World Poker Tour One of TV’s Longest Running Shows

The Flintstones was big, but not as big as the WPT.

The World Poker Tour is now one of the longest running shows in American television history. It debuted way back in 2002, long before poker became the incredibly popular past-time, and TV fodder, that it is today. That was before Chris Moneymaker‘s historic and game-changing WSOP win, and before the exponential growth of online poker. In fact, many in the industry say that the WPT has played a large role in spreading the word about poker and helping to bring new players to the game.

When the show finishes its 8th season, with the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas, it will have aired 178 episodes. That’s more than many of the most popular and long-running TV shows in history, including The Flintstones, LA Law and Magnum PI. And it’s edging closer to mega-hits like Seinfeld and I Love Lucy.

For the last several years, the WPT has been one of the top-rated shows on cable. And, as we’ve all seen with the relatively modest ratings the WSOP draws, that’s saying something. Like it has for years, it airs Mondays in the US, on the Game Show Network.