Top 10 Decade Defining TV Shows: 1980s
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- In between all the pop music and awesome action movies, we still found time to watch great television. Join WatchMojo.com as we count down our picks for the top 10 decade defining TV shows of the 1980s. Be sure to check us out at / watchmojo , / watchmojo and / watchmojo
Special thanks to our users akt, Ceione Pafford, Cameronshank and Zombiekilleryamato for submitting the idea through our Suggest Tool at www.WatchMojo.com/Suggest
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80's was a great decade. I'm so glad i grew up with radio, 3 main channels, casset tapes and without internet and without 250 channels.
i wish i was born in your time
Agreed, the 80's was totally awesome.
When tv was descent . Family oriented
1980s was such a great decade.
especially in music.
I cant said much about the the 80s, i was born in 1988. I am more a 90s kids and i cant wait for tommorrow.
mestre12 same here I am from 1988 but I still remember reruns of these shows with my older siblings...specially "The Wonder Years" and "Alf" good shows....good memories and times...
mestre12 I was born in '84 so I'm a 90s kid too.
*****
i was born in '80 am i 80s or 90's kid?
In case you were wondering how the Mojoholics voted in our poll, see the votes and entries here:
www.watchmojo.com/suggest/Top+10+TV+Shows+of+1980s
Note, of course, that viewer votes are just one of the hundreds of data points and variables that we consider and look at when we create our lists. Make sure to sign up and participate on future lists at www.WatchMojo.com/suggest
Decade defining kids shows/or shows targeted for the youth
Ooooo the Wonder years. I watched that with my mom. She loved it when she was younger. And even married with children. Thanks for the memories guys
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Roseanne was only funny the first 2 years. If it wasn't for John Goodman, it wouldn't have made for one season.
Make a top 10 worst accents in film please
Jack K They already did.
Uh, WatchMojo? Did you forget Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? It was only the most inescapable thing on the face of the Earth.
hey WatchMojo what about STAR TREK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still watch The Golden Girls religiously. Such a great show.
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I would have put "Married with Children" and "Rosanne" on the 90's list
Correct.. 👍
I agree and I would have moved Magnum PI and Macgyver from honorable mention to their spots.
Rosanne and married with children are 1980s shows
And moonlighting ❤
Mostly not, actually. @@scottdavis9135
Star Trek: The Next Generation should have gotten an honorable mention.
I love that Cheers was #1, taste prevailed, but Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, and L.A. Law were glaring omissions.
To me The Wonder Years will always be my favorite show of all time 😁
I am from 1988 but I still remember reruns of these shows with my older siblings...specially "The Wonder Years" and "Alf" good shows....good memories and times...
The 80s where the best time for TV
90s were
Yes the 80s was the best ever!
Ahhh, murder, she wrote. My grandma’s favorite show. Reruns on hallmark.
I consider Roseanne and Married with Children 90's shows
married launched the fox network in '87. i will associate it with the three shows that carried the network in the early years.
I agree as far as Roseanne goes. That show got into high gear in the 90's.
Haohmaru Of The Wind ???? Darlene and Becky were average sized. Becky was hot.
JB TV but they started in 80's. That's why they list here
Doesn´t matter. Simpsons started in the 80s but its a 90s show. Yeah those shows had a few more years on the Simpsons but most of their run and the peak of those shows were during the 90s so to me they are 90´s shows.
Miami Vice only at #10 was a shocker, i was very happy so see Transformers on the list. However i miss those soaps, Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest. Those were 80s enough for ya! ;)
Miami Vice should have been way higher up the list! Everything about Miami Vice screamed 80s!
I know- I was surprised that it was only #10. Cheers was a great show, but there was nothing particularly 80s about it. Miami Vice began and ended at exactly the right time1984-1989. It is the most dated of the shows on this list, but that is not meant as a put down. It may have been style over content, but WHAT style!
Fer sher!
Yes
They forgot gimme a break, Mr.belvedere, and perfect strangers all these shows were when tv was worth watching
Miami Vice is #1 to me!
the wonder years,my childhood i love it,brings loads of memories
Yesss! I watched all of it on netflix and loved it
Would of loved to see it back when it was running but man! Sure is a great show.
Darecky One of my favorite shows from my childhood! Just loved it so much!
