The 1980s are a solid twenty-five years behind us now. For me I aged from 21 to 30 in that decade. A lot of stuff happened back then but, of course, there was always television to distract you from your everyday cares and give you something to talk about with friends. So here is looking back to the shows that interested us back in 1980-89. Note: these shows can include ones than began earlier and ran into the '80s as well as those that ran beyond the decade. Regularly watched Cagney & Lacey The Equalizer The Fall Guy Magnum, P.I. Moonlighting Simon & Simon Unsolved Mysteries WKRP In Cincinatti Sporadically watched The A-Team Airwolf Alien Nation Charlie's Angels Cheers China Beach Columbo Designing Women Fantasy Island MacGyver Miami Vice Night Court Quantum Leap Quincy, M.E. Remington Steele The Rockford Files Soap Spenser: For Hire Star Trek - The Next Generation T.J. Hooker
Otherworld The 80s version of The Twilight Zone (still my favorite out of all versions of the show) ST:TNG
Perfect Strangers Alf Family Ties The Wonder Years He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Rainbow Brite Fraggle Rock Sesame Street Miami Vice Night Court Cheers
The A-Team Knight Rider Airwolf Dukes of Hazzard Family Ties GIJoe: A Real American Hero! Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Mighty Orbots Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends The Incredible Hulk He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Night Court Benson Bionic 6 Robotech Starcom: The US Space Force The Real Ghostbusters Pole Position The Littles Inspector Gadget (As you can tell, the eighties was my toon watchin' heyday.)
Airwolf Buck Rogers In The 25th Century (1979-1981) Galactica:1980 Otherworld Ray Bradbury Theater Spenser: For Hire Star Trek:The Next Generation The Twilight Zone(80s version)
Using a broad definition of SF if you include shows which ran into the 80's or started in the 1980's you could include Doctor Who Red Dwarf Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy Blake's 7 The Tripods Terrahawks ALF ST:TNG Quantum Leap Buck Rogers V War of the Worlds Alien Nation Mork and Mindy Galactica 1980 Captain Power I could list several more, it might be more accurate to say there wasn't a lot of space travel based SF shows.
Yeah, back then there wasn't much SF of interest to me on television. I was still watching TOS reruns periodically, but that isn'r a show of the '80s. Fueled by articles in Starlog magazine and intense curiosity I did tune into the TNG premiere, "Encounter At Farpoint." I was seriously underwhelmed with that. Nonetheless I hung in for a few episodes and then watched only sporadically out of a mixture of lingering curiosity and boredom. I watched a bit more frequently during the second and third seasons, but my viewing of the show remained sporadic throught the series. Eventually in the 2000s I managed a complete series rewatch from beginning to end through daily syndication. And then a few years ago I did another rewatch through dvd and online viewing where my opinion mellowed (in some respects) from seeing the show in the late '80s and early '90s.
I don't remember that the '80s were much of a drought as far as SF went. The '80s was when I got hooked on Doctor Who, and oddly enough it was my anthropology instructor who told me that V was a good series (I followed his suggestion and found it to be a good adventure show, if a little silly in places). I loved Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Tripods (shame they couldn't have finished adapting all three novels). Of course TNG premiered in the '80s (on the same day as a major local SCA event; someone had recorded the show and over 2 dozen people dressed in medieval-era clothes crowded into her living room to watch it after the evening feast). After doing some searching, it turns out that most of my favorite shows in the '80s were British, as Are You Being Served? was still on in the '80s, and Blackadder also premiered in the '80s. The superb series Tenko was also an '80s show (about a group of British and Dutch women POWs in WWII).
Star Trek: The Next Generation Three's Company Diff'rent Strokes The Facts of Life You Can't Do That On Television Thundercats Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends ALF Whiz Kids Misfits of Science Moonlighting Quantum Leap Highway to Heaven Happy Days Laverne & Shirley Battle of the Network Stars Mama's Family The Incredible Hulk
I'm going to break this up into different parts. Part I: '80s Shows I Watched During the Actual '80s So this isn't all just cartoons, I'm going to slightly cheat and include shows that started in the '80s but I didn't watch until the early-'90s. Cartoons Transformers Thundercats Jem He-Man She-Ra Teddy Ruxpin MASK Dino Riders Bionic Six Gobots Heathcliff Count Duckula Dennis the Menace The Real Ghostbusters The Smurfs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles GI Joe Super Mario Bros. The Legend of Zelda Gummy Bears ... a bunch of other stuff I'm not immediately remembering. Live Action Three's Company (all the innuendo went over my head) Benson Taxi ALF Perfect Strangers Full House Growing Pains Who's the Boss? Married With Children Laverne & Shirley Charles In Charge Mama's Family Mr. Wizard You Can't Do That On Television Double Dare Star Trek: The Next Generation The Facts of Life Night Court Small Wonder Star Search Sesame Street (obviously) Mr. Rogers (obviously) Part II: Older Shows I Watched During the '80s I Dream of Jeannie The Monkees Bewitched The Flinstones (obviously) The Jetsons Mister Ed Dennis the Menace Green Acres The Brady Bunch Good Times Batman That Girl What's Happening Looney Toons (obviously) Tom & Jerry (obviously) Part III: '80s Shows I Watched Later Any '80s show that I discovered from the mid-'90s on. Knight Rider A-Team McGyver Spenser for Hire (thanks to DS9) Miami Vice (thanks to BSG) Amen One Day at a Time Soap Galactica 1980 (it's in the title!) Three's Company (yes, listed twice, because it was a completely different show to me once I was old enough to know what was going on!)
V was one of the must watched shows of the year it came out. And I remember it airing late evening on ITV in the UK, and given my age at the time I really should have been asleep in bed.
I was a teen and there was a lot of family viewing. We used to all sit in front of the TV on Thursdays for The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court, and then my folks and my brothers and sisters would go to bed and I'd watch Hill Street Blues on my own. I started taping Magnum P.I. to watch because of the conflict, till it moved to Wednesdays. The shows I remember most fondly besides HSB, Cheers and Magnum, were St. Elsewhere SCTV Late Night with David Letterman Saturday Night Live (the decade when I really got into it) Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) on PBS Mystery Tom Baker and Peter Davidson Doctor Who on PBS Danger UXB on PBS Masterpiece Theater I went through high school on about 6 hours sleep because of Letterman. I could have taped it but I felt like I had to see it immediately, like I might miss something.
Jem Thunder cats He man/She-ra Transformers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my mom: Cheers, Family ties, Who's the Boss I played more than watched shows in the 80s
I watched a ton of TV in the 80's, and then I went to college in 86 and it really slowed down for me. Here are the highlights: Cheers MASH The Cosby Show Night Court Newhart Family Ties Growing Pains The A-Team Knight Rider Magnum P.I. Simon and Simon Remington Steel TJ Hooker St. Elsewhere Dukes of Hazzard Alf The Love Boat Fantasy Island Saturday Night Live Trapper John, MD Quincy Star Trek: The Next Generation Just the Ten of Us MTV's Remote Control Lots and lots of MTV videos Late Night with David Letterman The Tonight Show
I watched a lot of stuff casually but in terms of appointment television it was mostly the classic NBC shows of the era: Hill St Blues LA Law Miami Vice Family Ties Night Court Cheers Taxi
Airwolf The Equalizer A-Team TNG of course Barney Miller Taxi Night Court Cheers Hill Street Blues St Elsewhere Miami Vice Stingray Hunter ...