Top Ten Eighties TV Shows
80's Theme week continues. Today's top ten is Television shows. I've tried to limit myself to TV show that originated in the 80's even if they wrapped up in the 90's, and in one case is still ongoing.
I loved this show as a kid, and was really really sad when the lead actor was accidentally killed, which in turn shut down the show. It was cool concept that we would see more of in Quantum Leap, but I liked the kid concept of Voyagers, and tried to be a little more educational.
So which one of the Head of Class students did you identify with? I had several crushes on three different actresses, so I was a regular viewer. Along with Moonlighting this was a must-watch show during my high school years. I remember they filmed several episodes in the former Soviet Union right as glasnost started happening there.
The Brown family loved watching the Keatons throughout their entire run. They were sort of the frontrunners of the "Very Special Episode" movement of highlight a particular social problem in 80s sitcoms....and had time to go to England.
Who didn't watch Cheers? It felt like they were a cultural phenomenon, with characters becoming so engrained into our collective consciousness that make us to this day want to scream out, "Norm!” as a sign of our common identity. I really didn't become a fan until Woody joined the series.
Only 4 episodes were shown of this show before ABC cancelled it, they later showed the last two episodes during the summer. I enjoyed all those episodes in reruns. It quite possibly was the funniest show in the 80s...too bad it was cut loose way too soon.
I only caught the Fox episodes of this show in 1988. Sadly I've never seen any of the earlier episodes on Showtime. I keep wishing they'd put these on DVD someday. The show was sort of the anti-sitcom making light of the formula and yet reworking within its framework....and it was hilarious.
Yes I did get caught up in the whole Kevin-Winnie relationship. I do remember loving this show, and then falling quickly out of love with it towards the end of the run. I would have put in either a clip of Kate & Allie or Murphy Brown here, but I can't find any on Youtube.
This was the first show I remember becoming a bit obsessive about. I watched it religiously...when it was on. It suffered from the writer's strike stopping the show. And it is of course had the well-known fumble of the whole David-Maddie relationship that has become a learning lessons for shows that came after. Still the Taming of the Shrew episode, Atomic Shakespeare, is a TV classic that I still quote from with a few old friends.
Wow, the TV show started in 1989, and now after 18 years The Simpsons are getting their first movie. It's mind-boggling that this cartoon dysfunctional family has managed to survive in a changing TV culture. I do remember when it used to do battle with the Cosby Show on Thursday nights, which lead into a huge discussion on family values and what not. Still the show has become Sunday night for years and years. (And sadly my DVR only taped half of the 400 episode last Sunday. Doh!)
I never watched more than 3 episodes of the original Star Trek show, but STTNG made me a Trekkie. I've seen every episode at least 3 times. One of my fondest memories was in the 90's spending some time with my then girlfriend watching the final season episodes every week in the college student lounge.
So like I mentioned, I wish I could have included Kate & Allie and also Murphy Brown, but I couldn't find any clips on YouTube, so just kindly mentally insert then somewhere in the list (remove Police Squad! and The Wonder Years). So what shows would be in your top ten for the 80's?
Stay tuned tomorrow as a present Lefty's Top Ten 80's Movies!
Comments
Um, didn't Jon Erik Huxum have his gun accident while shooting a subsequent series "Cover Up" and not "Voyagers"?
Posted by: Tony Collett | May 16, 2007 07:08 PM
Sorry, I meant "Hexum" not "Huxum". Even looked it up on IMDB.
Posted by: Tony Collett | May 16, 2007 07:10 PM
Strange- I watched 9 of the 10 shows on your list fairly religiously for at least parts of their runs (the entirety of Police Squad, of course).
But I thought Simpsons 400 was THIS COMING SUNDAY -
http://www.thesimpsons.com/index.html
Posted by: ROG | May 17, 2007 06:09 AM