h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

is to subscribe to the new version of 'Mission: Impossible' - the Film Series A87977164

I enjoyed reading this again - great humour! The only question I had was about whether you are familiar with a television series called '24' - It showed up when I searched for "America's longest-running television spy drama".

As with a lot of things it depends on the exact definition of 'longest running', and should you choose to accept it. I won't deny that '24' has a fair claim.

There are 204 43-minute episodes of '24' made in 9 series 2001-2014, as well as a feature-length special and a 12-episode spin-off series.

There are 206 50-minute episodes of 'Mission: Impossible' made in 7 series 1966-1975 & 2 series 1988-1990.

The rule used by the Guinness Book of Records when counting episodes is that shows with the same title count (so new 'Doctor Who' counts as the same show as old 'Doctor Who', but shows like 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' does not count as the same show as 'Star Trek', which is why 'Doctor Who' is classed as having more episodes). So by those rules the 1980s 'Mission: Impossible' counts but the spin-off series of '24' doesn't. This seems a bit arbitrary to me, I'll admit.

In terms of a show made without a break then yes, '24' wins as there was a long gap for 'Mission: Impossible' between 1975-1988, but in terms of total number of minutes and (just) number of episodes overall, it is still 'Mission: Impossible'. Also, 1966-1990 is a longer time frame than 2001-2014. Feel free to add a

Interestingly it goes to show that US viewers see an average of 8 minutes more adverts per hour now than in the 1960s...

<BB<

(To qualify the last remark, the '24' spin-off series is an average of 42-minutes rather than the 43 minutes of the original '24'.)

But in conclusion there is a total of approximately 10,300 minutes of 'Mission: Impossible' television, but less than 9,288 minutes of '24' even if you include the spin-off. 'Mission: Impossible' clearly wins as it takes the longest amount of time to run through every episode.

However if you exclude the 'M:I' 1980s series as well as the '24' spin-off, '24' would be longer. However it was the 1980s series I grew up with and think of when I think of 'M:I' so I for one am not excluding it.

<BB<

Aha, thank you. I now see the 1988-90 episodes had not been included in the list I was looking at, so that explains it - 206 beats 204 indeed

The Entry is ready for you to check when you have a moment

Just goes to show about the adverts indeed... I don't mind a quick break every 15 minutes or so, but 18 minutes of adverts per hour would really disrupt the flow of the storyline, whether it is a 3 minute break every 7 minutes or a 6 minute break every 14 minutes... I once tried watching a 90-minute-long film in DisneyWorld with adverts every 10 minutes and had to give up because I had better things to do than sit there for twice as long as it took when I watched the film on VHS

I had a read-through and spotted two things:

Alan Hunley, formed CIA head, now Secretary of State (Alec Baldwin) <- As well-formed as his head doubtlessly is, I meant 'former'

And can you add '(1995)' after GoldenEye?

Other than that good to go, though this post will self destruct in...

<BB<

Done and done, so the Entry has been Returned to the Editors

Congratulations! Your Entry is on the Front Page today