1.
The Golden Girls
2.
Murder, She Wrote ~ I love love love Angela Lansbury, so... The best episodes are always her in her hometown with Seth. I liked Amos better than the sheriff that comes later, but regardless those episodes are the best ones. Then there's the few episodes where she gets to play other characters for a change, like Jessica's English cousin.
The funnest part about going through the series is all the spot-the-actor moments. It seems like so many people were on this show over the years, and I always get a kick out of the same actor playing a different character down the line.
3.
Mama's Family ~ Like with TGG, I prefer the later seasons--when Iola comes in. The only thing the early seasons have on the later ones are the Carol Burnett appearances, and that's only 4-5 episodes. Much as I love McClanahan and White, they never really shined on this show. My favorite episode is either the April Fools episode or the Iola v. Mama for Church Lady President episode.
4.
DuckTales
5.
Roseanne ~ Regardless of real life Roseanne, the show will always be one of those great family shows. Of course the best of the series is in the center. The early seasons were a little more cheesy because Roseanne had too little control, while the last two seasons are mostly garbage because she went bonkers, I guess, who knows.
6.
Designing Women ~ I think it's such a shame all the backstage drama that went on with this show because of Burke's weight. And the funny thing is... Burke was always my favorite on this show along with Alice Ghostley as Bernice and Annie Potts (Dixie Carter as Julia was a lot of fun, too). I think Burke helped make Anthony funnier, too; whenever those two would interact it was gold. I actually thought the writing was more interesting once she gained weight because they had to do something else with the character besides the Blanche Deveraux-type stories of flings and female jealousy / competitiveness and so on. I think my favorite episode is the one where Burke's character thinks she's been cursed by her maid/cook, and is sneaking around her house with a rifle and then shoots at the other ladies + Anthony from the window in the middle of the night.
7.
Brideshead Revisited
8.
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
9.
Faerie Tale Theatre
10.
The Facts of Life ~ Mostly for Charlotte Rae, love her, and the Natalie character. The show is so cheesy, but I still can get some enjoyment out of it these days. Except for those last couple of seasons, woof.
11.
The Smurfs
12.
Gimme a Break ~ Nell Carter was such a talent. I loved the episodes where she would get to sing.
13.
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
14.
Little House on the Prairie ~ Half in the '70s, half in the '80s. I think it's a good show, overall, more in the early years. The one bonus of the later episodes is Katherine McGregor gets more screentime. The Oleson's were always my favorite part of this show (both the father and mother, and of course Nellie could be entertaining in her own way, too).
15.
Dragon Ball /
Dragon Ball Z
16.
SNL ~ I know it technically stars in the '70s... *shrug*
17.
Alvin and the Chipmunks
18.
Muppet Babies ~ Neither this nor Alvin and the Chipmunks have I seen in a very long time (other than the Chipmunks movie), so... These two I'm merely ranking on memories.
19.
Are You Being Served?
--- (everything else I like for certain reasons, although I knew even back then they were che
20.
Growing Pains ~ It's a shame reading about how Kirk Cameron treated the rest of the cast behind-the-scenes, but I always liked this show. The Leonardo Dicaprio episodes are definitely my favorites. I always like Joanna Kerns and Tracey Gold the most of the cast. The theme song was such an earworm.
I haven't seen it in ages though.
21.
227 ~ Love Jackee on this and
Sister, Sister.
22.
Family Matters
23.
Who's the Boss? ~ The mother was always my least favorite part of this. I enjoyed Tony and Angela though.
24.
Diff'rent Strokes ~ As above for TFoL, mostly for Charlotte Rae's episodes, but it was an iconic show.
25.
The Waltons ~ Some of the characters, like the mother and grandmother and John Boy, could really get on my nerves. Still, it was very well-acted, imo. I haven't seen it all, but it's one of those shows I put on sometimes when I'm just knocked out in front of the TV.
I've never seen
Dynasty or
Knots Landing--yet. I've always wanted to watch them at least once though. I know Ursula was somewhat inspired by the vibe of Joan Collins' character on
Dynasty. As for KL,
Desperate Housewives was often compared to that show, which has always made me curious to see it at some point. To add to the above, there's also
Gumby, although it existed much earlier than the '80s, and
Wallace and Gromit's first short was technically in 1989. Still, I think of it more '90s.
