Talk:List of longest-running Australian television series

comment
Countdown on ABC ran for 13 years (8 November 1974 until 19 July 1987 and is not on the list. Baxterp (talk) 21:57, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Article Sectioning
Perhaps we could divide the article into two sections:


 * List of longest running Australian television series in terms of years aired; and


 * List of longest running Australian television series in terms of episodes aired.

I just thought that it would be handy for people to have two lists organised into these orders.

Daniel99091 (talk) 04:17, 20 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Daniel, I have made a start on this. I agree with you that these two lists are needed, as scripted programs don't usually last as long a news/current affairs/lifestyle program can last as is reflected in the 'all programs' list. Cheers -- Ianblair23 (talk) 05:38, 23 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Hey Ian. It's looking really good so far - having this number of lists really adds to the article. Keep up the good work!  Daniel99091 | talk 06:23, 23 June 2008 (UTC).

Just completed a full update of this list. I updated all the years for 2010 and re-ordered them. I added some big ones from the past which were missing including Bandstand, Pick a Box, Burke's Backyard and Quantum. I am sure there are others as well especially games shows. Would like to see more 'total of episodes' included in this list too. -- Ianblair23 (talk) 02:41, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Just noted a problem: "The Great South East" is listed as both entries 59 and 69 on this list. Clarification may be needed if these are different shows (even though they are on the same network) or the incorrect entry needs to be removed. -- Mike Bourke — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.178.69.177 (talk) 04:17, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Just noting an omission: "The Mike Walsh Show" ran for 12 years. "Midday" was also a long running replacement for it. Geoff Steele (talk) 22:21, 19 March 2013 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
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Age
I note the obvious note in the lead, "All data is correct as of 9 December 2014 except years running which needs updating." This sounds like a very tedious thing for contributors interested in this page to continuously update, and I recommend converting the dates to age instead, so that as long as a series is still running, the age of the series will be accurate.

Ex: In the table, Four Corners is listed as running from 1961–present. Changing the hard 55 value (incorrect anyway) to the a formatted age template 62 (the series start date according to the Four Corners article) yields 62. If a series has ended, like Here's Humphrey, we simply add the end date as best we can, i.e. 0 which yields 0. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 05:21, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Referencing
There is a severe lack of references on this page, and considering it is a list of durations, I would think citations should be needed (perhaps best in a seperate ciations column) for every row entry. Is there any reason why it hasn't been done? Also, why is the column headed years instead of seasons, given many shows take years off?

