History Main / LongRunnerCastTurnover

*** Big Ten Conference: Of its seven charter members from 1896, six are still present. Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin have been ever-present; [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan]] left in 1907 but [[HesBack came back]] for good in 1917. Indiana and Iowa joined in 1899 and Ohio State in 1912, leading to a period of stability that lasted from Michigan's return to the departure of charter member Chicago in 1946. Michigan State's arrival in 1950 led to another long period of stability that ended with Penn State's arrival in 1990. The new lineup remained intact until Nebraska joined in 2011, followed by Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. This period of stability will end in 2024 with the arrival of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington.

* ''Series/{{Malhacao}}'': a Brazilian series that premiered in 1995... and it took the Usefulnotes/COVID19Pandemic to kill the show in 2020, a total of 25 years and 27 seasons! Until 2010, despite the changes in locations and the tradition of each season having a different protagonist couple, the series still tried to maintain a considerable amount of supporting characters each season. After that year, the producers finally decided to turn the series into an anthology with locations and different characters each season. Therefore, there is not a single character from the first seasons currently in the series. That being said, the two longest tenured actors were André Marques (first 5 years, plus a few chapters in 2012) and Sérgio Hondjakoff (2000-06), with the latter joking that both only remained that long because the writers made them unlucky in love as part of being the CoolLoser.

* ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' has only 3 of its original 9 main cast members among the 17 listed among the main cast as of season 19 (one of whom, Kim Raver, left after season 8 but return in a recurring capacity in season 14 before being upgraded back to regular). But there are also another ''16'' actors and actresses that are neither current nor first-season regulars but have nonetheless been regulars at some point.

** Season 2:Carl, Harriet, Estelle, Rachael, Richie, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Judy
** Season 3-4:Carl, Harriet, Estelle, Richie, Waldo, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Judy

** Season 9:Carl, Harriet, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Mayra

** Season 2:Cory,Topanga, Auggie, Reilly, Maya, Locus and Farkle
** Season 3:Cory,Topanga, Auggie, Reilly, Maya, Locus, Farkle and Zay

* As of the start of season 20, only one of the original six cast members of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' is still on the show, and he would be more accurately described being a recurring guest star who appears in the opening credits whether he appears in that episode or not due to inertia. The original cast was Creator/MarkHarmon (Gibbs), Creator/MichaelWeatherly ([=DiNozzo=]), Creator/SashaAlexander (Kate Todd), Creator/DavidMcCallum (Ducky), Creator/PauleyPerrette (Abby), and Creator/AlanDale (Director Morrow). At the beginning of season 2, Creator/SeanMurray ([=McGee=]) was promoted from repeat guest star to the main cast and Creator/BrianDietzen (Palmer) was added as a secondary cast member (eventually getting promoted to main cast status). At the end of season 2, Alexander's character was killed off and Dale's character was written out (occasionally returning as a guest star), and they were replaced by Creator/CoteDePablo (Ziva David) and Creator/LaurenHolly (Director Shepherd). Holly's character was killed off at the end of season 5 and was replaced by Creator/RockyCarroll (Director Vance). This cast held steady until the beginning of season 11 when de Pablo left the show, being replaced by Creator/EmilyWickersham (Ellie Bishop). Then Weatherly left the show at the end of season 13, being replaced by Creator/JenniferEsposito (Alex Quinn) and Creator/WilmerValderrama (Nick Torres); later that season, Creator/DuaneHenry (Clayton Reeves) was promoted to the main cast. Esposito's character only lasted one season, being replaced at the start of season 15 by Creator/MariaBello (Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane), and Perrette and Henry left at the end of that season, with Perrette being replaced by Creator/DionaReasonover (Kasie Hines). Bello and Wickersham left at different points in season 18, with Wikersham being replaced by Katrina Law (Jessica Knight). Harmon left in season 19, replaced by Creator/GaryCole (Alden Parker). And that's not counting the turnover in important recurring characters who have not appeared in the opening credits (Joe Spano's Tobias Fornell has literally been around since episode 1, but a lot of other characters have disappeared or been killed off over the years). Given that Ducky, the last member of the original cast, spent much of season 15 and at least part of season 16 on sabbatical teaching and writing his memoirs, followed by retiring from his original position to take a part-time job that doesn't require him to appear in every episode, it's quite possible that David [=McCallum=] is transitioning towards retirement (his first big role was [[Series/TheManFromUncle in the 60s]], after all), though as of season 20 he's still officially on the cast.

Hail to the LongRunner, the show that stands the test of time. But not all Long Runners pass that test unscathed. Actors die, [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor or get fired]], or [[MoneyDearBoy lose a contract dispute]], or retire, or simply don't want to play the same role for the rest of their foreseeable career, or are concerned about being TypeCast, or don't want to deal with the coworkers of that series anymore. But creators and executives don't want to let their CashCowFranchise or treasured premise go so easily. Therefore, simply bring up new blood and keep going. Sometimes you could argue that a show achieved Long Runner status ''because'' it was willing to adapt instead of rolling over and dying when somebody quits.