Same brah
Anyone remember a super hero character automan or ottoman? And a military show math or something damn I was hardly ten when this shows were my favourite and a series by the name remainder still or something this was the show I luved the most I don't even know if I named or spelled them correctly but wow almost 30 years now and I am suddenly trying to remember those old series lol
Wow, very very surprised that Who's The Boss wasn't even mentioned :/
It was "mentioned" at 0:52. I think I would put it in the Top 10, but maybe it doesn't fit the definition of "decade defining"(?)
The "Facts of life" should also be on the honorable mentions list
Facts of Life, Different Strokes, and Punky Brewster. Those are great 80's shows.
+Maine Coon Come on, those are all kids' shows; hard to see how they're "decade defining". Honorable mention at best.
I'm not from the 80's I love Punky
The Golden Girl Ruled the 80's Each Actress Won A Emmy and are the only ones to do so for a show
You nailed the A-TEAM. But an honorable mention for Knight Rider? My 10 year old son with the KITT shirt would beg to differ.
Both are amazing shows
What about Growing Pains, Diff'rent Strokes, Gimme a Break, The Facts of Life. Who's the Boss
Because the're all awful shows for a start.
I liked Who's the Boss, and Growing Pains and Facts of Life were watchable (maybe also Diff'rent Strokes)...but were any of them "decade defining"?
I love all those shows you mentioned!
Oh man... Golden Girls was my favorite 80's show! :D
Me too
I feel like Roseanne and married with children were more 90's
Well, the way they described "decade defining" (0:52) didn't require any of these shows to be "mostly" in the 80s. I thought MWC's best seasons were the first 3-4 seasons (with Steve Rhoades as Marcy's husband), and those seasons were mostly in the 80s.
I still watch Married With Children now, after watching it again and again I'm back on Season 6
Married with children was in 1987
I agree with you they really are more indicative of television of the 1990s
I can see that for Roseanne but for me, I'll never forget the Married with Children marathon in Nov 1989, where on a school night, I got so drunk drinking Yukon Jack and ended up busting open a tooth because I slipped on McDonalds entrance way. I then somehow signed a form with ambulance crew that I didn't need help and then passed out drunk in a ditch with freezing water. I woke up in the hospital with my dad escorting me out. Damn that was fun. All hail the 80s.
Knight rider, magnum pi, macgyver and dukes of hazzard should have been top 4
Maybe among dramas, or "action" shows(?), as opposed to sitcoms. There should be separate lists for different types of shows, IMHO.
In The Heat of The Night should have at least been an honorable mention. It was a groundbreaking and thought provoking show IMO
Yes! I could still watch that show now and get caught up in it!
Maybe if they had 100 Honorable Mentions, they could include that show. Of course, they shouldn't be trying to make just a single list of 10 shows that supposedly covers all the different genres (sitcom, drama, soap, kids' cartoons, late-night...)
What ever happened to who shot JR and the whole Dallas drama? I am sorry but Dallas should have been on this list somewhere.
It should have been number one.
It was in the 70s video.
@Skye Lander001 This was a year ago so I have no idea, I think I meant that it was in the 70s version of this video? Yeah I just went back and double checked, it's in the honorable mentions in the 70s version of this video. Dallas premiered on April 2, 1978.
@@kevynfairchild yes but was morean 80s show, like they say in the intro "regardless of when it statrted or ended", it was sure a more defining show of the 80s.
@@kevynfairchildlol
Man, I miss these times so freakin' much!
You're missing "Dallas"... Thought it was going to be #1.
I know. That show topped the charts in the 80s and it doesn't even get a mention.
How is Miami Vice only number 10? It was the most 80's thing on the list. They messed this list up right out of the gate.
You're right. When you look at that show you know you are watching a show from the 80's.
right wonder yrs was the 60s not 80s
They just guess.
No mention of Moonlighting, not even as an honourable mention?
Hell I had totally forgot about moonlighting Jesus the memories of the good old 80s what a time to be born
Good one! Moonlighting!
And mentioning "Blackadder?"
Huh?
+Roofdonkey Apparently, Blackadder was a British show, not shown in US--in which case, it belongs in a different Top 10 video. Every other show mentioned (or ranked) here was an American TV show.