Finally, how do you explain the rank number? It seems to be ranked by year, but for titles that have the same amount of years, there seems to be no secondary sort as far as I can tell. For example, #35 has 23 years and 575 eps, but #36 has 23 years and a higher 629 eps. Shouldn't NRL Footy Show be higher given it has more episodes? Similar story for #59 and #61, #79 and #80, #105, #106, #109, #111 and #114. I'm not even sure you can have ranks, given the majority of titles have no episode numbers recorded. Perhaps the rank column should be deleted all together, or all titles with the same number of years given equal rank. -- Whats new?(talk) 08:22, 24 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Further to what I wrote on the talk page of List of longest-running Australian television series, I would propose removing rank numbers, and sorting by years or seasons on air, similar to the American version of this list. I'd also recommend a references column (there is a severe lack of referencing), and a defined cut off for inclusion on the list (looks like at least 7 seasons seems appropriate based on where the list is at the moment). Thoughts? -- Whats new?(talk) 05:44, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
 * I had a look at that American list and it does look like a better way to present the info. Sorting by years on air is a very good idea. It would actually make it easier to update the list as current shows move up the ladder. We can keep the shows that have run six years (for now) and revisit that. Are you volunteering to put the data in a new table? --J Bar (talk) 06:16, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
 * I think we can just modify the existing table for now rather than start from scratch. I'll give it a crack. Happy to keep six years/seasons. -- Whats new?(talk) 07:08, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Great work @ Whats new?. The article looks heaps better. I shifted Episodes over in the table today. I'm adding more references as I find them. Next step might be to split Broadcast dates into "First Broadcast" and "Last Broadcast". This would help with the listings on multiple networks, but I'm not sure we'll be able to that using the existing table. We may need to use the other style of table, which would require a lot of work to transfer the data over. Cheers, --J Bar (talk) 01:47, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * I personally don't mind keeping broadcast together in the same column sorted by year, I think it keeps it a lot neater. Perhaps more pressing is adding references (which will take a lot of time), and also double checking the number of years and seasons is correct. When I was moving columns around I noticed a few likely errors. They're most likely either simple miscalculations, or the fact that a program was on air for years with less seasons (for example Rake has been on air six years, but there's only been four seasons airing in even numbered years). Also checking the years on air are correct (Highway Patrol was listed as starting 2006 but the article had it starting in 2009 with source). -- Whats new?(talk) 02:35, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * @ Whats new?, Regarding the braodcasting, I'm only thinking of the duplications. If a program screens across multiple networks, the ranges can be written in both Broadcast and Network columns. -J Bar (talk) 04:13, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * True, but can do that with split rows within the existing table. I'll do it with The Bolt Report at the bottom of the table and see what you think. -- Whats new?(talk) 04:48, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * @ Whats new?, I like it. It looks neater that way. :) Is it possible to widen the columns? They seem to be change size depending on what's in them. -J Bar (talk) 05:15, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Yeah have widens columns,  still need to sort out some data. I note you adding date and months to the years of shows. If you prefer, I'm happy to just leave them at years without date/month. Might make it clearer to read and sort. -- Whats new?(talk) 06:04, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * @ Whats new? Thanks for the wider columns. I started adding the day/moth so it's similar to the American article but also so it's easier to calculate the exact years/seasons. -J Bar (talk) 13:31, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

Am wondering whether we ditch the years columns and just rank by seasons. For unscripted shows without defined seasons, we can count a year on air as one season. I look at a case such as Rake which has been on air for six years, but there's only been four seasons (it wasn't on air in 2011, 2013 or 2015 - just 2010, 2012, 2014 & 2016). I don't think years off should count in a list of "longest-running series". -- Whats new?(talk) 23:55, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
 * It can get complicated though because networks stretch out shows over years. For example, Packed to the Rafters never ran their seasons within the same year but always stretched them over two years. A lot of factual and reality shows do that too. Also, some reality shows have done double seasons in the same year like The Block.
 * Also, we'd have to revisit a lot of those older shows and make decisions about those too without much data available. For example, when I checked references yesterday, I noticed Humphrey B Bear stopped production in 2003 and was only shown in repeats until 2007 when they produced two more seasons. For these reasons, I think we need to keep both Years and Seasons in the table. J Bar (talk) 05:13, 29 September 2016 (UTC)
 * A good point, so I guess the rule for inclusion on this list needs to be it meets one of the following:
 * 6+ seasons, but perhaps less than 6 years on air, or
 * 6+ years on air, but perhaps less than 6 seasons total, or
 * Both 6+ years and 6+ seasons
 * to ensure all cases are included. -- Whats new?(talk) 05:39, 29 September 2016 (UTC)
 * @ Whats new? That sounds good. J Bar (talk) 22:27, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Years or seasons
With regards to your merging the years and seasons columns, and previous discussions on the topic, could you explain why you have done it this way? This list needs to clearly define what "longest-running" is - years, or seasons, or both in separate columns. It creates inconsistencies, for example Rake aired 4 seasons over 7 years, but it is hardly fair to suggest it ran as long as My Kitchen Rules which ran 7 seasons over 7 years. I would suggest solely basing this list on seasons like List of longest-running U.S. primetime television series and List of longest-running U.S. cable television series or return to split columns sorted first by year then season. -- Whats new?(talk) 02:50, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I could see how it was starting to get difficult to keep updating years or seasons throughout the year and keep them accurate. Especially with some shows taking a few years off in between. It's also hard to list them based on seasons since so many also have double seasons these days.


 * As a general rule I think we should go with season on the air, as the American list does, so that the list could be updated at the start of every year. The exceptions will be those shows which do double/triple seasons within the same year, which should still be counted as one season/year. Do you agree?


