Top shows this week 86

[Bono Nettencourt]

The OG Must See TV juggernaut

Never knew that Sledge Hammer! was that big of a hit

[Rocker4Real]

NBC Thursday nights dominated for years. Who knew we were watching a serial rapist?

[dmbrocker]

No Miami Vice? Guess that explains why it only lasted five seasons.

[daveg]

The OG Must See TV juggernaut

Never knew that Sledge Hammer! was that big of a hit

Ha. I loved that show, but didn't know anyone else who liked it.
Tried to re-watch it a few years ago..and it definitely does NOT hold up

Wasn't Night Court part of that Thurs NBC lineup??

[Bono Nettencourt]

No Miami Vice? Guess that explains why it only lasted five seasons.

84 and 85 it was yuge, then it started to taper off.

[St_Augustines_Pears]

NBC was killing it...six shows in the top ten!

And for the night owls, you had The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night With David Letterman making NBC bank as well.

[pieceofme]

Tv was definitely not better back in the 80s.

[pieceofme]

Tv was definitely not better back in the 80s.

Fuck you!

Tell me five first run shows running this week that are better from five from that list.

Hell I’ll even include streaming.

Lol. The only decent one is cheers. And even the spin off Frasier was better than that.

I have no idea what the top 5 are this week in the USA. Never lived there. I watch streaming (mad men, the shield, spooks, fallout, the americans) are on my current watch list.

The golden age of TV started around the early 2000s and finished about the mid 2010s.

[Blowmonkey]

NBC Thursday nights dominated for years. Who knew we were watching a serial rapist?

Who knew we'd end up electing one.

[pieceofme]

I’m not in the USA either. My point stands.

So does mine.

[daveg]

A 4 min video that shows the history of ratings by year since 1959

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautifu ... /#lightbox

Right click on the video to show the controls.

I do agree television is better now (by a lot), but the sheer quantity of shows made now make it impossible to not be.

There was something different about having to make time to sit down and watch something. Every saturday a whole group of us got together to watch Beverly Hills 90210 then go hit the bars. Good times.

[Hatchets Molly]

A list before reality tv. Refreshing.

[LAglamrocker]

Head of the Class was awesome
Some 1960s music fan ..school teacher teaching nerds
That’s when school bullying started

Female fans at Judas Priest shows now look like the cast of Golden Girls ..only way less funny

Mona was way hott”r than her daughter
Daughter must have had hard life with that problem
Show was awesome- but Tony daughter was da bomb
Had poster of her next to Michael Cooper

[Hatchets Molly]

A lot of dead, sick, or incarcerated people on that list.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Streaming TV shows bite, they just drag a 2 hr movie out into 8 1 hr episodes.

[pieceofme]

I’m not in the USA either. My point stands.

So does mine.

Nah, you couldn’t name five 2024 shows as good.

You get nothing.

You lose.

Good day sir.

With streaming i have access to a glut of shows. And i already said when the golden age of tv was, and it wasn't the 80s.

But sure i'll list some in 2024 that are better than that 80s list.

Shogun
Fallout
The brothers Sun
Xmen97
Cobra Kai latest season

Are all better than those 80s shows listed. With the exception of cheers which is the only one that would be on par.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Watch the original 1980 Shogun miniseries, then get back to us.

[LAglamrocker]

People that grew up with Small Wonder won in life not stupidass streaming garbage

Tv sucks so bad it’s so easy to go out every night. Glad TV era is long gone

[Mister Freeze]

The OG Must See TV juggernaut

Never knew that Sledge Hammer! was that big of a hit

Ha. I loved that show, but didn't know anyone else who liked it.
Tried to re-watch it a few years ago..and it definitely does NOT hold up

Wasn't Night Court part of that Thurs NBC lineup??

Yeah. And where the fuck is L.A. Law? I thought it had the Thursday 10 p.m. time slot locked down by '86.

Feels like outlier weeks for Amen, Head of the Class and especially Sledge Hammer. Maybe those shows came on after an NFL game that week.

Kate & Allie is one of those shows that everybody liked at the time, but nobody talks about now.

