15 Long-Running TV Series That Overstayed Their Welcome

Fans don’t want their favorite TV shows to end, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t.

As much as loyal viewers may want to see what happens next on Grey’s Anatomy, The Walking Dead, or Riverdale, even die-hard fans — if forced to face the truth buried deep inside themselves during a moment of weakness — may admit that, yeah, the time has come to wrap it up. Why not end on a high note instead of dragging out a series long after, say, the lead actors have moved on to other projects or the story has run out of fresh ideas?

The following long-running TV shows — some of which still air — lingered around way past their intended shelf life.

Grey’s Anatomy (2005-present)

Grey’s Anatomy has become one of the longest-running scripted primetime shows in history…and it’s still going after 20 (!) seasons. The medical drama starring Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey has received numerous awards over the years.

Fans stuck with the show when Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight left after season 5, Chyler Leigh and Eric Dane split after season 8, Sandra Oh left after season 10, Patrick Dempsey’s character got killed off in season 11, and Justin Chambers left after season 16.

Despite decent ratings, Grey’s Anatomy should/could have ended after any of those actors departed. When Pompeo decided to scale back her role as Meredith Grey — the character the show is named after — in season 19, that really should have signaled the definitive end of the series. Wrong!

Suits (2011-2019)

In the legal drama Suits, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) somehow works at a top New York City law firm for years without anyone finding out that he doesn’t have a law degree. The show also stars Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Meghan Markle, Sarah Rafferty, and Gina Torres.

The Suits writers wrote Mike off the show at the end of season seven at which pint Suits should have folded. Instead, it dragged on for two more seasons without one of the original main players. Years later, when Netflix added Suits to its streaming library in June 2023, it became an instant hit and sparked interest in a revival. Anyone excited about the upcoming Suits: L.A.? Anyone?

Homeland (2011-2020)

The Showtime espionage thriller Homeland stars Claire Danes as a CIA officer with bipolar disorder and Damian Lewis as a Marine sniper previously held captive by al-Qaeda. The Emmy-winning show went on for eight seasons and proved extremely popular, with a certain segment of the population paranoid about al-Qaeda infiltrating the U.S. government. The show premiered in October 2011, a few short months after U.S. SEALs killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

Homeland could have worked as a timely limited series tied to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Instead, Damian Lewis’ character hung around until the end of season three, when the writers finally killed him off. The show somehow continued on fumes for another five seasons despite the fact that the chemistry and tension between Lewis and Danes propelled the plot in the first place.

Dexter (2006-2013)

Dexter stars Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood-splatter analyst working for the Miami PD who moonlights as a serial killer with a code: he only kills people who deserve it. The Showtime series also stars Jennifer Carpenter as Debra, Dexter’s adoptive sister.

As the eight seasons of Dexter crawled on, viewers got increasingly frustrated with the fact that Dexter suffered no real consequences for playing judge, jury, and executioner. In the later seasons, when the writers started exploring a sexual attraction between Dexter and Debra, the show jumped the shark.

The god-awful season finale — featuring Dexter escaping to Alaska to become a lumberjack in hiding or something — is considered one of the worst endings in TV history. A 2021 revival series, Dexter: New Blood, redeemed the original series somewhat by giving the character his just dessert.

The Walking Dead (2010-2022)

AMC’s zombie-apocalypse series The Walking Dead adapts the comic book of the same name. The series follows a large ensemble cast of characters trying to survive “walkers” decimating civilization. The series focuses on Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, a sheriff’s deputy who wakes up from a coma in a hospital to discover that the world has changed forever.

The Walking Dead enjoyed at least six well-received seasons, with critics and audiences impressed by the incredible makeup effects and post-apocalyptic drama. Then, for the season seven premiere, gentle Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) suffers a graphic, horrific death. The cruel, upsetting end to the fan-favorite character turned off viewers, and ratings went into freefall.

Still, the flagship series shambled on like a rotting walker for four more seasons, even after Lincoln left the series as a regular and the rest of the cast battled faction after faction in what seemed like the same wooded area on the East Coast for years. The franchise continues today with characters splintering off into various spin-offs that finally allow them to explore other parts of the world.

The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019)

This CBS sitcom about a bunch of nerds and their friends living in Pasadena, California stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Sara Gilbert, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch, Kevin Sussman, and Laura Spencer. The Emmy-winning series ran for 12 seasons.

The pleasant, non-threatening show kept going even after the dorky one-liners by theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper (Parsons) got stale, and better sitcoms came and went. Parsons continued to narrate as Sheldon on the prequel series Young Sheldon, which aired from 2017 to 2024. This means that there were two overlapping years when the character Sheldon Cooper existed in two series on the air.

Our “theory” is that viewers finally got burned out on the overexposed character.

The West Wing (1999-2006)

Aaron Sorkin created this political drama TV series about the staff working at the West Wing of the White House under fictional President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen). The 26-time Emmy-winning NBC series also stars Rob Lowe, Moira Kelly, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, Stockard Channing, Joshua Malina, Mary McCormack, Jimmy Smits, Alan Alda, and Kristin Chenoweth.

Sorkin, who created The West Wing and had his hand in every script during his tenure, left after season four. The show should have ended right then — a single presidential term is four years, anyway — but the series kept going without its creator for another three seasons before declining ratings voted it off the primetime schedule.

