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📺 TV Series Guide

Best 80s TV Series Ranked

The definitive ranking of the greatest television shows first broadcast during the 80s.

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Dream in Red Mansions Poster

#1. Dream in Red Mansions (1987–)

★ 9.5/10 24 votes

Dream of the Red Chamber, first released in 1987, was a television series produced by CCTV, adapted from the classic 18th century Chinese novel of the same name. It gained enormous popularity for its music, cast, and plot adaptation, being regarded by many within China as being a near-definitive adaptation of the story.

The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Scrappy Too! Poster

#2. The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Scrappy Too! (1980–)

★ 9.1/10 35 votes

The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Scrappy Too! is a package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1980 for ABC Saturday mornings. The program contained segments from Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and Richie Rich. The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts represents the sixth show in which Scooby-Doo appears. This was the only Hanna-Barbera package series for which Scooby-Doo was given second billing and also notable for Richie Rich's debut in animation.

Touch Poster

#3. Touch (1985–)

★ 9.0/10 25 votes

Twins Kazuya and Tatsuya, and their neighbor Minami have played together since they were children and built an unbreakable bond. But with puberty, the twins realized something: Minami is a girl, and three is a crowd. As the trio tries to preserve their relationship, Kazuya's pledge to make Minami's dream come true by taking her to Koshien with his baseball pitching skills makes the slackerish Tatsuya wonder about himself, and his own goals. But Minami has another dream she wants fulfilled, and as the twins continue to push themselves, with Minami in the middle, a life-changing tragedy leads one twin down a path he once never would've considered...

Roque Santeiro Poster

#4. Roque Santeiro (1985–)

★ 8.8/10 27 votes

In the tiny poor town of Asa Branca, in the middle of Brazilian Northeast, Roque Santeiro is worshiped as a saint. He was supposedly killed by a bandit, 18 years ago, trying to save the local church. After his disappearance, local leaderships such as landowner Sinhozinho Malta and mayor Florindo, took profit on that to control the humble population. They even make up a widow, Porcina, who should have married Roque secretly before his death. What they don't expect is that Roque is alive, and he's back to, allegedly, "save his people". Now Malta, Florindo, Porcina, and others must hold him down and explain the "truth" to their commoners, in a desperate attempt to save their own bottoms. Meanwhile, mysterious facts surround Asa Branca, such as a Werewolf, a film crew who are trying to shoot a movie about Roque's story, and violent murderers.

Kids' Choice Awards Poster

#5. Kids' Choice Awards (1987–)

★ 8.8/10 20 votes

Honoring the year's biggest in television, film, music, and sports as voted by viewers worldwide of Nickelodeon networks. Winners receive a hollow orange blimp figurine which also functions as a kaleidoscope.

Calabash Brothers Poster

#6. Calabash Brothers (1986–)

★ 8.7/10 24 votes

Calabash Brothers is a Chinese animation TV series produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. It is also referred to as Bottle Gourd Brothers, Hulu Brothers, Seven Brothers and Pumpkin Brothers. In China, the series is popularly known as Huluwa.

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Poster

#7. Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980–)

★ 8.7/10 466 votes

Carl Sagan covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe.

Anne of Green Gables Poster

#8. Anne of Green Gables (1985–)

★ 8.6/10 38 votes

Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.

Ranma ½ Poster

#9. Ranma ½ (1989–)

★ 8.6/10 1,555 votes

Ranma Saotome, a teenage martial artist, and his father Genma travel to the 'cursed training ground' of Jusenkyo in China. There, despite the warnings of the Chinese guard, they fall into the cursed springs. From now on, whenever Ranma is doused in cold water, he turns into a girl and a cute, well-built redhead at that. Hot water changes him back into a man again, but only until the next time. To make matters worse, his father engages him to Akane Tendo, a girl who hates boys.

Das Boot Poster

#10. Das Boot (1985–)

★ 8.6/10 175 votes

Based on an autobiographical novel by German World War II photographer Lothar-Guenther Buchheim, Das Boot follows the lives of a fearless U-Boat captain (Jurgen Prochnow) and his inexperienced crew as they patrol the Atlantic and Mediterranean in search of Allied vessels, taking turns as hunter and prey.

Werewolf Poster

#11. Werewolf (1987–)

★ 8.6/10 84 votes

Eric Cord, a college student transformed into a werewolf undergoes a quest to rid himself of his curse by killing the apparent originator of his 'bloodline'.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes Poster

#12. Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988–)

★ 8.6/10 91 votes

War rages between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance. With two new brilliant young leaders at the helm, anything can happen in this military space opera.

Robotech Poster

#13. Robotech (1985–)

★ 8.6/10 390 votes

Robotech is an 85-episode adaptation of three different anime television series made between 1982-1984 in Japan; the adaptation was aired in 1985. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island. With this technology, Earth developed giant robotic machines or mecha to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions.

The Living Planet Poster

#14. The Living Planet (1984–)

★ 8.6/10 30 votes

David Attenborough examines the ways in which animals and plants adapt to their surroundings.

The Joy of Painting Poster

#15. The Joy of Painting (1983–)

★ 8.5/10 62 votes

The Joy of Painting was an American television show hosted by painter Bob Ross that taught its viewers techniques for landscape oil painting. Although Ross could complete a painting in half an hour, the intent of the show was not to teach viewers "speed painting". Rather, he intended for viewers to learn certain techniques within the time that the show was allotted. The show began on January 11, 1983, and lasted until May 17, 1994, a year before Ross' death.

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