TV: What are your Favorite Classic (started before 1988) TV Shows?

[Elvis P]

I'll take The Prisoner, The Avengers, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Batman, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Munsters, The Outer Limits, The Addams Family, and Lost in Space. Anything that started before 88 is considered classic in this thread.

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[Legionnaire]

In no order other than the Twilight Zone. Best show of all time IMO

The Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Outer Limits
Night Gallery
Buck Rogers
Mission Impossible
The Three Stooges
The Honeymooners
Addams Family
The Munsters
Miami Vice
Knight Rider
Airwolf
The Incredible Hulk
Batman
Dragnet
Emergency - I was so into Emergency that I wore a red plastic fire helmet to preschool everyday. lol
Adam 12
The Beverly Hillbillies
Threes Company
The Dick Van Dyke Show
All in the Family
La Verne and Shirley
Bonanza
Cheers
Taxi
Leave it to Beaver
The Andy Griffith Show
OG SNL
Good Times
The Jeffersons
Happy Days
The Odd Couple
Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Rockford Files
OG Battlestar Galactica
Gunsmoke
OG Swat
BJ & the Bear
Newhart
Sanford and Son
Soap
Benson
WKRP in Cincinnati
Family Ties
The Brady Bunch
Gumby
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Mork and Mindy
I Dream of Jeanie
Bewitched
Wonder Woman
Spiderman
The 6 Million Dollar Man
The Bionic Woman
Charlies Angels
Amazing Stories.

 

[timbermen]

Get Smart
The Luckiest Hobo
Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Night Allergies

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Get Smart
The Luckiest Hobo
Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Night Allergies

 

[Babe Ruth]

WKRP
All in the Family
Married w/Children (is it considered old/classic yet ?)
Rod Serling' Twilight Zone
Friday the 13th (syndicated horror/sci-fi series)
Welcome Back Kotter

 

[Mescaleroman]

Fernwood 2 Night
Superman , the one with George Reeves
Daktari
Love American Style
Wide World of Sports
Little House on the Prairies
The Rat Patrol

 

[Elvis P]

WKRP
All in the Family
Married w/Children (is it considered old/classic yet ?) ...

Yes. Anything that started before 1988 is considered classic in this thread and it started April 5, 1987.

 

[NyQuil]

Lots of good shows already mentioned.

Columbo is one that has not been.

And I'll add a number of British television shows such as:
-Blackadder
-Fawlty Towers
-Monty Python's Flying Circus

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Canadian TV for the win!

 

[peate]

M.A.S.H.
All in the family
Get Smart
Twilight Zone
Taxi

 

[kook10]

Flipping through the channels the other night I watched a whole episode of Hunter again. I hadn't seen that in ages. I will still watch CHiPs too.

Add Black Sheep Squadron to the list too.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Twilight Zone
Cheers
CHiPS
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
everything else

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

WKRP
The Three Stooges
Police Squad
Get Smart
Twilight Zone
Cheers
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Married w/ Children
80s SNL (basically, the Eddie Murphy Show)

 

[the squared circle]

MASH
All in the Family
KRP
Three's Company
Cheers
Barney Miller
Taxi (next to Archie, Louie may be the funniest character ever)
Benson/Soap
Welcome Back, Kotter
Bizarre
Twilight Zone
Batman (Adam West)

 

[JackSlater]

This is a pretty limited window for me in terms of comedy, as I can't stand any comedy before the 1980s other than All in the Family. Anyway these are some appropriate shows that I like in whatever order they came to mind:

All in the Family
A Different World
The Cosby Show
Little House on the Prairie
Charles in Charge
Spider-Man (1967)
The Outer Limits/Twilight Zone/Hitchcock Presents
Cheers
The Rifleman
The Golden Girls
Star Trek the Next Generation
Murder, She Wrote
St. Elsewhere
Degrassi Jr. High
The White Shadow
Columbo

 

[Babe Ruth]

limited window for me in terms of comedy, as I can't stand any comedy before the 1980s other than All in the Family..
Charles in Charge

I remember Charles in Charge.. not one of my favorites. But I have nostalgic memories of those syndicated 8os series. Where I lived there were syndicated blocks on Saturday & Sunday afternoons.. stuff like Charles.., Small Wonder, Throb, She's the Sheriff, etc. Then late night (after prime time network programming).. Tales from the Darkside, Friday the 13th TV series, etc. In the 90s it was Renegade, Highlander in the afternoons. Original shows that weren't typically for broad adult audiences, but cool for kids with down time on weekends. I had a homeboy who would sit thru all these shows & roast 'em from his living room..

If you're game, I'm curious why u categorically dislike pre-80 sitcoms (?)

 

[JackSlater]

If you're game, I'm curious why u categorically dislike pre-80 sitcoms (?)

I find the comedy mostly derived from silliness and many of the performances much too hammy, but it's a case by case thing.

 

[Mescaleroman]

The Partridge Family
Kojak
Kolchak : The Night Stalker

Maude , if only for Adrienne Barbeau

 

[peate]

No love for the famous Mr. Ed

 

[Mimsy]

The "started before 1988" criterion eliminates two no-brainers, both of which debuted in 1988 ("The Kids in the Hall" and "The Wonder Years").

The first reply in the thread covers many of the shows I'd have listed (my tastes align with 75-80%, so I won't relist)

I still watch Star Trek: TNG semi-regularly, and M*A*S*H when I'm in the mood.

I'll add...

--The Facts of Life (the first four or five seasons, before they moved the girls out of the school setting -- especially liked the first season with the large cast)

--Kids of Degrassi Street (this show is like taking a time machine back to my childhood -- all filmed in real settings and used amateur child actors...reminds me of growing up in the era)

--Degrassi Jr. High (and Degrassi High, even though it's 90s)

--as a kid: Mr. Dressup (Casey and Finnegan era) and The Friendly Giant

 

[frisco]

Star Trek OS
Twilight Zone
Six Million Dollar Man
The Bionic Woman
Hawaii 5-o
SCTV
Wanted: Dead Or Alive (Steve McQueen TV series)
TJ Hooker
The Fall Guy
Dynasty
Dallas
General Hospital
The Bold And The Beautiful
Santa Barbara
Get Smart
Batman
Spider-Man (animated)
The Flintstones
The Partridge Family
Emergency
The Incredible Hulk

My Best-Carey

 

[peate]

I'm happy to see that Get Smart is on many's list. It's really underrated IMO. I re-watched the series a couple of years ago and, would you believe, even though I knew what was coming, I still burst out laughing.

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Fall Guy
The Flintstones

Frisco, good calls. I was a big Heather Thomas fan.

Also liked Flintstone reruns, and both the '6os & '8os incarnations of The Jetsons.

 

[Shareefruck]

1. Monty Python's Flying Circus
2. The Twilight Zone
3. Fanny and Alexander
4. Blackadder
5. Fawlty Towers

Love those ones, but unlike with classic films, an overwhelming majority of classic television does not hold very well, IMO.

 

[Stylizer1]