DVDizzy Forum

I just picked up Perfect Strangers Seasons 1 & 2, and it made me start wondering about how many TV shows I have from the 80s...

The A-Team
Alf
Amazing Stories (we're watching this right now)
Charles in Charge
Different Strokes (Ok, 70s for the first season)
Dukes of Hazzard (same thing)
Eerie Indiana (fine, 90s... )
Full House
Knight Rider
I'd say M*A*S*H, but most of that was in the 70s.
Magnum P.I. (I don't own any yet.)
Miami Vice
Pee-wee's Playhouse
Perfect Strangers
Punky Brewster
SCTV
Star Trek: The Next Generation (ended in 94)
Three's Company (started in 77)
V
WKRP in Cincinnati

Here are a ton of others that I like (or might like), but haven't bought yet:
21 Jump Street, Airwolf. Automan, Bosom Buddies, Cosby Show, Doctor Doctor, Doogie Howser, Family Matters, Family Ties, Friday The 13th, Galactica 1980, Greatest American Hero, Growing Pains, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Head of the Class, The Highwayman, Hogan Family, MacGyver, Major Dad, Mama's Family, Manimal, Max Headroom, Misfits Of Science, Mission Impossible (1988), Mr. Belvedere, My Two Dads, Night Court, Otherworld, Out of This World, Police Squad, Quantum Leap, Ray Bradbury Theater, Red Dwarf, Saved By The Bell: Original, Small Wonder, Star Cops, Starman, Superboy, Tales From the Crypt, Tales From the Darkside, Twilight Zone, The (1985), Voyagers, War Of The Worlds, Wizards and Warriors

Many of my favorite TV shows aired during the 1980s:

(* = Shows I have on DVD. † = Shows I have on VHS)

227*
The Adventures of McGee and Me†
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Amen
Are You Being Served?
Cheers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers*
Designing Women
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears*
Doogie Howser, M.D.
Double Dare
DuckTales*
Family Matters*
Fraggle Rock
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air*
Full House*
The Golden Girls*
Good Morning, Miss Bliss
Growing Pains*
Happy Days
Hey Dude
The Jeffersons
Mama's Family
Muppet Babies
The Muppet Show*
Murder, She Wrote*
Newhart
Nightcourt
Perfect Strangers
Saved by the Bell*
Seinfeld*
The Simpsons*
Star Trek: The Next Generation*
Strawberry Shortcake
Taxi
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*
Webster
Who's the Boss?
The Wonder Years


And here's a list of other '80s shows I like but wouldn't call a "favorite":

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, The Arsenio Hall Show, Beetlejuice*, The Berenstain Bears, The Care Bears, The Cosby Show, Dallas, A Different World, The Flintstone Kids, Garfield and Friends, The Jetsons, Kids Incorporated, MMC, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Murphy Brown, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, Ramona, Reading Rainbow, The Real Ghostbusters, Roseanne, The Smurfs, Star Search, Tales from the Crypt, Yogi Bear, You Can't Do That on Television

Off the top of my head:

Golden Girls
Mama's Family
Roseanne
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I'm sure there are a million more, those are just the ones I can think of right now.

Muder, She Wrote!!!!!

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers
Ducktales
Garfield & Friends
Mr Bean (It started in the 80s)
Muppet Babies
Police Squad!
The Simpsons

Not that many. I totally love Married with Children. I also adored The Wonder Years. I can't believe it hasn't been released on DVD yet.

Full House

Several favourites:

Battlestar Gallactica
Cosby Show
Cheers
Dallas
Dynasty (I admit it!)
Empty Nest (althoug that's more nineties I believe)
Family Ties
Golden Girls
Knight Rider
Perfect Strangers
St Elsewhere
Wonder Years

I would say Roseanne first, but in many ways, that show was just getting started and didn't hit its' peak of high quality until the 4th season, in 1991. On a similar note, The Jeffersons started going quite a bit downhill in the 80's.

Mama's Family definitely comes to mind, quickly. The Simpsons was always quality, too. Mr. Bean's early shows were totally fun. And French and Saunders has become one of my favorite shows as well. Their music parodies and movie parody skits are amazing. As a kid, I was also obsessed with Punky Brewster. I was also obsessed with Small Wonder, but I watched part of an ep on YouTube last year and it was terrible. But, you have to still love Harriet (Emily Schulman). She was one the best annoying not-a-friend (antagonist) friend characters in the history of TV.


I don't hate Full House. In fact, I have a devilishly riotous blast with the show everytime I watch it. Not just because it's painfully dated (why do I care about how this looks in comparison to today's godawful crap?). But also because I find its' one-sided, imbalanced sense of morality which was always condescending and manipulative to the characters and to the audience - especially in all matters dealing with D.J.'s character - the kind of thing that begs, crawling on its' hands and knees over a mile-long pit of broken glass and needles and thumb-tacks, to be satirized. Or turned into a horror movie. It never fails to inspire me.

