TV Shows Celebrating Their 20th Anniversaries in 2025

Can you believe that The Office is almost legally allowed to buy a beer in the United States? The popular comedy is just one of several huge shows that have or will hit the big 2-0 in 2025, which is not just a big milestone for these programs, but a big milestone in making us feel old. 

Let's take you back to 2005: Lost was electrifying audiences on its way to its Season 1 finale, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and The Wire elevated HBO to the king of TV, and Desperate Housewives, The O.C., and 24 were ruling broadcast television. 2005 was a big year for TV, but the new shows premiering that year would make it even bigger. In case you need proof of that fact, four (!!!) of these shows are still going with some entering Season 20 or beyond! 

Let's all sing happy birthday to these shows celebrating their 20th. 

ALSO READ: TV shows that turn 25 years old in 2025

Before Jennifer Love Hewitt communed with ghosts in Ghost Whisperer a few months later on CBS, Patricia Arquette began her Emmy-winning run as Allison DuBois, a medium who consults with the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office to solve crimes with a little help from the beyond. Based on the stories of the real Allison DuBois, Medium occupied its own quaint corner of the supernatural world that evolved the procedural genre in fresh new ways. The series ran for seven seasons, five on NBC and two more on CBS. But it was Arquette, who went on to win an Oscar for Boyhood, which she filmed concurrently with Medium, who elevated what could have a schlocky premise into something rewarding and respected.

Streaming on Paramount+

After the rousing success of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane turned his attention to a different kind of nuclear family — one made up of a Republican CIA agent patriarch, his wife, their liberal daughter, and nerdy son. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Well, the rest of the family unit includes their goldfish Kalus, who has the brain of an East German athlete; Roger, a narcissistic alien; and Rogu, Roger's former tumor son. Nothing about American Dad! should have worked in the traditional sense, and yet it is currently airing its 19th season on TBS. When it comes to outlandish animated comedies, never underestimate MacFarlane's ability to get really wild.

Streaming on Hulu and Disney+

If you watched Nickelodeon 20 years ago, chances are you can summon the opening of Avatar: The Last Airbender from the recesses of your mind at any given moment. "Water, earth, fire, air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished." The animated action epic chronicling the battle for control of the elemental world became a phenomenon, the high from which studios have been chasing ever since, including an ill-advised M. Night Shyamalan movie and Netflix's recent live-action series. But the alchemy of this one is kind of impossible to recreate. Fusing elements of anime and recognizable western cartoons, it was the perfect balance in art direction and story that hooked a global audience across only three seasons. Aang's story may be 20 years old, but it still feels as fresh as it did when he first broke free of that iceberg.

Streaming on Paramount+

Disney Channel has introduced the world to plenty of actors that would become the superstars of their generations, and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was no exception. Between its twin talents in the title, Cole and Dylan Sprouse, to its supporting characters in Ashley Tisdale and Brenda Song, the series followed the antics of two brothers growing up in a hotel where their mom is a lounge singer. The outlandish story lines were perfect for this era of Disney, when the crazier the story, the bigger the audience. While it may seem boxed in by its premise, never fear. Disney found ways to spin it off with The Suite Life on Deck, and even The Suite Life Movie.

Streaming on Disney+

Few shows have the cultural footprint of Greg Daniels' American remake of The Office. Led by Steve Carell's cringe-worthy boss Michael Scott, the workplace comedy not only defined the genre but became one of the most rewatched, quoted, and beloved series of the 21st century. Whether it was the slow-burn love story between Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer), or the try-hard antics of Dwight (Rainn Wilson), the series had the kind of enduring success Hollywood dreams of, transcending demographics and becoming accessible to every new generation that discovers it. Dunder Mifflin Paper Company may be the most mundane place to work, but it was the site of a cultural revolution for TV comedies.

Streaming on Peacock

The gold standard for medical dramas today — and the longest-running one at that — began as just a midseason show in 2005. Instantly though, audiences were captivated by the lives of Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her fellow doctors, blissfully unaware they were about to commit the next two decades of their lives to spending their Thursday nights at Seattle Grace, and later Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Audiences are still discovering the early days of Grey's Anatomy on streaming, proving there is something timeless about the struggle to save lives and not implode your own. Plus, the speed with which the term "McDreamy" and phrases like "You're my person" permeated the culture was the kind of phenomenon that TV scholars will be studying for generations to come.

