After eight seasons, The Chi has officially wrapped its run, closing the book on the longest-running Black drama in premium cable history. Since premiering on Showtime in 2018, Lena Waithe’s love letter to Chicago’s South Side quietly built one of the most significant runs in television, launching young actors into stardom, welcoming legends back to the screen, and outlasting nearly every other Showtime original except Shameless. Its finale marks the end of an era, and a fitting moment to look at where it stands among the other landmark Black-led series that shaped the last two decades of cable television.
The Chi (2018–2026) |
Showtime → Paramount+ | 8 Seasons | 80 Episodes
Created By: Lena Waithe
A coming-of-age drama following a group of residents on Chicago’s South Side whose lives become linked by coincidence and bonded by a need for connection and redemption. The longest-running Black drama in premium cable history, surpassing Soul Food. Also ties Dexter, Homeland, and Weeds as the second-longest-running series in Showtime’s history, behind only Shameless.
Queen Sugar (2016–2022)
OWN | 7 Seasons | 89 Episodes
Created By: Ava DuVernay
Follows the estranged Bordelon siblings in rural Louisiana as they reunite after their father’s death to save the family’s 800-acre sugarcane farm. The longest-running Black family drama in television history. Widely acclaimed for hiring exclusively women to direct every episode across its entire run, 42 female directors, 39 of them making their U.S. episodic directing debut.
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (2006–present)
TBS → BET | 12 Seasons | 400 Episodes
Created By: Tyler Perry
A multigenerational family comedy-drama about the Paynes, led by patriarch Curtis and his wife Ella, living under one roof in Atlanta. Originally launched with the largest episode order ever given to a new sitcom. Holds the record for most episodes of any television series, of any genre, with a predominantly Black cast — surpassing The Jeffersons, Family Matters, and The Cosby Show.
The Haves and the Have Nots (2013–2021)
OWN 8 Seasons | 196 Episodes
Created By: Tyler Perry
A primetime soap following the wealthy Cryer and Harrington families and their intersecting lives with the working-class Young family in Savannah, Georgia. OWN’s first scripted drama and the highest-rated premiere in the network’s history. Created and written entirely by Tyler Perry, it became a Tuesday-night ratings anchor for the network for nearly a decade.
The Game (2011–2015)
BET | 6 Seasons | 83 Episodes
Created By: Mara Brock Akil
A Girlfriends spin-off following the wives and girlfriends of professional football players navigating love, family, and ambition. Canceled by The CW after 3 seasons in 2009, then revived by BET in 2011 after a grassroots fan campaign (one of the first instances of social media directly reviving a canceled series). While it’s a total of 9 seasons and 147 episodes, 6 of its BET seasons and 83 episodes are its cable-network run.
Power (2014–2020)
Starz | 6 Seasons | 62 Episodes
reated By: Courtney A. Kemp
Follows James “Ghost” St. Patrick, a New York nightclub owner and drug kingpin trying to leave his criminal past behind. Became Starz’s highest-rated series ever at the time and launched the “Power Universe,” spawning four spin-off series.
Snowfall (2017–2023)
FX | 6 Seasons | 58 Episodes
Created By: John Singleton, Eric Amadio, and Dave Andron
Chronicles the early days of the crack cocaine epidemic in 1980s South Central Los Angeles through the eyes of a young street dealer. The final creative project overseen by the late John Singleton, who died before the series concluded.
Greenleaf (2016–2020)
OWN | 5 Seasons | 71 Episodes
Created By: Craig Wright
Centers on the Greenleaf family, who run a Memphis megachurch and grapple with scandal, secrets, and power struggles within their ministry. An Oprah Winfrey-produced drama that earned multiple NAACP Image Award nominations and helped anchor OWN’s scripted lineup alongside Queen Sugar.
Being Mary Jane (2013–2019)
BET | 5 Seasons | 51 Episodes
Created By: Mara Brock Akil
Follows Mary Jane Paul, a successful but personally struggling TV news anchor balancing career ambition with her chaotic family and love life. One of BET’s highest-rated original dramas, launching Gabrielle Union into a leading dramatic TV role.
Soul Food (2000–2004)
Showtime 5 Seasons | 74 Episodes
Created By: Felicia D. Henderson (developed for TV; based on the film by George Tillman Jr.)
Follows the Josephs, a tight-knit Black family in Chicago, as three sisters navigate love, loss, and tradition in the years after their matriarch’s death. One of the first successful dramas on any network to feature a predominantly Black cast, and the previous record-holder for longest-running Black drama on premium cable, a title The Chi would surpass roughly two decades later.