A weekend binge-watch [1] can be great, but sometimes we'd rather buckle in for the long haul [2]. That's where these long-running shows on Hulu [3] come in! If you're looking for a show to watch that you can get invested in over the course of five seasons or more, you've definitely come to the right place. While Hulu's own library of originals doesn't boast much for long-running shows, it has the streaming rights [4] for some of your all-time faves, from old-school sitcoms that will make you crack up to some of modern TV's grittiest and most acclaimed dramas. There's definitely something for everyone — check out our recommendations for some of the best long-running TV shows on Hulu that you can get lost in for a while.
Bones
A forensic anthropologist-slash-crime novelist teams up with an FBI agent to solve bizarre crimes in this popular and long-running procedural. Of course, the biggest legacy of the show isn't its mysteries; it's the electric chemistry between Booth and Bones that gave rise to one of TV's most popular 'ships.
Watch Bones on Hulu. [7]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
It's a new spin on the old police show, with a group of quirky, quippy detectives solving crime and getting into shenanigans at their NYC precinct. More of a workplace sitcom than a police show, it's definitely the source of at least one meme you know.
Watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Hulu. [8]
Family Guy
There are a whopping eighteen seasons currently available of this long-running animation staple, which centres on the misadventures of a clueless dad and his oddball family and community.
Watch Family Guy on Hulu. [9]
Friday Night Lights
In small-town Texas, high school football means everything. A tough but fair coach and his compassionate school counselor wife try to guide their students through school, work, family troubles, first love, major tragedy, and so much more.
Watch Friday Night Lights on Hulu. [10]
Homeland
A CIA officer struggling with mental illness raises the alarm about a newly-returned POW who she suspects might have turned traitor. What unfolds from there is a long and twisty tale of spies, politics, paranoia, and the struggle to figure out what's true and what isn't before the whole world pays the price.
Watch Homeland on Hulu. [11]
Justified
A US Marshal takes a very Wild West approach to his job, leaving him with lots of enemies among the criminal underworld and very few allies among his colleagues. When he's assigned to the rural Kentucky region where he grew up, he finds himself pulled into a string of crimes and conspiracies.
Watch Justified on Hulu. [12]
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
The best-known of the Law and Order family follows a specialised squad of New York detectives who focus on solving sexually-based crimes. It's been running for 21 seasons and counting!
Watch Law and Order: Special Victims Unit on Hulu. [13]
Outlander
When a World War II-era nurse gets pulled through a magical circle of stones in Scotland, she has to build a new life for herself in the eighteenth century. Time travel, tense drama, and romance abound in this popular series based on Diana Gabaldon's bestselling books.
Watch Outlander on Hulu. [14]
Queer as Folk
In the early 2000s, a group of gay men (and their lesbian friends) deal with life, sex, and love in the best ways they know how. When a newly-out teenager falls into their group, it shakes everyone up and has them questioning what they're really doing with their lives.
Watch Queer as Folk on Hulu. [15]
South Park
The infamously irreverent animated comedy is available in all its gleefully obscene glory. There are 23 seasons — and an infinite number of memrorable lines — to get through!
Watch South Park on Hulu. [16]
Shameless
The Gallagher family is a bit of a mess, and no one more so than the alcoholic, rough-around-the-edges patriarch. But despite it all, they manage to grow up and figure out how to live their lives, supporting each other along the way.
Watch Shameless on Hulu. [17]
American Horror Story
Unlike most of the shows on this list, American Horror Story [19] isn't a single story spanning several seasons. Instead, each season of reboots with a (mostly) independent story in settings ranging from a circus to a haunted house to a literal apocalypse, resulting in one of modern TV's best horror anthologies.
Watch American Horror Story on Hulu. [20]
Cheers
It's one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, and for a good reason. At a Boston bar owned by a former baseball star, colourful patrons and workers come and go across eleven seasons, but at the centre of it all is the classic will-they-won't-they tension between bartender Sam and waitress Diane.
Watch Cheers on Hulu. [21]
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Five mismatched misfits who own a bar get into all sorts of professional and personal messes, all while trying their best to actually act like adults. Although their schemes for success fail more often than not, they just keep trying and trying — often with hilariously disastrous results.
Watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu. [22]
Lost
A plane crashes on a mysterious island, forcing the survivors to band together to survive until rescue arrives. As you might have heard, though, this is no ordinary island, and the show's survival-centric drama soon shifts to trippy, philosophical, time-travelling twists that ask the big questions about science, fate, faith, and community.
Watch Lost on Hulu. [23]
The Shield
Politics and crime intersect in this drama about the moral ambiguity of law and law and enforcement. A group of corrupt cops also happens to be the best at what they do, leading to some major conflict with a captain who needs to clean up her district and politicans out to grab power for themselves.
Watch The Shield on Hulu. [24]
The X-Files
The seminal sci-fi drama has sparked movies and a reboot, but you can catch up with the original on Hulu. Two federal agents — one a sceptic, one a believer — investigate weird, inexplicable, and sometimes downright terrifying happenings and try to discover if they're all linked.
Watch The X-Files on Hulu. [25]
Younger
When a newly-divorced 40-year-old mom can't get a foot in the door to restart her career, she impulsively lies about her age to get hired at a publishing company. What ensues is several seasons of relationship drama, parodies of the real literary world, hilariously spiralling lies on top of lies, and a surprisingly sweet heart about female friendship.
Watch Younger on Hulu. [26]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
It's the prototype for every supernatural teen drama of the past two decades. Buffy is a Slayer, the once-in-a-generation hero chosen to defend the world against demons, vampire, and other supernatural baddies. With the help of her loyal band of friends — and a couple of supernatural love interests — she saves the world over and over again, all while dealing with high school and college.
Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu. [27]
Seinfeld
The iconic sitcom is, famously, a show "about" nothing. At its core, the show focuses on a quartet of friends in the '90s, struggling to get through all the little indignities and quirks of life and supporting (or laughing at) each other the whole way.
Watch Seinfeld on Hulu. [28]