It is rare within contemporary television for a show to reach its potential, as there are many great drama shows that end way before they are given the chance to reach a natural conclusion. Streaming services rarely renew shows beyond their first seasons if they don't overperform with ratings within their first week on the service, and even the most critically-acclaimed drama shows on the air are unlikely to have more than four seasons.
The shows that may actually end up running forever aren't usually dramas, given that most of the long-running shows presently are adult animation. That being said, there are a few sturdy shows that are on right now and could end up spanning a much longer span of time than had been anticipated. Under the right circumstances, they could just become accepted programs that will regularly get an audience to tune in.
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‘Fargo’ (2014–Present)
Fargo is a miracle in that it is adapted from a beloved, all-time great movie, but it managed to have its own identity as a series from Noah Hawley. Although it takes inspiration from the 1996 Oscar-winning classic by Joel and Ethan Coen, Fargo tells original stories based around crimes and conspiracies that somehow connect back to the titular town.
Fargo is an anthology series that has regularly been able to attract A-list stars and has continued to do well at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Given that the only commitment that a star of Fargo would be asked to make is to film a single season of what is almost guaranteed to be a great show, it seems likely that further installments could continue within this format, as long as Hawley still has an interest in serving as the showrunner.
9
‘Invincible’ (2021–Present)
Invincible is one of the best comic book adaptations on television because it faithfully recreates the art style of Robert Kirkman's series. The fact that Invincible is animated does not mean that it isn't also a drama; it’s a surprisingly deep show about family, relationships, and responsibility, and continues to reach dramatic heights with its plot twists.
Kirkman has written so much material in the Invincible universe that the show could continue to draw directly from the comics for many more seasons, and there are even more possibilities for spin-offs. Since the voice cast doesn't age on screen, it would be easy for them to continue playing their characters without ever risking continuity errors or becoming an intrusive production that would cause scheduling issues with any other projects that they are working on at the same time.
8
‘Chicago Fire’ (2012–Present)
Chicago Fire is one of the many current shows set within Chicago that are a part of a connected universe, and has already been renewed for another season. Although Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. are also quite popular, Chicago Fire is often touted as the flagship of NBC's lineup and has already proven its longevity.
Chicago Fire has already proven itself capable of cycling out cast members, meaning that the departure of the main actors wouldn't mean that the show would dip in popularity. It also has the distinction of being one of the few shows about firefighters; while there are enough medical and police shows for audiences to grow bored with formula, there hasn't been a successful show about the lives of firefighters since the Denis Leary series Rescue Me wrapped up on FX over a decade ago.
7
‘Fallout’ (2024–Present)
Fallout is one of the biggest hits of all-time in the streaming era, which makes it no surprise that Prime Video continues to greenlight new seasons and ensure that they reach audiences at a reasonable time (which has become increasingly rare in the streaming era).
Fallout has a built-in audience of viewers that love the games, so it is never at risk of losing its viewership. The universe of Fallout is so vast that it will likely introduce new characters to take over once the story of Lucy (Ella Purnell) is wrapped up. Given that this is an open-universe game in which there are literally countless possibilities for what direction it could go, Fallout has a ton of potential to draw from the previous games, user-generated experiences, and new stories like the ones that were created for the first two acclaimed seasons.
6
‘The Pitt’ (2025–Present)
Image via Warrick Page / ©HBO MAX/ Courtesy Everett Collection
The Pitt became a massive sensation by breathing new life into the medical drama genre and showing that a high-quality prestige series could come out every year with fifteen episodes. There's no reason that HBO Max wouldn't want to continue the series, especially since The Pitt has already been renewed for a third season and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Drama Series in an upset over Severance.
The current season of The Pitt has made several allusions to the “night shift,†in which some of the other characters work. This means that the show could keep going, even if Noah Wyle wasn't playing Dr. Robby for the full time; it’s often compared to ER, another medical drama starring Wyle that was created by John Wells, which ran for an impressive fifteen seasons.
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‘Criminal Minds’ (2005–Present)
Criminal Minds has yet to show any signs of slowing down after 20 seasons, even after being moved to Paramount+. Network television is experiencing a crisis in confidence right now because of how dominant streaming has become, but Criminal Minds has already shown that it can transfer viewers between the two platforms without ever dipping in viewership.
Criminal Minds is also going to be more important for Paramount as the studio prepares to merge with Warner Bros. and create its own streaming service. Since none of the original Paramount Plus content (other than the shows by Taylor Sheridan, who is leaving to work at Universal) has been that popular, Criminal Minds is what the conglomerate might rely upon to serve as its backbone whilst entering into a new streaming era that sees its shows merge with the library on HBO Max.
4
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (2005–Present)
Grey's Anatomy has been running for so long that nearly none of the original cast members are still present, other than Ellen Pompeo. Although the show has lost some popular characters recently, it hasn't stopped it from being a juggernaut on both broadcast and streaming, allowing new viewers to check in at any time that they like.
Grey's Anatomy has proven to be a “comfort watch†for many viewers, which allows people to view new episodes without necessarily checking out the entire library. Given that it continues to be one of the most viewed library titles on Nielsen streaming charts every year, massively overperforming in comparison to any streaming originals, Grey's Anatomy will likely continue as long as Pompeo wants it to, and could maybe survive, perhaps her inevitable exit if there is a successful way of passing the torch to a new protagonist.
3
‘NCIS’ (2003–Present)
Image via CBS
NCIS has now officially crossed the 500-episode mark, which is unthinkable for any other show that has been greenlit in the last two decades. It has reached a point where there are current cast members who weren't born when the show first aired, and NCIS established a fanbase before streaming was even thought of.
NCIS is made on a reasonable budget and has never struggled to churn out new episodes, even amidst troubling incidents like the SAG-AFTRA strikes and the lockdowns related to COVID-19. It may have inspired an entire universe of shows set in the same connected continuity, but the original NCIS is poised to survive for longer than any of its spin-offs. To older viewers who can't keep up with the cycle of streaming releases, NCIS is as dependable a regular series as they could ever ask for.
2
‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ (1999–Present)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was the original spin-off show, and has become a series that has never experienced serious threats of cancellation for the over two decades in which it has been on the air. The supposed “Golden Age†of television that spawned in the early 21st century spawned after Law & Order: Special Victims Units had already had several seasons; to put things in perspective, it aired its first season the same year that The Sopranos debuted.
Procedural shows never run out of material, as they allow viewers to watch in any order that they choose without risking confusion. Given that there is always going to be an appeal in the show's lurid material, as true crime content continues to be a dependable means of drawing attention, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will continue to keep setting records in the years to come.
1
‘Law & Order’ (1990–Present)
Law & Order began in 1990, which is comparatively the same year that The Simpsons began. Although it ended its run in 2010 at what felt like a definitive conclusion, a new renewal that began in 2021 has ensured that Law & Order will continue for the foreseeable future, regardless of how well it is aging.
Law & Order set a model for what all other crime procedurals would look like, creating a formula that has been adopted as its own genre. There would be no point in canceling Law & Order if it were only to replace it with another show that had the same function for the network; if audiences are going to check out a reliable procedural crime show every week, it might as well be the same one that they have been watching for well over three decades.
Law & Order
- Release Date
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September 13, 1990
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S. Epatha Merkerson
Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