*** Atlantic Coast Conference: Five of its original seven members from May 1953 are still present: Clemson, Duke, NC State, North Carolina, and Wake Forest. Virginia, also still present, joined that December. However, the conference now has ''15'' members, with the majority having joined in the 21st century, and three more schools will join in July 2024.. As for the charter members, South Carolina left in 1971 and Maryland in 2014.

*** Atlantic Coast Conference: Five of its original seven members from May 1953 are still present: Clemson, Duke, NC State, North Carolina, and Wake Forest. Virginia, also still present, joined that December. However, the conference now has ''15'' members, with the majority having joined in the 21st century. As for the charter members, South Carolina left in 1971 and Maryland in 2014.

*** Pac-12 Conference: The conference's current charter dates only to 1959, but it claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, founded in 1915, as its own. Of the current members, only Cal and Washington have been ever-present in the conference, although three later PCC arrivals Stanford, USC, and UCLA have stayed put ever since joining. Two other PCC members, Idaho (1922–1959) and Montana (1928–1950), were not invited to join the Athletic Association of Western Universities (later the Pac-8, Pac-10, and Pac-12). Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State were also not invited to join the AAWU at its formation, but all three joined by 1964. Arizona and Arizona State joined the Pac-8 in 1978, leading it to become the Pac-10, and the 2011 arrival of Colorado and Utah led to the current name of Pac-12. That, of course, was before UCLA and USC announced in 2022 they were off to the Big Ten in 2024. The following year, just when everyone thought things were slowing down, Colorado announced it would return to the Big 12 in 2024, followed within days by ''five other schools'' announcing they would also leave the sinking ship of the Pac-12 in 2024. Oregon and Washington will move to the Big Ten and Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah will join the Big 12. Needless to say, these last moves leave the Pac's future in serious doubt.

*** American Athletic Conference: Operating under the 1979 charter of the original Big East Conference,[[note]]the "Big East" name was bought in 2013 by a group of non-FBS schools that left to form a new Division I non-football conference, most of which were original Big East members[[/note]] The American started its life under that name in 2013 with 10 members. Two of them, Louisville and Rutgers, left after a single season to respectively join the ACC and Big Ten. Also in 2014, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa joined, with [[MilitaryAcademy Navy]] joining for football only in 2015 and Wichita State joining as a full but non-football member in 2017. [=UConn=] left in 2020 to rejoin many of its former Big East rivals in the non-football Big East 2.0, parking its football team as an FBS independent. After the Big 12 poached Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2021 (effective in 2023), The American responded by raiding Conference USA, with Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA joining from that league in 2023.
*** Conference USA: Formed by a 1995 merger between two non-football leagues, the Great Midwest and Metro Conferences, it started out with 11 members, with the football league launching the next year with six. It was first raided by the Big East in 2005, losing five members to the Big East (three football, two non-football) and two non-football members to the Atlantic 10 Conference. At that time, it added six members, all with football. The early-2010s realignment saw a major raid by The American, with seven schools leaving in 2013 and 2014. C-USA responded by adding seven new members in that time frame, mostly from the Sun Belt Conference. By that time, the only remaining charter members were Southern Miss and UAB, with only Southern Miss having played in C-USA's first football season. Then in 2021, C-USA was the target of massive raids from The American and the Sun Belt, losing ''nine'' of its 14 members (including the aforementioned USM and UAB) to those leagues, with some moves taking place in 2022 and others in 2023. C-USA survived by picking up four new members in 2023, FBS independents Liberty[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the ASUN Conference[[/labelnote]] and New Mexico State[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the Western Athletic Conference[[/labelnote]] and FCS upgraders Jacksonville State and Sam Houston. %% The ASUN Conference stopped calling itself "Atlantic Sun" in 2016.

* ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'' has had quite a few cast changes as of season 7.
** Season 1-2: Emma, Ravi, Zuri, Lou, Xander, Tiffany and Jorge.
** Season 3: Emma, Ravi, Zuri, Lou, Mateo, Finn and Destiny.
** Season 4: Lou, Mateo, Finn, Destiny, Noah, Gwen and Ava.
** Season 5: Lou, Mateo, Finn, Destiny, Noah, Ava and Parker.
** Season 6-7: Lou, Destiny, Noah, Parker, Bill, Jake and Winnie.
* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'' has a couple
** Season 1: Mr. Drummond, Arnold, Willis, Kimberly and Mrs. Garrett.
** Season 2-3: Mr. Drummond, Arnold, Willis and Kimberly.
** Season 4: Mr. Drummond, Arnold, Willis, Kimberly and Pearl.
** Season 5: Mr. Drummond, Arnold, Willis, Kimberly, Pearl, Sam and Maggie.
** Season 6-8: Mr. Drummond, Arnold, Willis, Pearl, Sam and Maggie.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters''
** Season 1:Carl, Harriet, Estelle, Rachael, Richie, Laura, Eddie and Judy.
** Season 2:Carl, Harriet, Estelle, Rachael, Richie, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Judy
** Season 3-4:Carl, Harriet, Estelle, Richie, Waldo, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Judy
** Season 5-8:Carl, Harriet, Estelle, Richie, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Mayra
** Season 9:Carl, Harriet, Laura, Eddie, Steve and Mayra

* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld''
** Season 1:Cory, Shawn, Eric, Amy, Alan, Morgan, Mr. Feeny, Minkus and Topanga
** Season 2:Cory, Shawn, Eric, Amy, Alan, Morgan, Mr. Turner, Mr. Feeny and Topanga
** Season 3:Cory, Shawn, Eric, Amy, Alan, Eil, Mr. Turner, Mr. Feeny and Topanga
** Season 4:Cory, Shawn, Eric, Amy, Alan, Morgan, Mr. Feeny and Topanga
** Season 5-7:Cory, Shawn, Eric, Amy, Alan, Morgan, Jack, Rachael, Angela, Mr. Feeny and Topanga

also
* ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld''
** Season 1:Cory,Topanga, Auggie, Reilly, Maya, Locus and Farkle
** Season 2:Cory,Topanga, Auggie, Reilly, Maya, Locus and Farkle
** Season 3:Cory,Topanga, Auggie, Reilly, Maya, Locus, Farkle and Zay

* ''Series/FullHouse''
** Season 1-2:Danny, Joey, Jesse, Michelle, DJ and Stephanie.
** Season 3:Danny, Joey, Jesse, Becky, Michelle, DJ and Stephanie.
** Season 4:Danny, Joey, Jesse, Becky, Kimmy, Michelle, DJ and Stephanie.
** Season 5:Danny, Joey, Jesse, Becky, Nicky, Alex, Kimmy, Michelle, DJ and Stephanie
** Season 6-7:Danny, Joey, Jesse, Becky, Nicky, Alex, Steve, Kimmy, Michelle, DJ and Stephanie
** Season 8:Danny, Joey, Jesse, Becky, Nicky, Alex, Kimmy, Michelle, DJ and Stephanie
also
* ''Series/FullerHouse''
** Season 1:DJ, Kimmy, Stephanie, Jackson, Max, Tommy and Ramona.
** Season 2:DJ, Kimmy, Stephanie, Jackson, Max, Tommy, Ramona, Lola, Matt, Steve and Fernando.
** Season 3-5:DJ, Kimmy, Stephanie, Jackson, Max, Tommy, Ramona, Matt, Jimmy, Steve and Fernando

** Season 6-7: Mr. Drummond, Arnold, Willis, Pearl, Sam and Maggie.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' Carl, Harriet, Laura and Eddie are the only main characters to star in every season. Steve Urkel wasn't part of the main cast in season 1.

*** Big 12 Conference: Its original lineup in 1996 stayed intact until 2011, when Colorado and Nebraska respectively skedaddled for the Pac-10/12 and Big Ten. The next year saw Missouri and Texas A&M leave for the Southeastern Conference, being replaced by TCU and West Virginia. Oklahoma and Texas have announced their departure for the SEC in 2024, while the Big 12 added [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} BYU]], Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2023. Colorado will return in 2024.

* This trope has been omnipresent throughout the history of UsefulNotes/{{NCAA}} sports (not to mention other governing bodies), with conferences experiencing greater or lesser degrees of membership turnover throughout their history. This churn has reached a peak in the 21st century, which has seen ''three'' major realignments involving multiple Division I conferences—the first in the mid-2000s, the second in the first half of the 2010s, and the third going on as we speak in mid-2023.

*** Big Ten Conference: Of its seven charter members from 1896, six are still present. Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin have been ever-present; [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan]] left in 1907 but [[HesBack came back]] for good in 1917. Indiana and Iowa joined in 1899 and Ohio State in 1912, leading to a period of stability that lasted from Michigan's return to the departure of charter member Chicago in 1946. Michigan State's arrival in 1950 led to another long period of stability that ended with Penn State's arrival in 1990. The new lineup remained intact until Nebraska joined in 2011, followed by Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. This period of stability will end in 2024 with the arrival of UCLA and USC.

*** Pac-12 Conference: The conference's current charter dates only to 1959, but it claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, founded in 1915, as its own. Of the current members, only Cal and Washington have been ever-present in the conference, although three later PCC arrivals Stanford, USC, and UCLA have stayed put ever since joining. Two other PCC members, Idaho (1922–1959) and Montana (1928–1950), were not invited to join the Athletic Association of Western Universities (later the Pac-8, Pac-10, and Pac-12). Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State were also not invited to join the AAWU at its formation, but all three joined by 1964. Arizona and Arizona State joined the Pac-8 in 1978, leading it to become the Pac-10, and the 2011 arrival of Colorado and Utah led to the current name of Pac-12. That, of course, was before UCLA and USC announced they were off to the Big Ten in 2024, soon followed by Colorado announcing its return to the Big 12 in the same year.

