"Weeds" will be the 'yes' example after its next season, I reckon...in spite of those who say it should have ended after season 3. I still like it! 
Has there ever been a show with six successful seasons?
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
So shows with more than six seasons don't count?
Well, assuming it has a satisfactory ending, "Lost" will qualify.
DS9, if you delete the first half of S1 and the first half of S7.
And very soon, Lost.
Why should a show with six good seasons get more credit than a show with six good seasons and a couple sucky ones? If the good-six-season show had gone on longer, maybe it would have been sucky too, so it can't claim any kind of superiority.
And very soon, Lost.
Why should a show with six good seasons get more credit than a show with six good seasons and a couple sucky ones? If the good-six-season show had gone on longer, maybe it would have been sucky too, so it can't claim any kind of superiority.
I thought Buffy was great from start to finish. You're not alone!
There's also Oz, although I can't say whether it was consistently good as I've only seen to the end of Season 4...
Yep. This is what I was gonna say.
NCIS is in the extremely rare position of getting more and more popular as the years go by.
And it's an awesome show, by the way.
Seinfeld and M*A*S*H would both make this list.
I think The Rockford Files ran 6 seasons, and it was good. I mean, seriously - what's not to love about James Garner?
I am also confident that LOST will be in this list in a few months.
I think alot of shows that went a long while are good through the sixth season. It's just that they stay on too long and eventually wear out their welcome. ER is in this boat, I think. And in some ways, The X-Files are in this boat too...although I like the last few seasons okay. They weren't as great as when DD was on the show...but they were reasonably decent. Another show that is in this boat (although it was good alot longer than 6 seasons) is Stargate: SG-1.
I would borrow Roger Maris's asterisk and note the original Twilight Zone. Technically, The Twilight Zone lasted for 5 seasons, but it had 156 episodes. By modern standards, 156 episodes would equal roughly 6 to 7 seasons.
I was going to say NCIS as well. There are other good examples on this thread, but NCIS is definitely the best example of a currently running show that shows no sign of slowing down.
CSI is also a good example. That show still manages to do really well and it's 10 years old almost. And if you roll it back to Year 6, it was particularly huge.
The shows that I find have the biggest challenge continuing past a few seasons are the arc-heavy shows. It's very hard to keep that momentum going. However shows that at their core are standalone weekly stories, like NCIS and CSI, and Doctor Who, are the ones with the flexibility that allows them to keep going for years on end. There is no coincidence in the fact that two of the most arc-less shows on the air right now - original Law & Order and The Simpsons - have survived into their 20th years (like them or hate them, if people weren't watching they'd be gone), while arc-heavy shows like Heroes and Ugly Betty are hanging on by their fingernails. And even Lost's producers have had the good sense to call it quits while they were ahead.
Alex
Just finished S7 last night and couldn't agree with you more. I'd even go so far as to say that it's 7 years of work on par with Shakespeare.
Anyone here ever heard of the series "Dream On"? Very funny, edgy, and occasionally touching show about a single father/book publisher that happened in the '90s. It was pretty heavy on sex, but it was surprisingly thoughtful. It was way ahead of its time, in my opinion. It not only had explicit sex, but also profanity, yet it was written with intelligence and didn't just use those things for shock value.
Its cutting to old black and white movie clips to show the thoughts of its main character was a precursor to the cutaways on "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy", and it used them in a consistently clever manner. It ran from 1990-1996 - exactly six seasons. I've been watching it. I haven't got to season six yet, but so far so good.
Its cutting to old black and white movie clips to show the thoughts of its main character was a precursor to the cutaways on "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy", and it used them in a consistently clever manner. It ran from 1990-1996 - exactly six seasons. I've been watching it. I haven't got to season six yet, but so far so good.
i would say: The Wire, but that only went five seasons.
NYPD Blue
Seems an odd proviso to want exactly six seasons, but...
The Saint and The Avengers would both qualify, I'm sure.
The Saint and The Avengers would both qualify, I'm sure.
Nope, you're not. I liked the 6th season, too (the fourth season on the other hand is a different subject).
Typically, shows lasting exactly six seasons are canceled rather than allowed to end naturally. It's either shorter or longer season orders that allow writers to end their shows naturally. That's just the way the industry has evolved.