[Bono Nettencourt]

The OG Must See TV juggernaut

Never knew that Sledge Hammer! was that big of a hit

Ha. I loved that show, but didn't know anyone else who liked it.
Tried to re-watch it a few years ago..and it definitely does NOT hold up

Wasn't Night Court part of that Thurs NBC lineup??

Yeah. And where the fuck is L.A. Law? I thought it had the Thursday 10 p.m. time slot locked down by '86.

Feels like outlier weeks for Amen, Head of the Class and especially Sledge Hammer. Maybe those shows came on after an NFL game that week.

Kate & Allie is one of those shows that everybody liked at the time, but nobody talks about now.

The daughters were hot. Kate wasn't bad either.

LA Law launched in 86. It had been on for 2 weeks.

[Tommy]

The OG Must See TV juggernaut

Never knew that Sledge Hammer! was that big of a hit

Ha. I loved that show, but didn't know anyone else who liked it.
Tried to re-watch it a few years ago..and it definitely does NOT hold up

Wasn't Night Court part of that Thurs NBC lineup??

Yeah. And where the fuck is L.A. Law? I thought it had the Thursday 10 p.m. time slot locked down by '86.

Feels like outlier weeks for Amen, Head of the Class and especially Sledge Hammer. Maybe those shows came on after an NFL game that week.

Kate & Allie is one of those shows that everybody liked at the time, but nobody talks about now.

The only Thursday games were Thanksgiving back then.

[EyeDocOfRock]

Family Ties was the only show I watched from this list !!!!

[StateOfShock]

The Cosby Show
Family Ties
The Golden Girls
Who's the Boss?

Those are four solid comedy sitcoms.

I don't give a crap who Cosby turned out to be, that show was/is excellent.

[CrankerBait]

I don't think the point is whether those shows were good. The point is that most of us recognize/remember them, whether we liked them or not. Kind of like the pop charts from the 80s: I didn't like all of it, but I can go through the Billboard Top 40 from any week in the 80s and identify most of the songs. Part of it comes down to me not caring as much about current stuff, but I think it is fair to say that people don't watch shows the way they used to, just like they don't listen to music the way they once did.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

It's a really good mix of wholesome, family-oriented sitcoms and dramas.

Seinfeld gets a lot of the credit for changing sitcoms to be more about the adults than the family and kids but Cheers really did that as well.

Does a list like this even exist anymore? With reality tv shows and streaming it seems impossible to list the top 10 or 20 network tv shows!

[Rocker4Real]

For me, most comedy doesn't hold up when I try to watch years later. Out of all of those, Family Ties might get a few laughs.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

For me, most comedy doesn't hold up when I try to watch years later. Out of all of those, Family Ties might get a few laughs.

I was going to mention that too actually! Even though I loved a lot of those 80's shows at the time, I very rarely watch reruns. Remember they are "situation comedies". They are meant to be of that time. 22 minutes and a few commercials. That's it, man. They last a few years and then new shows are created for the next generation. The old shows become your older brothers shows or your dad's shows.

I'm getting deep here but I think another part of it is that I was a kid at the time. So maybe I was thinking "Oh...that's what it's gonna be like". Now, I'm much older and life ain't NOTHING like that! Well, maybe Cheers!

[Rocker4Real]

For me, most comedy doesn't hold up when I try to watch years later. Out of all of those, Family Ties might get a few laughs.

I was going to mention that too actually! Even though I loved a lot of those 80's shows at the time, I very rarely watch reruns. Remember they are "situation comedies". They are meant to be of that time. 22 minutes and a few commercials. That's it, man. They last a few years and then new shows are created for the next generation. The old shows become your older brothers shows or your dad's shows.

I'm getting deep here but I think another part of it is that I was a kid at the time. So maybe I was thinking "Oh...that's what it's gonna be like". Now, I'm much older and life ain't NOTHING like that! Well, maybe Cheers!

Yeah, it's like watching those movies/shows about High School when you're 10. It makes you look forward to how cool it will be when you can strut around and get girls.