*** Mid-American Conference: Founded in 1946 with five members, by 1955 it was left with only one charter member—Ohio, which remains in the league to this day. However, it's been considerably more stable than most other FBS leagues, especially in this century. The next five schools to join, all between 1947 and 1952,[[note]]in order of arrival: Miami (OH) & Western Michigan, Toledo, Kent State, Bowling Green[[/note]] are still present. After the next-to-last charter member, Western Reserve[[labelnote:*]]one of the two predecessors to today's Case Western Reserve[[/labelnote]], left in 1955, only two schools have left the MAC after joining, and one of these [[HesBack returned to stay]]. Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan joined in 1971, Ball State in 1973, Akron in 1992, and Buffalo in 1998; Northern Illinois joined in 1975, left in 1986, and returned in 1997. The only core MAC member to have permanently left since 1955 is [[Film/WeAreMarshall Marshall]], which joined in 1954, was kicked out in 1969, returned in 1997, and voluntarily left in 2005. The MAC has not had a change to its core membership ever since, though three schools were football-only members for a few years in the 21st century.

*** Mid-American Conference: Founded in 1946 with five members, by 1955 it was left with only one charter member—Ohio, which remains in the league to this day. However, it's been considerably more stable than most other FBS leagues, especially in this century. The next five schools to join, all between 1947 and 1952,[[note]]in order of arrival: Miami (OH) & Western Michigan, Toledo, Kent State, Bowling Green[[/note]] remain in the MAC to this day. After the next-to-last charter member, Western Reserve[[labelnote:*]]one of the two predecessors to today's Case Western Reserve[[/labelnote]], left in 1955, only two schools have left the MAC after joining, and one of these [[HesBack returned to stay]]. Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan joined in 1971, Ball State in 1973, Akron in 1992, and Buffalo in 1998; Northern Illinois joined in 1975, left in 1986, and returned in 1997. The only core MAC member to have permanently left since 1955 is [[Film/WeAreMarshall Marshall]], which joined in 1954, was kicked out in 1969, returned in 1997, and voluntarily left in 2005. The MAC has not had a change to its core membership ever since, though three schools were football-only members for a few years in the 21st century.

*** American Athletic Conference: Operating under the 1979 charter of the original Big East Conference,[[note]]the "Big East" name was bought in 2013 by a group of non-FBS schools that left to form a new Division I non-football conference, most of which were original Big East members[[/note]] The American started its life under that name in 2013 with 10 members. Two of them, Louisville and Rutgers, left after a single season to respectively join the ACC and Big Ten. Also in 2014, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa joined, with [[MilitaryAcademy Navy]] joining for football only in 2015 and Wichita State joining as a full but non-football member in 2017. [=UConn=] left in 2020 to rejoin many of its former Big East rivals in the non-football Big East 2.0, parking its football team as an FBS independent. After the Big 12 poached Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2021 (effective in 2023), The American responded by raiding Conference USA, announcing that Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA would join in 2023.
*** Conference USA: Formed by a 1995 merger between two non-football leagues, the Great Midwest and Metro Conferences, it started out with 11 members, with the football league launching the next year with six. It was first raided by the Big East in 2005, losing five members to the Big East (three football, two non-football) and two non-football members to the Atlantic 10 Conference. At that time, it added six members, all with football. The early-2010s realignment saw a major raid by The American, with seven schools leaving in 2013 and 2014. C-USA responded by adding seven new members in that time frame, mostly from the Sun Belt Conference. By that time, the only remaining charter members were Southern Miss and UAB, with only Southern Miss having played in C-USA's first football season. Then in 2021, C-USA was the target of massive raids from The American and the Sun Belt, losing ''nine'' of its 14 members (including the aforementioned USM and UAB) to those leagues, with some moves taking place in 2022 and others set for 2023. C-USA survived by picking up four new members, FBS independents Liberty[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the ASUN Conference[[/labelnote]] and New Mexico State[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the Western Athletic Conference[[/labelnote]] and FCS upgraders Jacksonville State and Sam Houston. %% The ASUN Conference stopped calling itself "Atlantic Sun" in 2016.

