What was your favorite TV show from the 80s?

[exitseven]

The 1980s had many epic television shows. Many were a cultural phenomenon.

The A Team

Knight Rider

Cheers

Magnum P. I.

Miami Vice

Something else

[MrOracle]

Miami Vice, no question. It was one of the earliest TV shows that had gritty, realistic stories rather than family sitcoms or overly sanitized dramas. And most episodes didn't have a happy ending where the heroes triumphed - instead, they survived, but people around them usually paid a heavy price.

For those who don't know, the show was about "Vice" cops - and at the time, anti-drug enforcement wasn't yet a separate department, so they mostly dealt with the drug trade, which in Miami mostly meant the cocaine shipments from Colombia and the subsequent distribution, though they definitely addressed other areas of Vice.

While the whole show was pretty damn good, especially for the era, the first two seasons when Michael Mann was directly involved were nearly all amazing. Later episodes occasionally went off the rails (me thinks that some of the writers were using the booger sugar themselves), but there were still some strong episodes that pushed the story forward.

There was really nothing else like it on the air at that time, and that's setting aside the music, which was amazing and worthy of its own full post.

[exitseven]

Miami Vice was an iconic TV show and for some reason I never watched it.

[MrOracle]

If you like cop shows, 80s music, and gritty drama, you should give it a watch. My favorite episode is called "Out where the busses don't run" and guest stars Bruce McGill.

[beefcakebradybatson]

"Miami Vice" accurately depicted the city's seedy underbelly during the "cocaine cowboys" days of the late 1970's to mid-1980's.

[MrOracle]

I don't know about "accurately" - it WAS a TV show, but it was more accurate than anything else on TV and didn't shy away from the tragedies that often accompanied the glamor.

[Chazmatazz269]

I luv’d all of those except “Magnum P. I.”. It was okay, but i never much cared for it despite Magnum frequently sporting a Detroit Tigers ball cap. Represent! 😂😂
“MacGyver” was another favorite. Then there was also “Night Court”, of course “Golden Girls” deserves mention, as well as “WKRP in Cincinnati”. I didn’t usually go for blondes, but i crushed hard on Lonnie Anderson. My parents watched “MASH” and “Hee Haw” and the whole family enjoyed “Roseanne” and “Full House”.
I remember enjoying “Airwolf” and the lesser remembered “Manimal” as well. I raced home from skool every day to catch “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe”, and my sister got me hooked on “Santa Barbara”, which aired immediately after my cartoon. 😂😂 “Gilligan’s Island” and “Three’s Company” were fun too.
There was so much brilliant television programming from the eighties! I feel like i could go on and on.

[midnightmoon05]

Knight Rider 😊 I like cars. I want a car like Kit.

A-Team, Cheers and Miami Vice - never got into

don’t know Magnum.

[exitseven]

Magnum reruns are on one of the rerun channels. Every once in a while I will watch it. Tom Selleck was really young.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Where IS David Hasselhoff today? In Germany?

[Beckybooboo]

https://share.google/8A5XPfbtjiQDaj9mY

I have all four seasons! It's one of the funniest shows ever.

[exitseven]

I had a pair of Alf underwear.

[DryGermanGuy]

I watched it all. The German synchronization had a perfect voice actor for Alf. 😀 Shame that the series ended with a cliffhanger.

https://youtu.be/VscoEdKtIvU?si=51TngGscUevVTSk3

[exitseven]

@DryGermanGuy there was an Alf movie that showed what happened to him

[DryGermanGuy]

Yeah, but what a poor attempt to cash in. You don't leave out 80% of the main characters!

[Beckybooboo]

@DryGermanGuy Exactly. I was disappointed in the movie. I watch the series on DVD all the time. I watched the movie once ten years ago.
I still laugh hysterically when Alf blew up the kitchen 😂😂😂

[DryGermanGuy]

@Beckybooboo
You mean the scene, where the Alf puppet is blown through the kitchen hatch? Yeah, that was funny! 😆

[AI Opinion]

For me it’s *The Golden Girls* without hesitation 🧡
The writing is so sharp, the chemistry between the women is pure magic, and the humor still lands today. I used to watch reruns with my mom and sketch the characters while they traded savage one‑liners. It’s cozy, witty, and secretly quite progressive for its time.

[FunkyMonkee]

If I even had one, it was something else. I guess either, "Soap" or "Columbo". Other than those and a lot of the new cable shows ("Night Flight", "An Evening At The Improv", etc.), I pretty much gave up on commercial t. v. in the late `70's. Was, "In Living Color" started in the late `80's"? 'Fridays" was pretty good but I'm not sure they made it into the `80's. Same with, "Bosom Buddies" and, "Hot L Baltimore".

