Comments on: "Stargate": Longest What?

By: Rich Heldenfels

Rich Heldenfels — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 19:25:55 +0000

Re your question, Elyse, I thought the same thing back in May when Sci Fi announced the deal. The hilarious, short explanation from the channel at the time was that it's "an alternative brand of wrestling suited to fit the SCI FI Channel's commitment to fuel the imagination."

By: Rich Heldenfels

Rich Heldenfels — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 19:06:20 +0000

"Law & Order," to cite one ongoing example, has made numerous cast changes, and we count it as the same show because the title remains the same. Daytime soaps not only go through cast changes but ones involving the same character, and we still date them based on the continuing title.

By: Shaye

Shaye — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 15:56:28 +0000

They've often said that Stargate SG-1 is the longest-running cable show in American television history. Some people ignore Dr. Who, but for the most part, they mean in America.

They're not overreaching at all in that respect.

And OF COURSE a show will survive for 26 seasons if the main actor for the exact same character will change every two seasons.

By: Rich Heldenfels

Rich Heldenfels — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:35:28 +0000

As I said in my e-mail to you, Ron, the show did air in the U.S., on public-TV stations, which is where I discovered it. (Gus's comment above notes that as well.) And you're not counting episodes, you're counting complete stories, which ran as multiple-episode arcs.

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:40:21 +0000

Dr Who was a UK produced series and DID NOT run here in the states nor on any cable channel. If the reporter took the time and did some research they would have found out that Dr Who might have ran 26 years but in those 26 years they only averaged (6) episodes per season and only had a GRAND TOTAL of 158 episodes in the 26 year run and so far in the current DR Who seasons it's only had 26 episode run.So to answer the reporters question Dr Who (both versions) ran a total of 184 episodes compared to over 200 episodes in 10 years for Stargate SG-1.

Ron

By: Elyse

Elyse — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:32:21 +0000

Scifi also called Stargate SG-1 their 'original' programming, which they got from Showtime. A lot of stuff they call original is bought. And can you explain what wrestling is doing on SciFi??

By: Rich Heldenfels

Rich Heldenfels — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:48:12 +0000

I'm not sure Sci Fi even bothered to figure out how to slice this (and a query to a Sci Fi publicist has gone unanswered). I think they just liked the sound of the claim.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 03:17:15 +0000

They probably mean longest running with original cast, or close to original. Doctor Who went through many doctor's and compainions while SG-1 has mostly stayed the same.

By: Gus

Gus — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 16:39:57 +0000

Hmmm–perhaps the longest-running Sci-Fi television series in the United States? I'm not counting the various versions of Star Trek as one series, here. Then again, even Doctor Who could make the cut there since PBS stations have been airing it since the mid-1970s or so.

And funny you should mention Doctor Who–disc one of Genesis of the Daleks from 1975 arrived in my mail today via Netflix . . .