The longest-running sitcoms in television history come from several different decades and have different styles of humor but have all left a lasting legacy. Sitcoms have always been a staple of television, as even classic golden age TV was known for shows like Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver gave way to even more groundbreaking sitcoms like All in the Family and The Jeffersons. However, when it came to sitcoms, lasting for 15 or 20 seasons was never easy as humor is subjective and changes over time. Yet some have shown incredible lasting power over the years.

Though audiences tune into sitcoms for laughs, the longest-running sitcoms show the different ways the genre can connect with audiences. There are the classic easy-going sitcoms like The Love Boat, some that mix in drama, like M*A*S*H, animated classics like The Simpsons, and darker sitcoms like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Each of the shows has to keep updating its humor and keeping its jokes current, so it doesn't fall out of style, and when this is done right, the shows can have an amazingly long life span, often eclipsing the best award-winning television shows.

30 All In The Family (1971-1979)

9 Years (205 Episodes)

Looking back on sitcoms from decades past, some of the humor can feel tame in comparison to modern shows. However, All in the Family is often spoken about as a show that got away with a lot of jokes that would be questionable on television in the 21st century. The show follows Archie Bunker, a working-class and bigoted man who clashes with the progress of the world around him while staying firmly planted in his beliefs.

The show is seen as one of the most influential comedies in television history with its boundary-bushing humor and willingness to have an unlikable character as its protagonist. However, All in the Family and Archie Bunker work so well because the series always shows how small and insecure of a man he is while still being hilarious. All in the Family spawned several spinoffs after it ended in season 9, and while some became iconic in their own right, none sured the original's legacy.

29 The King Of Queens (1998-2007)

9 Years (207 Episodes)

After playing a ing role in Everybody Loves Raymond, comedian Kevin James was given the opportunity to step into the spotlight as the lead character in The King of Queens. The series stars James as Doug, a lazy yet lovable delivery man living a simple life with his loving yet volatile wife Carrie (Leah Remini) and his eccentric father-in-law Arthur (Jerry Stiller).

In a departure from most domestic-set sitcoms of the era, The King of Queens features a married couple without any kids. The unique approach allowed for Doug and Carrie to be larger-than-life characters and made for some fun storylines on the show. It is a series elevated by its cast, with the main trio of actors forming a wonderful chemistry. The legacy of the show remained so strong over the years that Lemini was brought on as the new co-lead of James' later sitcom Kevin Can Wait.

28 How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

9 Years (208 Episodes)

How I Met Your Mother had a very typical setup for a sitcom as it followed a group of friends in their 30s who navigated their professional and romantic lives while living in the big city. However, the show also had a fun twist as the entire series was told as flashbacks by a father telling the story of his younger days and what led him to eventually meet and fall in love with their mother.

While the premise meant that the story the older Ted Mosby was telling had to be an extremely long one, fans stayed hooked on the adventures of these friends, the charming love story, and the enticing mystery of who the mother would end up being. However, while the show did manage to keep its story going for 9 years and over 200 episodes, the ending to How I Met Your Mother was regarded by many fans as one of the worst in television history.

27 Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005)

9 Years (210 Episodes)

The 1990s were an era of many comedians coming out of relative obscurity and finding mainstream success as the lead of their own sitcoms. Ray Romano was one such talent that took everyone by surprise and delivered a twist on the family sitcom that leaned into the dysfunctional aspects of a person's loved ones. In Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano stars as Ray Barone, a sports writer who lives with his wife and kids across the street from his parents, who have no concept of privacy.

While there is a lot of love between everyone, the show embraced the very relatable idea that space from family can be a good thing.

Along with Brad Garrett as Ray's jealous older brother, the ensemble made for a colorful cast of characters with hilariously flawed family . While there is a lot of love between everyone, the show embraced the very relatable idea that space from family can be a good thing. The show ended after 9 seasons, but it remains one of the most rewatchable sitcoms of its era.

26 The Middle (2009-2018)

9 Years (215 Episodes)

There are several long-running sitcoms that remained popular because of how they spoke to a certain demographic of the country that can be overlooked in the entertainment business. The Middle is a family sitcom focusing on the Hecks, a loving family living a lower-middle classic life which includes raising their three children of differing quirks, trying to make their money last as long as possible, and dealing with all the unexpected hurdles of life.