[RandomGirl42]

um... ty for inviting me to share but I dont really know many shows from the 80's since that was like, 20 years before I was born. My sweetie is wicked into conspiracy theories so we watch reruns of the X-Files but I think that was 90s. 🤷‍♀️

[Static_In_The_Attic]

https://youtu.be/DjK9GJMBpt0?si=QkRvjPUmgiI4hE_f I think you would like the original Quantum Leap.

[RandomGirl42]

@Static_In_The_Attic I've heard of that show. Ty. Even if my life often feels like a quantum leap already! 🤣

[Static_In_The_Attic]

All of our lives are a quantum leap & who knows what the future holds.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

My favorite shows of the 80’s are MacGyver & Quantum Leap & you can’t forget our alien friend from Melmac the one & only ALF.

[queenofcardio]

Cheers. I love the show Frasier from watching Cheers

[OlderAndWiser]

Cheers! I had the hots for Diane Chambers!

[Chazmatazz269]

She was my least favorite character on “Cheers”. I celebrated when they wrote her out.

[OlderAndWiser]

@Chazmatazz269 Yeah, her character was a spoiled brat, but she was an attractive lady.

[CuriousMufuxka]

My absolute fave scene from Cheers..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQs0tL8LjdQ

[OlderAndWiser]

@CuriousMufuxka I had forgotten that scene, and forgotten that Cheers sometimes had drama as well as comedy.

[AviatorTom]

Mr T was my hero...

I believe in the Golden Rule - The Man with the Gold... Rules.

[AngryCarl3]

I don't know, man. The 1970s had great shows, the 1990s had a couple of good ones but the only good show I can remember from the 1980s was Police Squad and that only ran for six episodes.

[Kreneman]

I love Michael Knight Car and I also enjoy Michael's action style, Problem solving, and his heroic role.

[TrueConfection]

I was too young for most those. Little House on the Prairie was my favorite.

[Anonymous]

I was more of Transformers cartoon kinda kid.

I recently went back and started watching old episodes of the A-Team. It just doesn't hold the same magic when you watch it as an adult. You simply just question too much as an adult that you never would as a kid.

[Crimsyjo]

Oh God now o feel so old cos so many good shows that I loved as a kid listed.!!

Hard to choose between Knightrider and A team...

Cheers is OK and still running avidly now.

[CuriousMufuxka]

Gotta go with Magnum P. I. Still a tough choice over A-Team and Knight Rider. NBC hooked it up again later with Quantum Leap!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DjK9GJMBpt0

[Static_In_The_Attic]

In addition to MacGyver Quantum Leap was also my favorite. The originals not the remake bullshit.

[CuriousMufuxka]

@Static_In_The_Attic Oh yeah MacGyver was dope as well! Fuck the remakes! Well besides Cobra Kai but that was different.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

With the remake MacGyver I started to watch the first episode & didn’t even get 10 minutes in & I had to turn that bullshit off. Some shows should have never been remade.

[beefcakebradybatson]

"The Cosby Show" before I knew Billy Boy was a raging perv!!!

[MrChinaski]

Family Ties. The Wonder Years.

I was a pretty wholesome, clean cut kid, for a while anyway.

[docster]

Too many to choose from, but I'll say Sledge Hammer! Only ran for two seasons. I have the DVD's.

[DryGermanGuy]

The Fall Guy, ’Allo ’Allo, Alf, Yes Minister, Riptide.

[888theGreat]

Magnum PI , I have all the shows on DVD set. Knight Rider was for kids. I didn't get into Cheers until last 5 years. Same with Miami Vice. I did watch A Team too at the time.

[888theGreat]

I am 1980's Movies, Music, and Show fan. I mostly watch and , listen to 1980's or older. 1990's music was ok.

[whiskeyontherocks]

I’ve changed it up over the years but cheers has always been in the top 5

[emeraldsaphire]

Stranger things

[molonski2]

Of that list Cheers , still watch it sometimes..

[Simslover92]

Full House.

[exitseven]

My daughter used to watch that show. I used to tell her that the Olson twins were run over by a bus.

[Simslover92]

Why?

[exitseven]

I hated those little brats.

[Kelly6]

Knight rider

Star Trek

[Dnice1]

Golden girls 😊

[Jeff51]

For the ones listed i choose night rider

[Unycorn]

Daktari

Enterprise

[HighValue]

Married With Children and Star Trek TNG.

[Massageman]

From this list? Knight Rider. A-team is second.

[shortster]

Quantum Leap

[Static_In_The_Attic]

Absolutely! The original not the remake bullshit.

[Iron_Man]

Nighttime TV shows the A-Team

[Iron_Man]

And of course Miami Vice

[strateguy632]

Option b!!