+monty burns I didn't watch Moonlighting, but that show did introduce the world to Bruce Willis (later a movie star) and former model Cybill Shepherd.
Miami Vice number 10? If any show defined the 80's, it was that one. Plus, Hill Street Blues, Thirtysomething, China Beach, and Dynasty don't make the list or even get an honorable mention?
Wow the more I read the comments the more I hear the shows I had forgotten about like hill street blues thank you 🇨🇮👍
I am now 17, deeply in love with the wonder years tv show,just overwhelmed how everything is so precious,precious n serene
In 1982 and 1983 there was a show called THE POWERS OF MATTHEW STAR, I watched it and loved it, too bad it got cancelled.
knight rider definitely should have made the top 10, a little dissapointed with mojo it didn't
I heard Hill Street Blues was a damn good show in the 80s
It was the last TV drama I watched with any frequency.
So WatchMojo voted Star Trek TNG as the number one sci-fi tv series of all time, but it doesn't even get an honorable mention on this list.
I really feel "Roseanne" was FAR more 90's influential that 80's. I mean the 1980's dragged over into the 1990's to the point where what people think of as "90's" really didn't get going until 93-94, but this show was quintessentially 90's even early on. The 80's was all about "pretty people", preppy clothing and clean wealthy families. This was NOT 80's.
The Golden Girls should be in the top 10 instead of an honorable mention....
*YES!*
@Joseph Mingle You mean Magnum!
They can't leave out the Golden Girls. Should have been no family ties either. That show was shit.
Five years later, I'm in the comments to say the same.
Yes
Not even an honourable mention for Different Strokes and Who's the Boss?
DS was mentioned on their 1970s list.
I can't believe that Dallas or Dynasty didn't make the cut.
+Maurice MonDesire I know right! Those fights Joan Collins and Linda Evans were legendary!
I think it broke open the idea of the evening soap opera drama which was novel at the time.
They put Dallas as an HM on their 70's list
So right - JR getting shot was the 80’s and Bobby’s 1 season out and it was all a dream- I think that maybe the reason it didn’t make the cut
I grew up in the 90s and started watching Cheers a couple years ago. It's such an amazing show.
I've never seen it - didn't run in my country.
I can't believe they left out "Highway to Heaven" one of the best tv shows of all-time!!
That show sucked! Way to slow and boring!
I agree.
How the heck is the dukes not number one?!
That show defined my childhood and is still some of the best television ever created!
How about an honor nod for Remington Steel
"Hunter" with Fred Dryer was probably very underrated in a decade saturated with cop shows
It followed "Spencer for Hire" on Saturday nights!👍🏻
Agree.
Watching this in 2018. The Cosby show is number 2. Wow how things change in 4 years.
Married with Children is more 90's style and I would have added Dukes and Knight Rider in the list.
The best years of MWC were the first few years (with the Steve Rhoades character), and those years were mostly '80s. I also think it was more "decade defining" with regard to the 80s than to the 90s, FWIW.
Quantum leap is an awesome 1980s show
The Tyler Dunbar Show : It aired more in the 90s. Also it was set in the 50s, 60s & 70s. But it was awesome!
The first episode aired in 1989, and most of the show ran through the early '90s.
Yes it was.
I knew a woman in an apartment complex I was living in who had the whole series recorded on VHS.
Top five
1: cheers
2: dukes of hazzard
3: knight rider
4: magnum PI
5: A team
I was 'just' too young for watching Miami Vice (more of a Family Ties kid), but still ensconced in white, hot pink, and teal fashion and fantastic music during my early teen years. It was amazing. I'll never forget the day my mechanic step-father brought a customer's DeLorean home and let me check it out. Good times. Still, the 1984 Porsche 911/930 was the one that caught my eye and captured my imagination. I'm 45 now, and I was able to have a late 70's 911 in my driveway for a couple of years before I had to let her go. DREAM ACCOMPLISHED in my eyes. I hope you all get to accomplish your hopes and dreams and feel what it's like.
This compilation brought back memories, fond and memorable. Thanks to , "Late Night with David Letterman," must see TV at 1235am was what i looked forward to all day. What a misfit i was, but, there's a place for us in the world!!! Thanks a million to the host of "Late Night" and NBC for being a pioneer and giving him a second chance (daytime TV didn't work out for David Letterman).
