for it. That means it could become the longest-running sitcom in 2020.

That being said, Sunny has only made 144 episodes to date. Ozzie and Harriet churned out a mammoth 435 episodes. So there's still some catching up to do on that front.

Meanwhile, Fox just renewed The Simpsons for seasons 31 and 32. The animated titan sits at 654 episodes, recently passing Gunsmoke's record of 635. Good luck to any show hoping to catch up with that number.

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13 Comments

JDnHuntsvilleAL 62 months ago
I've never watched it, so I looked it up on the IMDb for something, and sure enough I was right.

This show doesn't deserve any honors. 14 years, BUT ONLY 153 EPISODES. That's only about 5-6 years worth of REAL programming.

O&H ran 435 episodes - ALMOST THREE TIMES AS MANY.
pumkinheadfan 62 months ago
Been Watching religiously since it first premiered back in '05!
Barry22 62 months ago
Heard of it, but have never seen it.
MrsPhilHarris Barry22 62 months ago
Same here.
anthony 62 months ago
I also have heard of ,but never seen the show.I'm sure it's an ok show,but back in the day when there were only 3 stations it probably never would have lasted as long.Heck it may never have even been picked up.You really can't compare.It's like in Baseball.How can you compare 50 years ago when you had half as many teams.A lot of guys in the majors today would have been pumping gas back then.
Tampammm 62 months ago
Considering there are about 300% more Ozzie and Harriet episodes out there, the "Sunny" record seems very weak by comparison.

Also don't accept The Simpsons "record" either. That is a really lame comparison to Gunsmoke.
LoriMarshall 62 months ago
Back in 1952 a season was about 33 episodes. Today a season has something like 8-13 episodes. I don't think it is equal to count seasons today with seasons back then. Maybe before they take away the longest running show from Ozzie and Harriet they need to start counting episodes instead of seasons.
remodel18 LoriMarshall 62 months ago
I agree with you on the episodes. They aren't like they were back in the day. I don't think they can compare.
ToddHuber 62 months ago
Great show! Didn't realize it was on that long...
Lantern 62 months ago
I've never seen this show.
ndebrabant Lantern 62 months ago
I've never heard of it.
JeffTanner Lantern 62 months ago
I've never seen it either, though I have heard of it. I don't have cable, so I can't get FX network.
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