Streaming on Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+

Some characters are instantly iconic, even if they are only with us for a short time, and Valerie Cherish ranks among them. Right on the heels of the Friends series finale the year prior, Lisa Kudrow debuted this Hollywood satire for the ages led by a sweetly self-centered actress and former It girl just trying to claw her way back from obscurity in an industry that has devalued her age and talent. Followed by a film crew charged with documenting her comeback, Valerie became a sympathetic and increasingly desperate example of the people Hollywood makes no room for in a youth-forward industry. While Phoebe Buffay will always be Kudrow's most well-known character, Valerie Cherish will go down as her greatest creation. If you need proof, just look at how HBO fulfilled her destiny and brought her back for an unexpected second season in 2014, nearly a decade after her one-and-done debut.

Streaming on Max

Twenty years later, it's hard to remember just how big a player TNT was in the scripted series sphere because it has all but left the space today. And no TNT show permeated the culture more than The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a country-fried transplant to Los Angeles who serves as a master interrogator renowned for her ability to get confessions that close cases and lead to convictions. The hardened lead character in Sedgwick's capable hands made Brenda the kind of heroine that people rallied behind. She had a humor to her demeanor, and a country accent that caused those in her city and her male-dominated profession to underestimate her ability at their own peril.

Streaming on Peacock

While ABC brought in audiences curious how well their favorite C-List celebrities could cut a rug on Dancing With the Stars, Fox sought to discover the next generation of real dancers with its mesmerizing dance competition So You Think You Can Dance. The series became the training ground for some of the most talented dancers working today in all genres from classical to hip-hop, and conditioned audiences to appreciate the art of dance in all its forms. The series has had its fair share of scandals over the years, but at the end of the day, it has given dancers a platform they might not have had otherwise, and stages across the world are better for it.

Streaming on Tubi

For those in the foodie world, the late Anthony Bourdain was already a superstar chef. His book, Kitchen Confidential, was a sensational look at the high-pressure, hot-tempered world behind the kitchen door, but it was his Travel Channel series where he traveled the world talking about food, culture, and the human condition that really endeared him to audiences. Unapologetically candid about the healing power of food and the ecstasy of mastering its many flavors gave audiences a new reason to travel and to fire up their own ovens. Many amateur foodies can trace their love of food back to watching Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, and striving to love life and food half as much as its host.

Streaming on Hulu and Max

Talk about defying the odds. When FX premiered this zany comedy about the chaos-prone friendship between Charlie (Charlie Day), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), and Dee (Kaitlin Olson), few people would have predicted it would still be going strong 20 years later. And yet, The Gang is still alive and kicking, despite their careers taking off and splintering off in many different directions. With the help of the endless energy of Danny DeVito as Frank, this series became the longest-running live-action sitcom a few seasons back and shows no signs of stopping. The world may constantly beat down The Gang from behind the bar of Paddy's Pub, but TV long ago embraced and celebrated their weird worldview.

Streaming on Hulu

Looking back at Showtime's pot-selling comedy Weeds in 2025 can feel like cracking open a time capsule. In 2016, California legalized recreational marijuana use, something that would have greatly lowered the stress level of Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), a single mom feeding her family by selling pot to her upper-class suburban community of Agrestic. The comedy had a bite to it that hooked audiences, and brought them into the constant debate about the criminality of marijuana. Plus, it was impossible to escape the catchy theme song, Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes," which was cleverly reimagined by a new artist each episode in Seasons 2, 3, and 8. If the antics of a mom gone rogue weren't enough to tune in, seeing who would sing the theme song each week definitely got you.

Audiences couldn't get enough of the endless escapes of Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) and Michael (Wentworth Miller), two brothers who just couldn't seem to stay out of prison. While the series was initially about the latter's elaborate attempt to break his brother out of prison for a crime he didn't commit, the series eventually branched out into government conspiracies and daring new escapes far beyond its rather humble beginnings. The story became so intricate, it sustained not only its original four seasons, but also a 2009 movie, a brief revival in 2017, a resurgence in popularity after it hit Netflix, and an in-development reboot on Hulu. If you ever thought one prison break would be enough, think again.

Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+

When people say that TV just doesn't make broadcast procedurals like it used to, many of them are probably picturing the crackling chemistry between Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz in Bones. When bones are the only thing left of a person, they call in FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (Boreanaz) and forensic anthropologist Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Deschanel), a will-they-won't-they partnership for the ages that navigated the chasm between their personalities and their worldviews to solve crimes. In a world obsessed with forensic science thanks to the arrival of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation just a few years earlier, Bones gave audiences the perfect marriage of the science and the sensational, all with a wit and pop-culture intelligence that made it stand out in a TV landscape where plenty of other shows like it were DOA (decomposed on arrival).

Streaming on Hulu, Peacock, and Disney+

Looking back at the early days of Supernatural, there was something modest about the demon-of-the-week format. Brothers Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) Winchester traveled the country sending demons back to hell one at a time, surviving each encounter by the skin of their teeth (or not surviving, but coming back to life as was frequently the case). The show's stakes (no pun intended) would grow to include a literal war between heaven and hell, but at the outset, it's easy to see why audiences fell so hard for the Winchesters. Two brothers protecting each other from what goes bump in the night is an eternal reminder that blood is stronger than even the literal manifestations of hell. If you haven't done it in 20 years, we encourage you to rewatch those early seasons and enjoy the ghost-busting adventures before the fate of the world rested on the Winchester's shoulders.

Streaming on Netflix

Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and friends took true love origin stories to the next level with this series about the many loves of our lives. Be they friends or partners, enemies or lovers, the beauty of life is the multitudes with which we can live, and from their impossibly reserved booth at MacLaren's Pub, these friends lived many lives. From the womanizing escapades of Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), to the past life of Canadian superstar Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), each episode brought more chaos than clarity to the mystery of just who "the mother" was. While the series lost that thread a bit along the way, it's a credit to the world and the characters creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays built that, by the end, answering that question was among the less important reasons to love this show.

Streaming Hulu, Disney+, and Netflix

Even as audiences settled into the age of prestige television that has defined the industry in recent years, there was still a hunger for something less refined and viewers found it in Fox's My Name is Earl. Jason Lee starred as Earl Hickey, a small-town crook who turns over a new leaf when he wins the lottery and uses his newfound wealth to make good with all the people he has wronged. The series was never polished, nor did it ever pretend to be. Instead, the candor and crassness of its characters, including Emmy winner Jamie Pressly as Earl's ex-wife Joy, endeared audiences to the unapologetic life of people who weren't made for the spotlight but seized it anyway.

Streaming on Hulu and Disney+

When it comes to procedurals with a hook, Criminal Minds and its Behavioral Analysis Unit had a killer one. This CBS series found a team of profilers working to catch serial killers by analyzing their behavior and their motives. Where series like CSI focused on the science of murder, Criminal Minds dug deep on the psychology of why people commit the kind of heinous acts that have been entertaining TV true crime aficionados for two decades. Just the latest procedural to understand the power of offsetting the horror with humor, the BAU investigators became a family unit that viewers would follow into fire and fanaticism each week. The series has become such an enduring hit that Paramount+ revived it in 2022 for Criminal Minds: Evolution, which is heading into its third season. There is never a shortage of bad people on the precipice of doing bad things, and Criminal Minds continues to hunt them down.

Streaming on Paramount+, Hulu, and Disney+

Jennifer Love Hewitt made her return to TV in this cozy supernatural series that asks: What if a medium who talked to ghosts lived in the world of Gilmore Girls? In the small town of Grandview, Melinda is an antique store owner who spends her days helping ghosts with their unfinished business so they can move on. Melodramatic in all the right ways, this series lived in a perpetual space where it was always a crisp fall day, life didn't move too fast, and a good cry is just what you need.

Streaming on Disney+ and Hulu

While it has been mocked by the likes of Saturday Night Live and spun off in unexpected directions for shows like Dead or No Deal Island, the original game show where contestants risk a million dollars to play chicken with a shady banker changed TV forever when it first premiered. From its lively host in Howie Mandel to its bevy of gorgeous ladies with sliver cases (including a young Meghan Markle), Deal or No Deal melded the tension of gambling with the thrill of a game show for the millions of people watching at home who believed they could do better than the poor sap sweating their way to a million dollars –– or 25 cents, depending on their luck.

Streaming on Peacock

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