The 44 Best 1980s Sitcoms

By YPB TeamNov 9

Ratings juggernauts share space with short-lived cult shows and a few British favorites. Pick the laugh track that still plays in your head.

1
Cheers
An NBC sitcom (1982–1993) set in a Boston bar run by former Red Sox pitcher Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson.
1000pts
2
Married... with Children
A Fox sitcom (1987–1997) about Chicago shoe salesman Al Bundy and his family, which debuted on the network's first night of prime-time programming.
814pts
3
Who's the Boss?
An ABC sitcom (1984–1992) with Tony Danza as a retired baseball player working as live-in housekeeper for advertising executive Angela Bower.
775pts
4
The Facts of Life
An NBC sitcom (1979–1988) spun off from Diff'rent Strokes, following housemother Edna Garrett and her students at the Eastland girls' school.
745pts
5
Growing Pains
An ABC sitcom (1985–1992) about the Seaver family of Long Island, with Alan Thicke as a psychiatrist father working from home and Kirk Cameron as son Mike.
705pts
6
The Cosby Show
An NBC sitcom (1984–1992) following obstetrician Cliff Huxtable, his lawyer wife Clair and their five children in a Brooklyn brownstone.
684pts
7
Murphy Brown
A CBS sitcom (1988–1998) starring Candice Bergen as an investigative journalist and anchor on the fictional newsmagazine FYI.
660pts
8
Family Ties
An NBC sitcom (1982–1989) about former hippie parents in Columbus, Ohio, and their conservative son Alex P. Keaton, played by Michael J. Fox.
660pts
9
A Different World
An NBC sitcom (1987–1993) spun off from The Cosby Show, set at the fictional historically Black Hillman College in Virginia.
660pts
10
Designing Women
A CBS sitcom (1986–1993) created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason about four women running an interior design firm in Atlanta.
610pts
11
Diff'rent Strokes
A sitcom (NBC 1978–1985, ABC 1985–1986) in which Manhattan millionaire Phillip Drummond takes in brothers Arnold and Willis Jackson, with Gary Coleman as Arnold.
610pts
12
Yes Minister
A BBC political satire (1980–1984, continued as Yes, Prime Minister 1986–1988) with Paul Eddington as minister Jim Hacker and Nigel Hawthorne as civil servant Sir Humphrey.
610pts
13
The Wonder Years
An ABC comedy-drama (1988–1993) following Kevin Arnold growing up in late-1960s suburbia, narrated by his adult self and voiced by Daniel Stern.
553pts
14
It's Garry Shandling's Show
A Showtime sitcom (1986–1990) in which Garry Shandling plays a version of himself who regularly addresses the studio audience directly.
553pts
15
Roseanne
An ABC sitcom (1988–1997) about the working-class Conner family of fictional Lanford, Illinois, starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman.
553pts
16
Perfect Strangers
An ABC sitcom (1986–1993) pairing Chicago clerk Larry Appleton with his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous from the fictional island of Mypos.
488pts
17
Night Court
An NBC sitcom (1984–1992) starring Harry Anderson as judge Harry Stone, presiding over a Manhattan court's night shift.
488pts
18
The Young Ones
A BBC Two sitcom (1982–1984) about four students sharing a squalid house, starring Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan.
488pts
19
Empty Nest
An NBC sitcom (1988–1995) spun off from The Golden Girls, starring Richard Mulligan as a widowed Miami pediatrician whose adult daughters move back home.
488pts
20
Blackadder
A BBC sitcom (1983–1989) whose four series follow Rowan Atkinson's Edmund Blackadder through eras from 1485 to the First World War.
488pts
21
Amen
An NBC sitcom (1986–1991) starring Sherman Hemsley as Deacon Ernest Frye of a Philadelphia church, opposite Clifton Davis as its new pastor.
488pts
22
Head of the Class
An ABC sitcom (1986–1991) with Howard Hesseman as a substitute teacher of a gifted honors class at a Manhattan high school.
488pts
23
ALF
An NBC sitcom (1986–1990) about a furry alien from the planet Melmac who crash-lands into the Tanner family's garage, puppeteered by co-creator Paul Fusco.
488pts
24
Only Fools and Horses
A BBC sitcom (1981–1991, with specials until 2003) about Peckham market trader Del Boy Trotter, played by David Jason, and his younger brother Rodney.
413pts
25
Police Squad!
A six-episode ABC comedy (1982) from the Airplane! team, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin, later revived in The Naked Gun films.
413pts
26
Sledge Hammer!
An ABC sitcom (1986–1988) parodying cop shows, with David Rasche as a trigger-happy inspector who talks to his .44 Magnum.
413pts
27
Gimme a Break!
An NBC sitcom (1981–1987) starring Nell Carter as the live-in housekeeper for a widowed police chief and his three daughters.
325pts
28
Bosom Buddies
An ABC sitcom (1980–1982) with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari as advertising men who dress as women to live in a cheap women-only hotel.
325pts
29
Webster
A sitcom (ABC 1983–1987, syndication 1987–1989) with Emmanuel Lewis as an orphaned boy taken in by former football player George Papadapolis, played by Alex Karras.
325pts
30
The Golden Girls
An NBC sitcom (1985–1992) about four older women sharing a house in Miami, starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.
325pts
31
Kate & Allie
A CBS sitcom (1984–1989) starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as divorced mothers who share a home in Greenwich Village with their children.
325pts
32
Charles in Charge
A sitcom (CBS 1984–1985, syndication 1987–1990) starring Scott Baio as a college student working as a live-in babysitter.
325pts
33
Benson
An ABC sitcom (1979–1986) spun off from Soap, with Robert Guillaume as a butler who rises to state budget director and lieutenant governor.
325pts
34
Newhart
A CBS sitcom (1982–1990) with Bob Newhart as Dick Loudon, a how-to author running an inn in rural Vermont.
222pts
35
Taxi
A sitcom (ABC 1978–1982, NBC 1982–1983) about drivers at a New York cab company, with Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito and Andy Kaufman.
222pts
36
Red Dwarf
A BBC Two science-fiction sitcom that began in 1988, following Dave Lister, the last human alive, aboard a mining ship three million years in the future.
222pts
37
Punky Brewster
A sitcom (NBC 1984–1986, syndication 1987–1988) with Soleil Moon Frye as an abandoned girl taken in by Chicago photographer Henry Warnimont.
222pts
38
'Allo 'Allo!
A BBC One sitcom (1982–1992) about café owner René Artois in German-occupied France, juggling the Resistance, the Germans and his romances.
222pts
39
Small Wonder
A syndicated sitcom (1985–1989) about a robotics engineer's family hiding V.I.C.I., a robot he built to look like a 10-year-old girl.
222pts
40
Mr. Belvedere
An ABC sitcom (1985–1990) starring Christopher Hewett as an English butler working for the Owens family in suburban Pittsburgh.
222pts
41
Full House
An ABC sitcom (1987–1995) about widowed San Francisco sportscaster Danny Tanner raising three daughters with help from his brother-in-law Jesse and friend Joey.
222pts
42
227
An NBC sitcom (1985–1990) starring Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins, a resident of a Washington, D.C., apartment building, with Jackée Harry as neighbor Sandra.
0pts
43
Mama's Family
A sitcom (NBC 1983–1984, first-run syndication 1986–1990) starring Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper, a character from sketches on The Carol Burnett Show.
0pts
44
Silver Spoons
A sitcom (1982–1987, NBC then syndication) starring Ricky Schroder as a boy who moves in with his wealthy, toy-loving father Edward Stratton.
0pts