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FALL 2019 TV SURVEY: 20 TV Shows That Defined the 1980s
For Rotten Tomatoes’ annual Fall TV Survey, we asked thousands of our users what they’re most looking forward to in the coming TV season and to reflect on the best shows from seasons past.
Cheers to Cheers! Rotten Tomatoes users selected the show about a bar where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came as the top show of the 1980s. The series was truly an ensemble effort with Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, Kirstie Alley, and Shelley Long as the principal cast.
Cheers took top spot with 66% of the vote, followed by The Cosby Show at 53%, The Golden Girls at 47%, Magnum, P.I. with 46%, and the 1980s edition of Saturday Night Live taking fifth place with 45%.
Which star ruled the 1980s? Your vote went to SNL star Eddie Murphy with 16%, followed by The Golden Girls cast with 14%, and Tom Selleck with 12%. Bruce Willis was at No. 4 with 12%, and Don Johnson took fifth with 7%.
Disagree with the survey results? Tell us in the comments who you think should have made the list or have been ranked higher.
#20
Synopsis: Mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher - a down-to-earth, middle-aged widow - ferrets out the criminals in idyllic Cabot
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#19
Synopsis: A smart-mouthed creature, ALF (aka Alien Life Form), crash-lands in a suburban garage. His spaceship is beyond repair, he's ugly,
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#18
Synopsis: One of the quintessential 1980s prime-time soaps, "Dynasty" follows the gloriously over-the-top trials and tribulations of the fabulously wealthy and
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#17
Synopsis: Michael Knight is a man on a mission. Reborn, so to speak, after getting shot in the face, Knight decides
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#16
Synopsis: A team of ex-special forces soldiers on the lam from the military police (even though they didn't really commit the
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#15
Synopsis: When two single girls need a roommate to share their Santa Monica apartment, they decide to offer a room to
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#14
Critics Consensus: Houdini's cast is talented, but given the decades of fascination surrounding its subject, the show is oddly lacking in intrigue.
#12
Synopsis: Crime in school is bad, so to combat it, LAPD higher-ups decide to send four young-looking officers to high school
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#11
Synopsis: A gritty, realistic look at the life of cops in a large (and unnamed) metropolitan city. Led by Capt. Frank
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#10
Synopsis: Steven and Elyse Keaton, once 1960s radicals, now find themselves in Reagan-era American trying to raise a traditional suburban family.
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#9
Synopsis: Lovable schemer Zack Morris leads his pals on adventures at California's Bayside High School. The friends navigate relationships, final exams,
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#8
Synopsis: MacGyver is a top agent for the Phoenix Foundation, a progressive agency devoted to righting the wrongs of the world.
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#7
Synopsis: "Dallas" is the saga of the Ewing family and its massive oil empire. Patriarch Jock has three sons. The eldest
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#6
Synopsis: This series is largely remembered for the stylish clothes Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs wore, the soundtrack, and its
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#5
Synopsis: Live from New York for more than four decades, celebrity hosts join an award-winning ensemble cast to perform comedic sketches,
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#4
Synopsis: This series makes the most of its Hawaiian setting by sending private eye Thomas Magnum all over Oahu righting wrongs
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#3
Synopsis: Four mature women live together in Miami and experience the joys and angst of their golden years; strong-willed Dorothy, spacey
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#2
Synopsis: "The Cosby Show" centers on the lives of the Huxtables: obstetrician Cliff and his lawyer wife Claire, their daughters Sondra,
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#1
Synopsis: Laid-back Sam Malone, a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, owns and runs Cheers, a cozy bar in
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