*** Big 12 Conference: Its original lineup in 1996 stayed intact until 2011, when Colorado and Nebraska respectively skedaddled for the Pac-10/12 and Big Ten. The next year saw Missouri and Texas A&M leave for the Southeastern Conference, being replaced by TCU and West Virginia. Oklahoma and Texas have announced their departure for the SEC in 2024, while the Big 12 added [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} BYU]], Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2023.
*** Pac-12 Conference: The conference's current charter dates only to 1959, but it claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, founded in 1915, as its own. Of the current members, only Cal and Washington have been ever-present in the conference, although three later PCC arrivals Stanford, USC, and UCLA have stayed put ever since joining. Two other PCC members, Idaho (1922–1959) and Montana (1928–1950), were not invited to join the Athletic Association of Western Universities (later the Pac-8, Pac-10, and Pac-12). Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State were also not invited to join the AAWU at its formation, but all three joined by 1964. Arizona and Arizona State joined the Pac-8 in 1978, leading it to become the Pac-10, and the 2011 arrival of Colorado and Utah led to the current name of Pac-12. That, of course, was before UCLA and USC announced they were off to the Big Ten in 2024.

*** Big 12 Conference: Its original lineup in 1996 stayed intact until 2011, when Colorado and Nebraska respectively skedaddled for the Pac-10/12 and Big Ten. The next year saw Missouri and Texas A&M leave for the Southeastern Conference, being replaced by TCU and West Virginia. Oklahoma and Texas have announced their departure for the SEC in 2024, while the Big 12 will add [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} BYU]], Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2023.

** Also in Miami, only six players from that series (Wade, Haslem, UsefulNotes/LeBronJames, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, and James Jones) remained there for the whole four-year Finals streak, that led to two titles. And once the Heat returned to the finals in 2020 (against the new team of LBJ, the Lakers), a 40-year-old Udonis Haslem managed to be the only player present in all of Miami's first six Finals.
** Most of the roster turned over between 2020 and the Heat's next Finals appearance in 2023. Only five players were present for both—Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro (who was injured and didn't play in the Finals), Duncan Robinson, and, in his final season, Haslem.

** Teresa Edwards of the USA, who won four golds and a bronze.
** Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, also of the USA, with five golds each.

** No individual has served on all eleven Patriots teams to reach the Super Bowl, but some have come close. Bill Belichick was on ten of them: XXXI as an assistant HC and the next nine as HC. Offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia was on the coaching staff of the 1985 team, the [[OldMaster only individual to be on the staff of that team and the 2018 team]] and would have served on all eleven teams if he did not take a TenMinuteRetirement that included the 2014 season. Aside from Tom Brady, who was on all nine Super Bowl teams under Belichick, no player has been to more than six (Gostkowski) as a Patriot. Several have played on five Patriots teams that reached the Super Bowl (Faulk, Light, Edelman, Gronkowski, Slater, Chung), but of that group, only Chung and Light has played in all five. Many more played in four games -- the XXXI veterans who played for New England's first three rings, the three-time champions who lost in XLII, the guys who were there for four of the five Super Bowls that New England reached in the [=2010s=], and Deion Branch, who missed XLII, but reached XLVI in his second stint as a Pat.

* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}}: The Next Generation]]'', the cast has changed once since the show started in 2001 (not including Archie "Snake" Simpson):

*** Creator/MandipGill is notable as being the only companion to last the exact same amount of time as her Doctor, Creator/JodieWhittaker[[note]]Billie Piper also lasted throughout Creator/ChristopherEccleston's tenure, but continued for the first year with Creator/DavidTennant, and Frazer Hines missed Creator/PatrickTroughton's first serial, joining in his second[[/note]] - they both stayed on the show for three seasons plus three specials over five years, 2018-2022.