"Perfect Strangers" would also be a good show to add too the honorable mentions list.
Agree
I hated that show lol.
How the hell is "The Golden Girls" only an "Honorable Mention"? It's one in only three shows where all the main characters won an Emmy. This list is disappointing.
Jenn Blue I know. I looooveeeeeee the Golden Girls!!!!
Jenn Blue exactly..its disappointing..they deserve a better spot
Totally agree with you!
Jenn Blue that show sucked.
@@joshuatraffanstedt2695 why?
Come on, Dallas SHOULD'VE BEEN number 1... It was so popular, HUGE all across the world in the 80s.. AlsoThe Golden Girls deserved a spot in the Top 10.
didn't it break viewership records with who shot JR? - although I never watched it, even I know half the characters
It broke viewership because it was before cable and people had barely anything else to watch
soft hearts, electric souls and because it ranked up over 350 million viewers worldwide - do your research and watch your mouth. Next to no tv series is in the Guinness book of records alongside Dallas. Best that. Twat.
soft hearts, electric souls can I ask what you are basing your opinion on? Regardless of your bitterness, Dallas holds a rightful place in the GBoWR and is still much loved today even celebrating its 40th anniversary with a huge party attended by thousands at Southfork this year. Give us your ‘facts’ behind your statement. You sound like a bitter fan of something far less successful.
Sonja Holmes yes it did - 350 million viewers worldwide and a solid fanbase to this day with many celebrating the 40th this year.
The 80's and 70"s were great. Fashions were fun, the time was more simple and people were not as desensitized
Agree
The first half of the decade was dominated by soaps but the two biggest - Dallas and Dynasty - aren't on this list.
i had the same thought,maybe show and soap it's a different thing.
Darecky
Dallas was on the 70s list but that doesn't make sense b/c it didn't hit its stride until the 80s.
Exactly. This is supposed to be a decade defining list, and they just ignore all the night time soaps that were so popular in the early half of the 80's. Fail
CoolCommander08 I agree. I don't understand such a glaring oversight.
Dallas was on the 70's list
WTF?????? Designing Women, Cagney and Lacey, Facts of Life, One Day at a Time
The 3 sitcoms you mentioned were pretty mediocre, IMHO. Maybe if you were still a kid when Facts of Life was on, it probably seemed like one of the better shows(?) Dramas like Cagney and Lacey should be ranked separately from sitcoms, I think.
@@not-so-smartaleck8987 On Day At A Time was primarily the 70s.
I was born in '77 and I remember all of these. I remember my mom obsessing over Magnum PI because she had a crush on Tom Selleck, lol. I loved The Wonder Years, and I think Cheers was the right pick for #1. The class of '93 at my high school used its theme song as their class song. Memories.
Ahhh The Wonder Years, who can deny being in love with Winnie Cooper?
No star trek the next generation? Not even an honorable mention? Come on watchmojo
I couldn't care less about sci-fi, but my wife would agree with you... ;)
Married With Children belongs in the 90's list.
These shows were great. Thanks for the reminder of all the fun shows from the 80's WatchMojo.com!
I loved The Wonder Years sooo much
What about Dynasty? That should definitely be in the list or at LEAST one of the honorably mentioned.
Dallas should have been on this list. It the highest rated show on television for most of the first half of the 80's. It totally defined the greed and over spending of the Ragan era.
Inlove WithOceans this list is a pile of wank. Transformers??? Reallly????
+Wendy Richmond With only 10 spots, I can't believe they found room on the list for a kids' cartoon...
Alf is my favorite, my sister and I still re-watch it from time to time and the show ended before we were even born!
What about Dallas? Who Shot JR? How could they forget that?
They didn't-It's in the 70's Honorable mentions section
What about The Facts of Life. I loved that show !!!
You take the good; you take the bad...
Really just a kids' show. Hardly "decade defining", IMHO
The golden girls should've been on the list!
