New York Post, Tuesday, August 13, 2019nypost.com50
TV T uesday
The third season of Netflix hit “The Crown” will premiere Nov. 17, with Olivia
Colman and Tobias Menzies (left) as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, circa
1964. Those roles were played by Claire Foy and Matt Smith in Seasons 1 and 2.
By ROBERT RORKE and
MICHAEL STARRI
F television is a form of com-
fort food, then the stars of
long-running prime time se-
ries are the ultimate visual
nighttime snack.
With the new fall season
quickly approaching, here’s a
look at the handful of returning
series stalwarts we’ve been wel-
coming into our lives for lo these
many years.Mariska Hargitay,
“Law & Order: SVU”
(Premiered 1999). TV’s
lady crime solvers range
from the sublime (Diana
Rigg, “The Avengers”)
to the quaint (Angela
Lansbury, “Murder, She
Wrote”). Surpassing
them all is Hargitay,
whose run as Det.
Olivia Benson will
enter its record
21st season next
month.
Jeff Probst,
“Survivor” (Pre-miered 2000). Probst, the host/
executive producer of this war-
horse reality show, has seen
“Survivor” through 568 epi-
sodes and locations as diverse
as Fiji, Borneo, China and
Kenya.
Julie Chen Moonves,
“Big Brother” (Premiered
2000): Chen was hosting
“The Early Show” when
she took a detour to host this
CBS summer reality show 19
years ago — and hasn’t
looked back.
Chris Harrison, “The
Bachelor” (Premiered
2002). Has been the
show’s steadying influ-
ence since it premiered 17
years ago on ABC and
does double duty on its
spinoff, “The
Bachelorette.”
Mark Har-
mon, “NCIS”
(Premiered
2003). Harmon
had a string
of hit series
(“St. Else-
where,”With the Stars” (Premiered
2005). Though he’s better-known
as the main host of “DWTS,”
Bergeron has also been hosting
“America’s Funniest Home
Videos” since 2001. That’s a lot
of screen time.
“It’s Always Sunny in Phil-
adelphia” (Premiered 2005).
This long-running ensemble
comedy premiered 14 years ago
and keeps on chugging along,
first on FX and now on FXX.LEGENDS
OF
THE FALL
A look at some of the longest
tenured stars in prime time
“It’s Always Sunny
in Philadelphia.”Mariska Hargitay,
“Law & Order: SVU.”Ellen Pompeo,
“Grey’s Anatomy.”Mark Harmon (left) and
Sean Murray, “NCIS.”Julie Chen Moonves,
“Big Brother”PARENT TRAP
Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo
Rupp, who played parents Red
and Kitty Forman on Fox’s “That
‘70s Show” (right), will reunite for
another TV project. They’ll play
Nate Bargatze’s parents in the
upcoming ABC sitcom based on
the actor/comedian’s life.GETTING TO KNOW ‘JERRY O’
“Jerry O” airs weekdays on
WNYW/Ch. 5 (10 a.m.) for the next
three weeks. We asked host Jerry
O’Connell for some fun facts about
himself. Here are his answers:
“I grew up in Manhattan
(Chelsea) and was at the
opening night of the FlorentDiner in the Meatpacking district.”
“My grandfather, Charles Witkowski,
was the mayor of Jersey City (1956-60).”
“I proposed to my wife, Rebecca
Romijn, after a ride on the Hampton
Jitney.”
“I’ve yet to find better pastrami than
at Katz’s Deli.”roles when Shonda Rhimes cast
her as Dr. Meredith Grey, the
daughter of a brilliant doctor,
who was on the fence about her
career, up and down with her sur-
geon boyfriend McDreamy (Pat-
rick Dempsey) and kind of blue
all the time. Viewers hung in
there with Pompeo, who will now
go down in history as one of the
longest-running female stars of a
US TV series.
Tom Bergeron, “Dancing“Chicago Hope”) and even
played Ted Bundy in a memora-
ble 1986 TV movie when a guest
arc on “The West Wing” in 2001
led to the bigest break of his ca-
reer: playing Jethro Gibbs on the
military drama “NCIS,” com-
manding the Naval Criminal In-
vestigative Service with a sto-
icism viewers find irresistible.
Ellen Pompeo, “Grey’s
Anatomy” (Premiered 2005).
Pompeo had done a few film