U.S. television programming remains one of the most popular forms of entertainment worldwide. This trend was initiated by U.S.-made broadcast network soap operas and sitcoms such as "Dallas", "M*A*S*H", "The Cosby Show", "Seinfeld", "Friends" and "The Big Bang Theory" by the mid-2000s, and then in the late 2000s and 2010s by U.S. medical dramas and police procedurals such as "House", and the "" and "NCIS" franchises. All of these are currently syndicated in more than 100 countries, and rank among the most-watched television series in the world, extending their dominance to a three-decade span.