SG1 - Akron Beacon: ''Stargate'' Longest What? AND Followup

[morjana]

From the Akron Beacon:

Beacon TV
with Rich Heldenfels

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/2006...te_longes.html

''Stargate'': Longest What?
When Sci Fi had a little celebration for ''Stargate SG-1'' during the TV critics' summer press tour, I heard the network make a claim that just didn't sound right. It's also in press materials for the show, and it goes like this: ''With 200 episodes, the longest-running drama in cable history has also became the longest-running sci-fi series in television history.''

To which I say: Doctor Who.

Forget the recent revival. The original version ran for 26 years. It had more than 700 episodes -- 3 1/2 times what Stargate has done. (The 200th episode airs on Aug. 18.)

Methinks that Sci Fi overreached. Comments?


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Followed up with:

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/2006...te_follow.html

''Stargate'' Followup
A Sci Fi publicist has answered my question re ''Stargate'' and ''Doctor Who.'' I may be doing more research on this, but here's the answer for the record:

Guinness awarded the title of longest-running sci-fi series in tv history to Stargate, which took the title away from X-Files (at the 203rd episode, technically). Both shows overshadow Doctor Who in that they had consecutive episodes. Doctor Who while it ran several hundred episodes, had long gaps of not being in production, far longer than a regular hiatus. The show was revived several times and I'm told one of the gaps between production was over ten years.



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Morjana

[Willow'sCat]

Well der... it isn't American so Doctor Who does not count. [/sarcasm]

Huh... whatever gets them through the night. I don't think there is much special outside Stargate about this 200th ep really a lot of shows have gotten to 200, and all the Star Trek eps added up would come to more then 200... Maybe the longest running continuous American scifi show? Hmm, see doesn't have the same ring to it... better to just LIE!!!!

Oh and the last part of your post is semantics, whatever gets them through... Again regardless of what anyone says Doctor Who has the same name same story lines, same characters and made by the same company just because the BBC does not work the way American TV networks do (that is have a season after season with set tight schedules) does not mean Doctor Who had massive amounts of hiatus. Really that only happened after 1989...

[Konrad9]

Sweet job bringing racism into it.
This has nothing to do with racism, it has everything to do with common sense.
Doctor Who doesn't count because of the extremely long times between "seasons."
If Doctor Who didn't dissapear into thin air for years at a time, it would have the record.
Stargate, on the other hand, has been going for ten consecutive years, 200 episodes with nothing even approaching a year of hiatus.
Now, I absolutely loved the season of Doctor Who that Sci Fi showed this past year, but if they can't do something consistently (as in, actually make a show), they don't deserve the award.

[prion]

Sweet job bringing racism into it.
This has nothing to do with racism, it has everything to do with common sense.
Doctor Who doesn't count because of the extremely long times between "seasons."
If Doctor Who didn't dissapear into thin air for years at a time, it would have the record.
Stargate, on the other hand, has been going for ten consecutive years, 200 episodes with nothing even approaching a year of hiatus.
Now, I absolutely loved the season of Doctor Who that Sci Fi showed this past year, but if they can't do something consistently (as in, actually make a show), they don't deserve the award.

Boy, this thread is like the Mel Gibson press controversy

Anyway, the point is that North American producers are living with the heads in a hole in the sand, denying that DR WHO exists and trying to tout their own products as the 'longest'.

However, SG has YEARS to go to catch up with 20 years of GUNSMOKE. And then there's 60 MINUTES, etc.

There are no awards for longest-running shows - I'd rather see a show last two years and be FANTASTIC than 10 years and watch it die a horrible death (yes, the latter years of SG1 have been uneven in quality).

Quality is better than quantity.

[esoap524]

I think it'd be accurate to say that it's the longest running American (or North American?) produced sci fi show.