Is SG-1 Really The Longest Running Sci-Fi Series Ever?

POSTED BY: RelFexive
UPDATED: Sunday, November 12, 2006 00:55
VIEWED: 15929
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STORYMARK

Friday, October 6, 2006 4:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:

I personally think that 2-part episodes (where the 1st part ends "to be continued") that can be shown together would class as one episode (i.e. the pilot of Firefly would be 1 episode even though it has the running time of 2).
Maybe someone can state if SG1 has been counted in this way?

But 2-part episodes are still treated as seperate episodes in a production schedule. The Serenity pilot being different because it was a pilot designed to air as a 2-hour TV movie.

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VAMPIRELADY

Saturday, October 7, 2006 3:17 AM

SG1 does have 2-parters. Most places will list them as 2 eps. The start of S8 was a two parter and is listed as eps 1 and 2. Somebody should (if nobody else has) go through and find out how many of those there are. I know there aren't a whole lot in the earlier seasons but I'm not sure about the past couple since I've somehow missed both S8 and S9.

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Saturday, October 7, 2006 4:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
Ignoring breaks of any kind Dr Who is the longest running SF show for the time that it has been on screen from 1963 to present (regardless of how many episodes there are) coz that's like 43 years. WOW!!!

The Twilight Zone first aired in 1959 and (ignoring breaks) has run for 44 years, which would make it the longest running Sci-fi show. You can play all kinds of games with the numbers, for instance: Battlestar Galactica has been on the air 28 years!! Although only about 5 of those years was it every actually airing.

In the end I, personally, tend to agree with people who say that Doctor Who is the longest running Sci-Fi show, for what it’s worth, primarily because of the number of years it continuously ran seasons, which can be directly compared to the number of years SG1 continuously ran seasons. However if you’re going to try to compare the two by number of episodes, then you need a consistent definition of episode, which we don’t have. And if you’re going to be impartial, you have to consider that the way SG1 structures its episodes would probably require that multiple Doctor Who episodes be strung together. It doesn’t make any difference to me which one has the GB world record, but which ever one does should be selected on an unbiased criteria, and I think we can all agree that number of episodes is probably not that unbiased criteria.

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HUGHFF

Saturday, October 7, 2006 6:56 AM

All this begs the question, "Is Firefly the shortest running sf series ever?"

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LASHER99

Saturday, October 7, 2006 2:16 PM

Doctor Who may have aired 700+ weekly episodes on the BBC, but perhaps the serialization of storylines is to blame. By my count, there have only been 188 episodes over the 29 years.

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/SciFi/DrWho/episodes.html

If you note, many of the stories were serialized into 4-10 parts. Perhaps that is what is going on.

CYBERSNARK

Saturday, October 7, 2006 3:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by hughff:
All this begs the question, "Is Firefly the shortest running sf series ever?"

Not if we count Veritas: The Quest as SF. Four episodes.

IIRC there are others that were even shorter. I heard tell once of a show that actually got cancelled during its first airing, but I can't remember details, or even if it was SF --though it probably woulda' had to be. Other genres don't get killed that quick.

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CARTOON

Sunday, November 12, 2006 12:55 AM

Hi. I think I may actually be able to solve this problem.

The Sci-Fi network advertises "Stargate SG1" as the longest-running Sci-Fi program. What they may mean is that it is the longest-running program on "Sci-Fi" (their network), not the longest-running program in the sci-fi genre. It is obviously not the longest-running program in the genre, as properly stated here by several others.

Of course, the "X-Files" wasn't on Sci-fi. Hmm...

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