What television shows that are currently on, will have a life in the next generation? We have seen many tv shows that are still around today. Some were shot 10 years, 20 years, or even 30+ years ago. Obviously getting that right combination is not an exact science. If it was, every show being produced today would carry the torch on into the next decades to come.

There are some shows that are starting to make their rounds now. Only time will tell if they are generation proof. Looking at shows like the Cosby Show, Friends, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, The Saparnos, Full House, Who’s The Boss, and the X Files, are certainly making positive strides. Will all of these shows be around 10 years from now? Or maybe just one or two of them?

Then you have the next grouping down. You could put Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredible Hulk, MASH, A Team, Charlies Angels, Happy Days,  and shows like these in that next grouping. I know, Happy Days was a 50’s show right? It was meant to look like that, but really came out in the 70’s. So it’s unique in it’s ability. They had the modern technologies of the 70’s to make the show look so much like the 50’s. So Happy Days will probably always dominate shows that really did come out in the 50’s.

So many great shows from the past that still make their rounds today. I couldn’t begin to name them all, without leaving off some very big ones. Brady Bunch had a great chemistry and could see it stick around many more years. Just like Gilligan’s Island. The castaways all fit each other so perfectly, it has made the show still in rotation these days. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last Gilligan’s Island Movie or the Brady Bunch Movie.

Now think of shows that were shown in black or white. Some may have later turned into color sitcoms, but started out in Black and White. Great tv shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show (which spun off Mary Tyler Moore in a great tv show that is still seen today), Andy Griffith, Leave It To Beaver, The Twilight Zone, Addams Family, Munsters, and Mr. Ed.

So many different ways that all of these tv shows have become cult like tv shows. Whether it’s a family show, creepy monsters show, stranded people surving, or a show like Seinfeld, which was known as a show about nothing. That nothing turned out to be a fan favorite of many different ages and races. There’s just not a  blueprint for making a tv show that will be shown through the ages.

Look at a show like Little House on the Praire. It’s a show that shows a poor family, trying to survive in the old times of America. It has that Gilligan’s Island feel of trying to survive day by day. The family would need money, food, shelter, or maybe even work, just so they could keep going on. It also had the pure family life of a Father Knows Best or a show like Growing Pains. They didn’t have a talking horse, but did fit animals into the show. Animals they were in fear of (something like an episode of Lost), or animals that were pets. Little House on the Praire had such a long shelf life, and revolved around so many areas, that I think it will always be around.

Now let’s look at a very popular show right now. Such as CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), will it have a long life into the future? Not really sure on this one. It’s very popular now, so popular you have CSI Miami, and spinoffs keeping the CSI name alive. It will be important for a show to adapt to the new technolgies that come out. 100 years from now, CSI might look like a poor technology show, cause so many new technolgies would have been invented by then. Then again, Little House on the Praire wasn’t necessarily using the modern technologies of the world today. However, it was part of the show, to show the struggles of early Americans. CSI is staging a show, that is the new way to solve crimes with DNA and things. I guess we will know the answer in the next decade or so, if CSI is still popular then, as it is now.

Any shows that you watched as a kid, and are surprised they are still around? Maybe you know the next show that is going to have a long shelf life. I would love to know these shows, and go ahead and throw some good tv shows at me, that I didn’t mention.