* CBS' ''Series/TheLateLateShow'' has had four permanent hosts in its 20-plus seasons, starting with Tom Snyder, then Craig Kilborn, then Craig Ferguson, and currently James Corden.
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' ended with a completely different cast than when it started. The first major cast departure happened at the end of season one. The series lost its last original cast member at the end of its tenth season when Steven Hill's Adam Schiff retired[[note]]Hill was not in the pilot episode, however, with Roy Thinnes playing the DA role[[/note]], at which point he'd been the only remaining original for 5 years. So half of its run was done with no one from the first season cast. [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order#Casting_and_characters an entire section]] dedicated to the cast/character changes and overlaps. Similarly to Series/DoctorWho, Law & Order's frequent cast changes is credited for its longevity.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' had a significant cast turnover during its eleven seasons. Alan Alda (Hawkeye), Loretta Swit (Margaret), and William Christopher (Father Mulcahy) were the only main cast present for the entire run (although only Alda and Swit were in both the first and last episodes as the role of Mulcahy [[SecondEpisodeSubstitute was recast after the pilot]] and Alda was the only one to be in every single episode). Jamie Farr (Klinger) was also present for the entire run of the show, but he started off as an [[AscendedExtra extra]]. The military hospital setting made it easy to write characters in and out with the excuse of them getting drafted, transferred, and discharged. While that served to justify the [[ConvenientReplacementCharacter near-immediate replacement]] of most characters who left, most of the replacements occupied a [[ReplacementGoldfish suspiciously similar role story-wise in addition to job-wise]] (the main exception being Sherman Potter, who leaned heavily towards the "elder voice of reason" role, while Henry Blake had been only ''slightly'' more responsible than Pierce and [=McIntyre=]). The other main replacements were BJ Hunnicutt for "Trapper" John [=McIntyre=] in the "second wacky doctor" role, Charles Emerson Winchester III for Frank "Ferret Face" Burns in the "thorn in the side" role, and Max Klinger for Walter "Radar" [=O'Reilly=] in the "quirky comedic foil" role.
* In the first season of ''Series/MissionImpossible'', the core cast consisted of Steven Hill (Dan Briggs), Barbara Bain (Cinnamon Carter), Greg Morris (Barney Collier), Peter Lupus (Willy Armitage) and Martin Landau (Rollin Hand, who technically wasn't a permanent cast member until season two, but was in just about every season one episode as a special guest star). In season two, Hill was replaced by Peter Graves as Jim Phelps. This cast lasted two seasons, after which Landau left and was replaced by Leonard Nimoy as The Great Paris, and Bain left without getting a permanent replacement until season five, which introduced Lesley Warren as Dana, and also had Lupus' character occasionally replaced by Dr. Doug Robert, played by Sam Elliot. Warren, Nimoy and Elliot were gone in season six, with Lynda Day George taking over the role of the team's female member, and Lupus cementing his place on the team. In the seventh and final season, George missed out most of the first half of the season due to being pregnant and was temporarily replaced by Barbara Anderson as Mimi. Thus only two members of the cast - Morris and Lupus - lasted the entire seven-season run of the show, and one of them (Lupus) was intermittently written out of half the episodes of one season due to an aborted attempt at phasing out his character. Number of cast members to appear in every episode: zero.

* As of the start of season 20, only one of the original six cast members of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' is still on the show, and he would be more accurately described being a recurring guest star who appears in the opening credits whether he appears in that episode or not due to inertia. The original cast was Creator/MarkHarmon (Gibbs), Creator/MichaelWeatherly ([=DiNozzo=]), Creator/SashaAlexander (Kate Todd), Creator/DavidMcCallum (Ducky), Creator/PaulyPerette (Abby), and Creator/AlanDale (Director Morrow). At the beginning of season 2, Creator/SeanMurray ([=McGee=]) was promoted from repeat guest star to the main cast and Creator/BrianDietzen (Palmer) was added as a secondary cast member (eventually getting promoted to main cast status). At the end of season 2, Alexander's character was killed off and Dale's character was written out (occasionally returning as a guest star), and they were replaced by Creator/CoteDePablo (Ziva David) and Creator/LaurenHolly (Director Shepherd). Holly's character was killed off at the end of season 5 and was replaced by Creator/RockyCarroll (Director Vance). This cast held steady until the beginning of season 11 when de Pablo left the show, being replaced by Creator/EmilyWickersham (Ellie Bishop). Then Weatherly left the show at the end of season 13, being replaced by Creator/JenniferEsposito (Alex Quinn) and Creator/WilmerValderrama (Nick Torres); later that season, Creator/DuaneHenry (Clayton Reeves) was promoted to the main cast. Esposito's character only lasted one season, being replaced at the start of season 15 by Creator/MariaBello (Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane), and Perrette and Henry left at the end of that season, with Perrette being replaced by Creator/DionaReasonover (Kasie Hines). Bello and Wickersham left at different points in season 18, with Wikersham being replaced by Katrina Law (Jessica Knight). Harmon left in season 19, replaced by Gary Cole (Alden Parker). And that's not counting the turnover in important recurring characters who have not appeared in the opening credits (Joe Spano's Tobias Fornell has literally been around since episode 1, but a lot of other characters have disappeared or been killed off over the years). Given that Ducky, the last member of the original cast, spent much of season 15 and at least part of season 16 on sabbatical teaching and writing his memoirs, followed by retiring from his original position to take a part-time job that doesn't require him to appear in every episode, it's quite possible that David [=McCallum=] is transitioning towards retirement (his first big role was [[Series/TheManFromUncle in the 60s]], after all), though as of season 20 he's still officially on the cast.

* ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' has not had a lot of hosting changes: on daytime (1972-present), the only hosting change was Bob Barker to Drew Carey in 2007, while various nighttime incarnations have had Dennis James (1972-77), Bob Barker (1977-80), Tom Kennedy (1985-86), and Doug Davidson (1994-95). However, the announcer post has changed three times (Johnny Olson from 1972-85, Rod Roddy from 1985-2003, Rich Fields from 2004-10, and George Gray from 2011 onward, plus Burton Richardson for the 1994 nighttime version), and countless numbers of models ("Barker's Beauties") have rotated in and out of the cast over time.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' is notable for not only being the longest-running science fiction/fantasy live-action series on American television at fifteen seasons in as many years but also for keeping its two original leads for the entirety of that run, averting this trope.