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

This supernatural teen drama was the CW’s answer to True Blood and Twilight. Based on the book series of the same name by L.J. Smith, The Vampire Diaries is, at its core, a love triangle between Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and the vampire brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore, played by Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, respectively. The Vampire Diaries ranked as the most-watched series on the CW until Arrow.

Like many shows — especially CW series — The Vampire Diaries became more convoluted as the years rolled by. The focus shifted to supporting characters, other supernatural beings, and bizarre subplots. When Dobrev left the series in season six, the CW should have staked the show.

Instead, the vampires, witches, werewolves, and hybrids lingered on for another two seasons, with Dobrev popping up as a guest star in the series finale. The Vampire Diaries spawned two spin-offs, The Originals and Legacies, both of which have ended their runs as well.

Supernatural (2005-2020)

Supernatural debuted so long ago that it premiered on the WB before transitioning to the CW. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles play brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, respectively, who hunt demons, monsters, ghosts, and other supernatural entities.

Eric Kripke created the fan-favorite series and originally planned it for three seasons before expanding it to five. The fifth season concluded the main storyline, and Supernatural probably should have ended right after Kripke’s departure.

Instead, the show continued on with a revolving door of showrunners for another ten seasons of inconsistent quality. By the time the series finale aired in 2020, Supernatural had an unnaturally long run of 327 episodes.

Smallville (2001-2011)

Smallville debuted on the WB and ended its run on the CW. The popular superhero series stars Tom Welling as Clark Kent and follows him as a teen and young man growing up in Smallville, Kansas before he becomes Superman. Michael Rosenbaum plays Clark’s childhood friend and future nemesis, Lex Luthor.

Although fans waited patiently for years for Smallville to reveal its money shot — the moment Clark Kent becomes Superman — it didn’t happen until the series finale in season 10 when Welling finally dons the iconic costume and figures out how to fly properly. Superman may fly “faster than a speeding bullet,” but Smallville‘s story progressed at a snail’s pace.

Laverne & Shirley (1976-1983)

Laverne & Shirley, a spin-off of Happy Days, stars Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, respectively. The two friends and roommates work as bottle-cappers in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin brewery in the late 1950s. During the sixth season, the ladies move to Burbank, California.

The early seasons of Laverne & Shirley were sitcom gold as Marshall and Williams played a hilarious “odd couple.” Even moving the characters to Burbank still delivered laughs until two episodes into the eighth and final season, Williams left the show after producers demanded that the actress — pregnant with her first child — work on her scheduled due date.

Williams sued, Paramount released her from her contract, and Marshall finished the last season as Laverne without Shirley. Even though ratings were high enough to justify a ninth season of Laverne & Shirley sans Shirley, Paramount didn’t push it.

That ’70s Show (1998-2006)

The teen sitcom That ’70s Show focuses on six teenage friends living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin in the late 1970s. The main cast includes Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, and Wilmer Valderrama.

When a network sets a show in 1976 and it ends its run set in 1979 but the series is on the air for eight years, something doesn’t add up. By setting a show called That ’70s Show after the midway point in the 1970s, the showrunners did not allow much wiggle room for the passage of time if the show became a hit, which it did.

No one learned their lesson because a sequel series, That ’90s Show, debuted on Netflix in 2023, set during the summer of 1995. If it becomes popular enough to run more than five years, it’s going to face the same time-bending problem as its predecessor.

The Office (2005-2013)

The American version of the mockumentary sitcom The Office follows characters at a branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The large ensemble cast includes Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Melora Hardin, David Denman, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, and Kate Flannery.

The series won four Primetime Emmys, a Peabody Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe for Carell’s performance as regional manager Michael Scott.

Although the earlier seasons were comedy gold, the novelty of the mockumentary filming style started to wear thin after about season four or five. Carell’s decision to leave after season seven should have ended the series, but everyone punched the clock for another two seasons as ratings declined and critics got cranky. When the lead actor leaves a series, it’s time to pull the plug.

Two and a Half Men (2003-2015)

This CBS sitcom originally starred Charlie Sheen as reckless bachelor Charlie Harper and Jon Cryer as his younger brother, chiropractor Alan Harper. After Sheen’s departure, Ashton Kutcher showed up as the billionaire Walden Schmidt, who buys Charlie’s house after his death.

Two and a Half Men started out as a huge revenue generator for CBS. During the eighth season, CBS terminated Sheen’s contract after the actor made disparaging remarks about show creator Chuck Lorre. Two and a Half Men should have ended there and was already showing its age, but Kutcher showed up in season 9 and stayed with the series until the 12th and final season.

Riverdale (2017-2023)

This CW series, based on the characters from Archie Comics, stars KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Marisol Nichols, Madelaine Petsch, and Ashleigh Murray. Riverdale premiered to critical acclaim and became a pop-culture phenomenon.

Although Riverdale started off strong as a teen drama-mystery, the series got increasingly bizarre as the years rolled on by introducing supernatural elements, time travel, alternate realities, cults, witchcraft, and random musical episodes. The convoluted story structure confused fans who couldn’t keep track of what decade or reality Riverdale presented from episode to episode.

By the time a comet sent the cast back to 1955 for the show’s seventh and final season, most of Riverdale‘s fans had abandoned the series and casual viewers forgot it was still on the air.