There is a refreshing relatability to seeing the Heck family deal with things that a lot of families are familiar with while always maintaining its light and hilarious tone. The Middle was one of those shows that was never discussed among the most popular on television, but managed to stick around and cement its legacy as one of the longest-running sitcoms of all time.

25 Family Matters (1989-1998)

9 Years (215 Episodes)

Family Matters was seen as a major step forward in representation on American sitcoms with it dealing with a blue-collar African-American family in a show that premiered in primetime. However, while the sitcom began as a grounded look at the Winslow family, led by their lovable patriarch and proud police officer, Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson), it morphed into something wackier with sci-fi comedy elements after the character of Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) became a sensation.

While the show was actually a TV spinoff from Perfect Strangers, it solidified its own legacy on television with its memorable characters and ability to tackle subjects of racism and police corruption in a sitcom setting. The show ran for eight seasons as one of the most popular sitcoms on ABC, before switching over to CBS for its ninth and final season, with 215 episodes in total. Family Matters became the last live-action sitcom that debuted in the 1980s to leave the air.

24 The Drew Carey Show (1995-2004)

9 Seasons (233 Episodes)

Long before he was known as the newest host of The Price is Right, Drew Carey was a sitcom star in this quirky and fun 1990s gem. The Drew Carey Show focused on a fictionalized version of Drew Carey, an everyman employee at a 9-to-5 job who suffered through his job so that he could spend his time hanging out with his equally immature and good friends. He also had to contend with his bossy coworker Mimi, who eventually became his sister-in-law.

Certain episodes contained deliberate mistakes throughout to see if fans could pick up on them all

The show was filled with the typical kind of sitcom antics that viewers would expect, but it was also an imaginative show that would occasionally do something completely different. Certain episodes contained deliberate mistakes throughout to see if fans could pick up on them all, and others turned the sitcom into an improvised session of Carey's other show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? Like many network shows, the popularity of The Drew Carey Show began to fade in the early 2000s and ended after nine seasons and 233 episodes.

23 The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971)

9 seasons (274 episodes)

The oldest sitcom on this list, The Beverly Hillbillies, comes from a different era of television but its legacy remains strong after all these decades. The show follows the Clampetts, a down-to-earth and simple family from the backwoods who strike oil on their property and find themselves suddenly among the rich society of Beverly Hills. The rags-to-riches story was filled with charm and humor, thanks largely to the endearing characters at the center of the story.

The fish-out-of-water comedy managed to earn big laughs for 9 seasons and 274 episodes. As a testament to the fewer options on television at the time, 16 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies still rank among the most watched episodes of television of all time (via Variety). The show earned seven Emmy nominations during its run and got a movie adaptation in 1993.

22 The Goldbergs (2003-2013)

10 seasons (229 episodes)

While it had plenty of fans and earned a strong reception from critics, The Goldbergs was a quiet success on television. It was never flashy or talked about much outside of those who enjoyed it. However, over the course of 10 seasons and 229 episodes, The Goldbergs became one of the longest-running sitcoms of all time. The coming-of-age series comes from creator Adam F. Goldberg and focuses on a childhood version of himself growing up in the 1980s.

With Patton Oswalt narrating to give the show a feel of The Wonder Years, it is a charming, funny, and nostalgic series that fully embraces its love of the 1980s. Many of the episodes in the series are based on a specific aspect of 80s pop culture. Jeff Garlin was fired from the show as the family patriarch in the ninth season, but the show managed to go on for a final season without him, bringing the series to an end with the kind of simple charm that earned it a ionate following.

21 Roseanne (1988-1997;2018)

10 Years (231 Episodes)

Roseanne had a massive impact on television sitcoms when it first aired in 1988. Though the era was beginning to see a lot of comedians getting their own shows, Roseanne Barr proved that this could be possible for female comedians as well. Barr's onstage persona was known for being vulgar and proud of her blue-collar upbringing. This attitude translated well into the sitcom Roseanne, which Barr starred in alongside John Goodman as a husband and wife struggling to raise their kids in a working-class household.

The show was quickly a big ratings hit, with it feeling like something new in the sitcom world. The people and lifestyles of the family were unglamorous but hilarious and honest. They would fight and face issues that real families faced, which made it a relatable depiction of the typical American family. The show ran for 9 seasons before ending in 1997. It returned in 2018 with the original case and continued to be a ratings hit. However, Barr was fired after one season of the revival, leading to it being reworked as a new show, The Conners.