 * As you suggest, I think it would be fair enough to drop shows like Rake which have 4 seasons spanning 7 years. -- J Bar (talk) 03:24, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * No, because then the list is just incorrect. You can't count shows with multiple seasons in a calendar year as just having one per year. You either need to have two columns and count by year, or one column and choose either seasons or years. Just because it becomes difficult to update isn't justification to have incorrect or misleading information. By the way, I'm assuming you are referring to List of longest-running United States television series by "the American list" in which case you'll note it has both columns as this article did prior also. -- Whats new?(talk) 03:42, 11 January 2017 (UTC)


 * No worries. I'll reinstate the columns. I can't revert now because I've made some other changes since then but I'll put them back in ASAP. Or do you have a fast way of doing it? -- J Bar (talk) 04:23, 11 January 2017 (UTC)


 * No shortcut I'm afraid -- Whats new?(talk) 04:34, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Shade of blue
What was wrong with the shade of blue that was used in the article? All the other similar "longest-running television series" articles use that shade of blue rather than green.
 * List of longest-running United States television series
 * List of longest-running Philippine television series
 * List of longest-running Indian television series
 * List of longest-running Tamil Language television series --J Bar (talk) 03:30, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I don't know if that colour was arbitrarily chosen or not, I was just making it a similar green colour which would indicate active or current per Template:Active which seems more appropriate. -- Whats new?(talk) 03:41, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I find it easier to read with that lighter colour. --J Bar (talk) 23:28, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
 * For the sake of consistency I'm happy to go back, but I think it is a poor choice personally. -- Whats new?(talk) 23:43, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

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longest running overseas tv shows in Australia
Is there such an article? Or should they be included in this article, in a different colour? Off the top of my head, the longest running ones are probably Sesame Street (since 1971, so 47 years and counting) and Days of our Lives (1968-2013, 45 years). Adpete (talk) 03:22, 9 October 2018 (UTC)
 * No, a list of international programs airing in Australia would almost certainly fail notability -- Whats new?(talk) 21:10, 9 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I only mean the long running ones. I think it's interesting and notable that (e.g.) Sesame Street has been on Australian TV for 47 years. Adpete (talk) 23:35, 9 October 2018 (UTC)
 * This article is for Australian programs, not international, so it is not notable for inclusion here. A separate article would not meet the notability threshold in my opinion -- Whats new?(talk) 23:56, 9 October 2018 (UTC)

a few shows that need adding
Also is there a reason why news bulletins and sports broadcasts aren't there? Adpete (talk) 08:47, 9 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Mastermind (ABC) 1978-84, according to the Mastermind (TV series) article.
 * This Day Tonight (ABC) 1967-78 . I think it originally, or later, was called Today Tonight. Different states had their own versions.
 * The Winners
 * The Mike Walsh Show (1973-1984 or possibly 1985)
 * Wide World of Sports (Australian TV series) (1981-1999 and 2008-2016 the article says, though I think its format and timeslot changed a lot)
 * Broadcasts of sporting events aren't television programs as such. Some of the programs you've listed here may be worthy of inclusion, provided their running can be reliably sourced, and the program itself is notable (if the program doesn't have an article, it probably isn't notable) -- Whats new?(talk) 21:10, 9 October 2018 (UTC)


 * If it was broadcast for 6 or more years, it was notable, surely? (WP:TVSHOW).
 * To me a news bulletin has a team of writers etc, and in that sense isn't really different from current affairs. Sports broadcasts are perhaps a little different because they are streaming a live public event. Either way, I think we should at least make it clear what is excluded and included, and even better if we can find a link to an accepted definition. Adpete (talk) 22:40, 9 October 2018 (UTC)


 * I agree that the news bulletins should be included in the list of longest running programs. Similarly, "Midday Matinee"/"Midday Movie" has appeared consistently (at least on ATN7) on weekdays at either midday or 12:30 pm from 1957 until now. Theirishslave (talk) 03:03, 10 October 2018 (UTC)