* The American version of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' has gone through this. The Creator/{{ABC}} version was helmed by Regis Philbin (1999-2002) and Jimmy Kimmel (2020-), while the syndicated version went to Meredith Vieira (2002-13), Cedric the Entertainer (2013-14), Terry Crews (2014-15), and Chris Harrison (2015-19).

* Same goes for The Pointer Sisters, which formed in 1969. Of the founding sisters, June left in 1977, returned a year later, left for good in 2002, and died in 2006; Bonnie left in 1977 and only returned for one show in 2009 before passing away in 2020; and Anita left in 2015 and passed away in 2022. While the group hasn't recorded since the early 1990s, it carries on with Ruth, another sister who joined in time for its commercial heyday in the 70s and 80s, plus two of her descendants (daughter and granddaughter).

* The New York Yankees had two such stretches: The Joe [=McCarthy=] era from 1931-45, where the team won 7 World Series and featured all-time greats like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe [=DiMaggio=], and the Casey Stengel era from 1949-60, where they won another 7 World Series and featured all-time greats like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra. The third best stretch was in the 1990s-2000s, when they won four titles in five years (1996 and 1998-2000), plus one more in 2009. Only starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, shortstop Derek Jeter, and closer Mariano Rivera were a part of all five teams, with a number of others being part of four out of five--including two other members of the 2009 team, as Joe Girardi, the starting catcher on the 1996 team and backup catcher in 1998 and 1999, returned as manager for the 2009 team while Jorge Posada, who replaced Girardi as the primary catcher in 1998 after backing him up as a rookie in 1997, was still the starting catcher in 2009. Furthermore, only Jeter and Rivera had been Yankees continuously for that stretch; Pettitte left the Yankees for three years from 2004 to 2006, playing for the Houston Astros.

* ''Series/{{Dallas}}'': Creator/LarryHagman (J.R.) and Ken Kercheval (Cliff) were the only actors to remain with the series for all fourteen seasons. Hagman was the only actor to appear in all 357 episodes. Kercheval was not added to the opening credits until Season Three. Taking the infamous shower scene into account, Patrick Duffy (Bobby) was the only other actor to appear in every season.

* ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' has gone through four hosts since it first hit the airwaves in 1975. The show had a daytime version from 1975-91, hosted by Chuck Woolery (1975-81), Pat Sajak (1981-89), Rolf Benirschke (1989), and Bob Goen (1989-91), with Susan Stafford as hostess until Vanna White replaced her in 1982. Averted with the 1983-present nighttime syndicated version, which has been hosted by Pat and Vanna on all but a handful of special occasions. However, the announcer post has changed a few times: Charlie O'Donnell (1975-80), Jack Clark (1980-88), M.G. Kelly (1988-89), O'Donnell again (1989-2010), and Jim Thornton (2011-).

** Most of the roster turned over between 2020 and the Heat's next Finals appearance in 2023. Only five players were present for both—Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and, in his final season, Haslem.

* ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'' has quite a few cast changes as of season 7.
** Season 1-2:Emma, Ravi, Zuri, Lou, Xandar, Tiffany and Jorge.
** Season 3:Emma, Ravi, Zuri, Lou, Mateo, Finn and Destiny.
** Season 4:Lou, Mateo, Finn, Destiny, Noah, Gwen and Ava.
** Season 5:Lou, Mateo, Finn, Destiny, Noah, Ava and Parker.
** Season 6-7:Lou, Destiny, Noah, Parker, Bill, Jake and Winnie.
* ''Series/DifferentStrokes'' have a couple
** Season 1:Mr. Drumond, Arnold, Wills, Kimberly and Enda
** Season 2-3:Mr. Drumond, Arnold, Wills and Kimberly
** Season 4:Mr. Drumond, Arnold, Wills, Kimberly and Perel
** Season 5:Mr. Drumond, Arnold, Wills, Kimberly, Perel, Sam and Maggie.
** Season 6-7:Mr. Drumond, Arnold, Wills, Perel, Sam and Maggie.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' Carl, Harriet, Lura and Eddie are the only main characters to star in every season. Steve Urkel wasn't part of the main cast in season 1.

* The game show ''Series/FamilyFeud'' has through many hosts. Richard Dawson was the original host from 1976-85, and after a three-year gap, the show was revived from 1988-94 with Ray Combs. Dawson returned for the 1994-95 season. After another hiatus, the show came back in 1999, with the hosting duties going to Louie Anderson (1999-02), Richard Karn (2002-06), John O'Hurley (2006-10), and Steve Harvey (2010-present).

** Most of the roster turned over between 2020 and the Heat's next Finals appearance in 2023. Only five players were present for both—Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro (expected to come back from injury during the Finals), Duncan Robinson, and, in his final season, Haslem.

