TV shows from the 1980s

AlanB wrote: Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister were classics. Blackadder (apart from the first series) is one of the best comedies ever written. Inspector Morse was my favourite detective series It's a shame Dallas and Dynasty aren't on the list, though

Maybe I was too young to really appreciate Dynasty and Dallas, but it seemed too soap operaish to me at the time, and it went on too long for too many episodes for me to really want to delve into now. Maybe one doesn't need to watch all of the seasons, but I rather like to binge when I get the opportunity. Even if say, Dynasty is a soap opera, there are shows with soap opera qualities that I do like, such as First Born off this list, or Brideshead Revisited though it has a higher-brow reputation (not that I care about high-brow much as one can tell from list of mine).

I do tend to favour shows that had shorter runs (anthology series can be an exception as well as various Detective series, and things like Doctor Who, as the episodes can be more stand-alone). Sometimes I feel especially with American TV that they far too often milk these things for all they're worth, and I often would prefer tighter shows that were through-written before production. So many shows tail off in quality and they run them into the ground, then cancel.

Dynasty had 220 episodes over nine years, and I think it's near impossible to keep a high level of quality for that length of a run.

Dallas had 357 episodes and four made-for-television movies and reunion specials aired over 14 seasons.

To mention some of my favourite dramas on my list:

- Dekalog, in contrast, had ten one hour television films.
- The Singing Detective was a six episode serial.
- Das Boot was a six episode serial.
- Traffik was a six epsiode serial.
- First Born was a three episode serial.
- The Tripods was 13 half hour episodes.
- Chocky was six episodes, as were the two sequel series (I liked Chocky's Children too, but not Chocky's Cahllenge as much).
- Even Brideshead revisted was only eleven epsiodes, though it could run to 100 mintes for an episode.

When it comes to drama, on the whole I do tend to prefer shorter serials (sometimes called mini-series) as well as anthology series and other ones that can work as stand-alone episodes. Even the long running Inspector Morse, which run from 1987 to 2000 only had thirty-three episodes, which is far less than Dynasty and Dallas.

Actually, I don't really like everything on my list, and wish I had put more thought into it to include more that I love and not include some that I watched but was never really into.

Edited by Logan - August 22 2018 at 15:07

^ that does sound about right

I felt sorry for the Harts, with their friends always dying around them! 

Edited by verslibre - September 08 2018 at 15:43

dwill123 wrote: