As a kid, I would say Degrassi or My So Called Life. As a young adult with taste, I would say Star Trek TOS and then X-Files. Both were important at points in my life when I needed something to immerse myself in.
For me, it was Star Trek TOS. I've already told the story of how my mom watched the first go around of reruns when I was a baby a billion and one times here and I'm sure none of you want to hear it again. For me, away from mom (athough I got her into this one) it was Battlestar Galactica TOS. I was eight years old and watched it every week without fail. Even the reruns.
Probably MASH for me as well, roundabout season 4 or 5 as far as first run goes. Seasons 1-3 are my favorites now.
The cartoon I mentioned before was a little tongue-in-cheek because I was just a toddler then. As for serious TV series, the next obvious was Star Trek TOS... and probably was for a great many Gen-X'ers. But M*A*S*H... was a whole other animal. Comedy in a war setting? It was brilliantly done. The early seasons with Col. Henry Blake were a bit more salted with foolery, though still filled with many great episodes. When Col. Sherman Potter came around, things got a bit more serious and content improved. But it was the most groundbreaking series on humanity. They covered so many bases. And you couldn't help but feel endeared to the characters. The finale was the most difficult series ending I ever experienced.
As a young boy both watching and playing it with friends : Lost In Space(1965-1968) in reruns after school weekdays on a local UHF station. Star Trek TOS in reruns after school weekdays on a local UHF station. Space:1999(1975-1977) weekly on a local UHF station.
I could rattle off a long list of cartoons or tv shows as a kid. (Thundercats, Thunderbirds, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men etc.) Although, the first 'big' tv show that got me hooked was The X-Files. I started to watch it from season two, watched the season one reruns, and stuck with it until the end.
That's kind of me too. Only from season 3 onwards, X Files wise. Other one was Star Trek: TNG. Was hooked on it and loved the characters. Oh heck yes! I remember that show. Mathnet rules. Loved that X-Men cartoon. It was must see tv for me. Still miss it. Loved that show. Especially loved Spike and Angel . Any Garfield and Friends fans? Loved that cartoon. Really enjoyed watching the Animaniacs as well.
Star Trek TOS had a profound influence on me, enough to derail me from doing "conventional" clay artwork and instead making stuff like this: Needless to say, when my parents saw this they rolled their eyes and shook their heads muttering "Star Trek..."
Hmmmmm.... probably Mork and Mindy. Me and my sister would fight over this because she loved Buck Rogers and both shows came on at the same time. Also great early memories of Friday nights with The Incredible Hulk, Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas.
I could do that too. Whatever was on the line-up in 1985, that's what I was excited about. But I'm not going to go that route either. I'm actually going to go with the original Star Trek. "How do you figure?" I started with the movies which I was a huge fan of (but that's not a show), and TNG which I wasn't as much of a fan of but was a Star Trek fix. Then I got to see TOS itself. And that was it.
This is an easy one. I was of the age that we'd be playing outside, jumping around making "the noise", running in slow-motion humming the theme music. It was glorious!
My first big TV series were, oddly enough, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I was a baby when Sesame Street premiered, so both show were an important part of my early life. I was a Navy brat, so we moved *a lot* in those early years. It was reassuring to me that, when everything else in my life was changing, my TV friends were the same wherever I was.
Roger that, or at least it was the first thing that made an impression on me that has lasted a lifetime now. Plenty of other genre stuff to a somewhat lesser extent, except for maybe the original Twilight Zone which I discovered later.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is the only acceptable answer to this question. Oh and that one show about books with that guy who's on a different show wearing that funny thing on his eyes.