* ''Series/Bunk'd'' has quite a few cast changes as of season 7.

* ''Series/Different Strokes'' have a couple

* ''Series/Family Matters'' Carl, Harriet, Lura and Eddie are the only main characters to star in every season. Steve Urkel wasn't part of the main cast in season 1.

** Also in Miami, only six players from that series (Wade, Haslem, UsefulNotes/LeBronJames, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, and James Jones) remained there for the whole four year Finals streak, that led to two titles. And once the Heat returned to the finals in 2020 (against the new team of LBJ, the Lakers), a 40-year-old Udonis Haslem managed to be the only player present in all six Miami finals.

* This trope has been omnipresent throughout the history of UsefulNotes/{{NCAA}} sports (not to mention other governing bodies), with conferences experiencing greater or lesser degrees of membership turnover throughout their history. This churn has reached a peak in the 21st century, which has seen ''three'' major realignments involving multiple Division I conferences—the first in the mid-2000s, the second in the first half of the 2010s, and the third going on as we speak in early 2022.

*** Big 12 Conference: Its original lineup in 1996 stayed intact until 2011, when Colorado and Nebraska respectively skedaddled for the Pac-10/12 and Big Ten. The next year saw Missouri and Texas A&M leave for the Southeastern Conference, being replaced by TCU and West Virginia. Oklahoma and Texas have announced their departure for the SEC no later than 2025, while the Big 12 will add [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} BYU]], Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2023.

*** Southeastern Conference: Founded in 1932 with 13 members, with 10 still in the league today. Sewanee left in 1940, Georgia Tech in 1964, and Tulane in 1966. Arkansas and South Carolina joined in 1991, with Missouri and Texas A&M following in 2012. As noted earlier, Oklahoma and Texas will join in the near future.

*** Sun Belt Conference: Started as a non-football league in 1976 with six members, with two more joining in 1979. Of those schools, the only ones remaining in the league today are Georgia State and South Alabama—and Georgia State had left in 1981 before returning in 2013. After several years of lesser churn, all but three of the members left for other conferences in 1991, and the Sun Belt merged with the American South Conference, with Arkansas–Little Rock (now athletically known as Little Rock) also joining. Although the ASC was the larger league, the merged league kept the Sun Belt name. Of the 1991 entries, only Arkansas State and Louisiana remain, though Little Rock did stay around until 2022. Five more schools joined between 1998 and 2000, and the SBC started a football league in 2001 with five full members and two football-only members. The only arrival in ''that'' time frame remaining in the SBC is Louisiana–Monroe, which became a full member in 2005. The SBC added two new members in the mid-2000s realignment, four more in the early-2010s realignment (three all-sports, one non-football), Coastal Carolina in 2016 (football in 2017), and most recently FCS upgrader James Madison and three C-USA members in 2022.

* The world's longest-running SitCom, the [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] series ''Series/LastOfTheSummerWine'' (1973-2010) went through many major characters over the course of its run. As well as the sheer length of the series, this was because most of the characters were elderly, and so had to be replaced whenever an actor died or became too infirm for regular work. Only Peter Sallis (Clegg) and Jane Freeman (Ivy) were in it from beginning to end, and Sallis's role was significantly reduced in the final seasons due to his declining health.

* Theatre/{{Tsukipro}}, with 30+ stage plays in 5 series, has reached this level. 7 of the original 8 members of the ''Theatre/{{SQS}}'' cast stayed together for 9 plays, if you count their guest appearance in ''Theatre/TsukinoEmpire: Unleash Your Mind'', and Sho Higano (Shiki) only left before episode 8 because of a severe injury. Alivestage, on the other hand, has had a different Ryota in each of its 3 3-episode seasons. Arata, You, and Hina have also all had actors who left after three or fewer plays. As of the end of 2022, Haru, Arata, Iku, and Ryota have all been played by three different actors. On the other hand, Yuusaku Sato has played Rui in nineteen different plays over eight years. Like Tenimyu, lots of former cast members have gone on to become famous -- the first Arata, Creator/YamazakiTaiki, starred in [[Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger a TV series]] and the original cast of [[Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto a musical]]. The second Iku was Ryoki of Music/BeFirst.

* Theatre/{{Tsukipro}}, with 30+ stage plays in 5 series, has reached this level. The original 8 members of the ''Theatre/{{SQS}}'' cast stayed together for 8 plays, if you count their guest appearance in ''Theatre/TsukinoEmpire: Unleash Your Mind'', and Sho Higano (Shiki) only left because of a severe injury. Alivestage, on the other hand, has had a different Ryota in each of its 3 3-episode seasons. Arata, You, and Hina have also all had actors who left after three or fewer plays. As of the end of 2022, Haru, Arata, Iku, and Ryota have all been played by three different actors. On the other hand, Yuusaku Sato has played Rui in nineteen different plays over eight years.