On that same note, Saved by the Bell is equally fun, bad stuff that I insanely enjoy. The first season however, Good Morning Miss Bliss was actually damn well written television. Surprisingly, right? Driven home by the excellent Hayley Mills, the underrated T.K. Carter, and the always good Dennis Haskins, yes even in spite of how bad the show became in the following seasons, the more they made a big deal out of how trendy and sexy the cast was. (By the way... I'm going to admit something to the entire world, so get ready for a 10,000 watt/volt shocker: I think Mr. Belding was hot in the main seasons of the show. You heard me right folks, I thought he was sexy as a kid and when I re-watch the show, I still do)

On the opposite side of the scale, the one that almost never pandered to the lowest common denominator, the far superior spin-off to The Cosby Show, A Different World was just ground-breaking as far as I'm concerned. When The Jeffersons became less confrontational, this show picked up the slack. And did so without almost ever bringing in Bill Cosby to look down on the characters and teach them a lesson, even though he was often portrayed as a bit of an old fool. I don't watch shows about young people just to see them "put in their place" by some older jackass who always is shown to know better. A Different World really showed their teenagers turning into adults and being responsible, with the bare minimum of adult interference. And the show's focus on getting jobs and dealing with ambitious working people making a marriage work as well was very compelling. Miles ahead of Cosby's name shows. And featured amazing performances time and time again by Charnele Brown, Cree Summer, Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Lou Myers, Dawnn Lewis, Jada Pinkett, Whoopi Goldberg, and surprisingly- Sinbad never came in trying to upstage everyone. This show's cast was TO DIE FOR. This is what Living Single always wanted to be.

And, lastly, Garfield & Friends if it was on in the 80's. Great cartoon series, and one of the few cartoon shows that still is as good as it was then. Very funny, very creative, and always fun.


Oh, God, I almost forgot Designing Women. And, why not, Golden Girls.

my favorites

DuckTales
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

there are some more i have seen, but these are my absolute favorites i still watch.

ducktales. chipmunks. all disney afternoon cheers, full house

Forgot to mention this one: Fame!

"Baby look at me
And tell me what you see.
You aint seen the best of me yet
Give me time I'll make you forget the rest
I've got more in me
And you can set it free
I can catch the moon in my hands
Dont you know who I am?
Remember my name
Fame!
I gonna live forever.."

Oh yes, I wached Roseanne too.

Doogie Howser, M.D.
Double Dare
DuckTales*
Family Matters*
Fraggle Rock
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air*
Full House*
The Golden Girls*
Good Morning, Miss Bliss
Growing Pains*
Happy Days
Hey Dude
The Jeffersons
Mama's Family
Muppet Babies


_________________________________
Walt-Disneys-100-Years-Of-Magic-DVD-Boxset-DVDS
24 dvd boxset season 1-6

Cheers
The Wonder Years
Married With Children

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.

I’m not a huge fan of 80’s TV. But The Golden Girls might be my all-time favorite TV show. It’s like comfort food. I’ve seen every episode a million times, I can quote the lines. Love those ladies!

Several people mentioned Mama’s Family which is interesting to me because I don’t think it left a very large cultural mark? But I was very fond of as a kid whenever I found it on TV. I haven’t watched it in years, so I should pick up the DVDs.

On a side note, I’d really like to get into Murder, She Wrote. I love murder mysteries and Angela Lansbury— and I think it had a lot of cameos from Old Hollywood stars? I’m sure it’s streaming somewhere, I’ll have to try it.

Disney's Divinity wrote:19. Are You Being Served?
--- (everything else I like for certain reasons, although I knew even back then they were che

Was there supposed to be more and it got cut out??

Oh, sorry, yeah. I meant to say cheesy there. The ones below the mark, I know are really cheesy, but I have a nostalgic fondness for them anyway. Even some above (like LHotP and TFoL are cheesy, too, so...).

UmbrellaFish wrote: Several people mentioned Mama’s Family which is interesting to me because I don’t think it left a very large cultural mark? But I was very fond of as a kid whenever I found it on TV. I haven’t watched it in years, so I should pick up the DVDs.

From what I understand, the show had two different runs, which is why the show has such a different feel in its first seasons / phase versus its later seasons / phase. The later seasons were more successful from what I read, and I'm not surprised because I enjoy them much better, too. The show is a little simplistic with its character types, but you could say the same thing about TGG or Designing Women really with there always being a smart one, a dumb one, a trampy one, etc. Vicki Lawrence makes the show for me.

I own quite most of the top on my list on DVD and would like to get several of the others over time. Well, something like Roseanne never stops airing, so I haven't bothered to pick it up. But for some reason Designing Women has disappeared more over the years, when it used to air alongside TGG on Lifetime and other channels all the time.