A very good list as usual. Seems like a few seminal franchises were missed, Mash & Taxi possibly
I hated Ted Danson so much for wanting to leave Cheers. Absolutely loved this show growing up
I used to love the Cosby Show... Until I took an arrow to the knee. OH WAIT, I STILL LOVE THE COSBY SHOW
"Cheers" is a tremendous show, and I was glad to see "Family Ties" on the list. Disappointed that "Knight Rider" and "Magnum, P.I." were just honorable mentions, though.
awwwwww this feels so sad..being a child from the eighties..wowww when i look back i can remember how beautiful these sitcoms were and how my dad enjoyed 'Cheers' and i loved 'Full House'
Miami Vice should have been higher on the list.
cheers prob the best theme song ever
yes, cheers is one of the best 4 sure
This is a very good list, but here are a couple that deserved at least an honorable mention:
Dallas: It started in the 70's, but really took off in 1980 with the "Who Shot JR" storyline. It was an incredibly glamorous mix of sex, politics and business--along with plenty of ruthless characters, and an interesting cliffhanger for just about every season (although not always an interesting resolution). It petered out by the end of the decade with the departures of just about every major character, but nonetheless its impact is hard to be denied.
Moonlighting: This show was lightning in a bottle for the first two and a half seasons, but petered out near the end due to cast conflicts, mediocre storylines and a writer strike. However, in its prime, it was untouchable, and pretty much defined the term "dramady." Plus, it really took breaking the fourth wall to a hilarious level (even if that in and of itself became a major crutch in its last two seasons).
Love moonlighting too
Yes, Moonlighting shouldn't have been left out.
Yes Married with Children :) My prayers have been heard :p Too many good shows in the 80s for just a top 10 but you guys did a wonderful job.
You need more than a damn top 10 for this good ass decade!!
Roseanne was more of a 90's show.
Not even 1 short clip of Moonlighting :(
I loved watching Alf and Wonder Years in the 90s! Was just a baby in the late 80s. I was just watching The Crosby Show yesterday.
The "Crosby" Show? I guess Bill needs an alias these days, LOL
I did not expect #9 but I love that show so much
i thought for sure Dynasty, LA Law and Dallas would be on the list
Taxi not being mentioned in a top 10 list of any 80's tv show requires another list. If "Decade Defining" doesn't apply, "Greatest Ever Television" must. I hope that another criteria is applied to future ranking of television programs through history. The only reason that Taxi shouldn't be on this list is that it transcended its time.
Kudos for including Late Nite with David Letterman
Nice show watching from London UK :)
Love that you included THE TRANSFORMERS 👍
I have 5 shows that had better be on this list... !!!
Edit*
Roseanne: Check
The A-Team: Check
Cosby Show: Check
Cheers: Check
Wow.. leaving off MacGyver nets a thumbs down :( Unforgivable.
Hart to Hart.
My favorite 80s show is ALF
OMF ALF IS EPIC!
I KNOW RIGHT
Lol, I really like alf and full house
I like alf
Lol
Remember the words... Nothing can bore like The Wonder Years...
MacGyver is still the best 80's show and greatest show ever made in my opinion and i grew up with it :) . They sure don't make adventure/action shows entertaining like MacGyver anymore these days . He used his mind to solve problems instead of using a gun, because he hates guns.
Patty and Selma would tend to agree with you
Where the fuck is Dallas? Dynasty?. I mean come on WM. Dallas was the biggest TV show of the '80s.
Can't wait for the 90's there is so many!
This has been the toughest decade yet to pick, likely due to how much greatTV there was. Still, I have to question some choices. Cheers above Cosby? I don't see it. And while the list properly included Miami Vice, they omitted others. For one, Dallas was a defining 1980s show, not a 1970s show; it was money, oil, power, greed and business; it was Reaganism made manifest. How could it not be here? And while I loved Golden Girls, it was not a decade defining show. Finally, Transformers did start then, but if you wanted to include a cartoon, they should have gone with G.I. Joe, another true Reagan-era show.
Alf and Murder She Wrote were the best defining shows of the 1980's
A great decade for pop culture
Not even an honourable mention for He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe?! It was hugely popular, and also very much a product of the 80s. The first ever cartoon based on a toyline, which paved the way for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, Transformers, and GI Joe, to name just a few.
I just bumped in to your video and it was wonderful; I think I just Time Traveled into the era where i Grew up . " THE WONDER YEARS " was my personal best . & the other one you did not mention was " DOOGIE HOWSER M.D." from the same era.