The BEST ABC (US) shows of all time
Every ABC (US) show, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every ABC (US) show to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - The Jacksons: An American Dream
The Jacksons are your average working-class family in Gary, Indiana; but when their father discovers the kids have an extraordinary musical talent they form a band. Winning talent show after talent show they soon hit it big when Motown calls. From there they become the now famous Jackson 5. But along the way their success brings trouble and turmoil
View Episode Rankings#2 - The Dana Carvey Show
The former SNL cast member (along with Robert Smigel) is the host and star of this sketch comedy series. Each week, the show would be sponsered by a different soda, usually Pepsi or Mug Root Beer. The show, however, was doomed by a sketch in the first episode depicting President Clinton breast-feeding puppies. Broadcast History: March-April 1996 Tuesday 9:30-10:00 (8:30 Central)
View Episode Rankings#3 - What Would You Do? (2009)
ABC's hidden camera, ethical dilemma series What Would You Do? puts ordinary people on the spot. From bullying to abuse, racial attacks and more.
View Episode Rankings#4 - The Bachelor Winter Games
Find out as 14 international bachelors and bachelorettes from such countries as Switzerland, Japan and Australia compete and, hopefully, find love with 12 of America's Bachelor Nation favorites. The Bachelor Winter Games cast will go head-to-head in winter-themed challenges, including the toughest sport of all – love.
View Episode Rankings#5 - Match Game (2016)
Contestants attempt to match the answers of celebrities in the iconic game of fill in the missing blank.
View Episode Rankings#6 - Expedition Impossible
Are you ready for an adventure of epic proportions? Then brace yourself for Expedition Impossible. 13 three-person teams find themselves racing across vast deserts, over snow-capped mountains and through raging rivers in the beautifully exotic, fabled Kingdom of Morocco. Each week, a new stage of the expedition will be revealed to the teams. Will they crumble under the pressure of life in the wilds, or will they find a way to work together to complete their incredible journey? After 10 stunning legs of competition filled with drama, laughs and memorable characters, one team will cross the finish line to claim victory. Each winning team member gets $50,000 (that's $150,000 total for the team) as well a new Ford Explorer. Excellent! Expedition Impossible comes from Executive Producer Mark Burnett, whose hits include Shark Tank, Survivor and The Apprentice, just to name a few. The show promises to have lots of human drama to accompany all the high adventure. Adventurer, zoologist, big cat trainer and all-around risk-taker Dave Salmoni hosts the show which premieres on Tuesday, June 21 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on ABC. Buckle up! This is going to be one heck of an expedition!
View Episode Rankings#7 - The Grammy Awards
The Grammys is an awards show that honors the achievements of the members of the professional music recording industry through a voting system. The members of the Recording Academy vote on who they think is most deserving of an award in 108 categories as specified by the academy. Each year the awards are presented during a live telecast that was begun in 1971 by ABC, but has since been televised by CBS after they bought it in 1973. They were initially known as the Gramophone Awards this is because the trophy itself is a golden gramophone but later they became the Grammys.
View Episode Rankings#8 - Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
This animated series centers on the mystery-solving adventures of the Teen Angels (Brenda, Dee Dee and Taffy) and their friend Captain Caveman (or Cavey for short), a prehistoric caveman whom the girls discovered and thawed from a block of ice. Captain Caveman's powers include super-strength, a variety of useful objects hidden inside his fur, and a club that allows him to fly and from which pops out different tools he uses to fight crime. Captain Caveman's voice was provided by Mel Blanc. The first and second seasons of the show were part of "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics" and "Scooby's All-Stars" through 1979. Cavey and the girls also participated in sporting competitions as part of The Scooby Doobies team on the half-hour "Laff-A-Lympics" segment. In March 1980, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels were given their own half hour show with 16 new episodes combined with reruns from 1977–1979.
View Episode Rankings#9 - Child Support
Fred Savage serves as host of this game show that features adult contestants and interactions between Ricky Gervais and a group of 5 kids. The contestants are asked to answer 10 questions and if they cannot correctly answer, they have the chance to be saved by the kids who always say the most unpredictable things.
View Episode Rankings#10 - Thirtysomething
When thirtysomething debuted in 1987 it was attacked by some critics as being a self-indulgent examination of the minutiae of yuppie life. Before the first season was over, some of those same critics were covering their tracks by calling it "the most improved show on television." Producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz had teamed up before on Family and would go on to create My So-Called Life, Relativity and Once and Again. Often using feature-film techniques, their brand of what could be called "reality" television tackled not only the small subjects, but the big ones too, all the way from life to death, as they followed their characters on the road from the idealism of youth to the search for security and responsibility as they glided toward middle age.
View Episode Rankings#11 - Soap
Sisters Mary Campbell and Jessica Tate lead soap-opera lives with their crazy families.
View Episode Rankings#12 - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
The first incarnation of what has become a franchise-of-sorts, Scooby-Doo is a large, loveable but cowardly Great Dane who hangs around four California high school students (Fred, Velma, Daphne and Shaggy). The four teen-agers are in constant search of mysteries and adventures, driving around in a bright green van known as the Mystery Machine. Many of the group's adventures involve villians who take on supernatural disguises (ghosts and monsters); the villians' activities usually involve blackmail, theft, fraud and other forms of corruption.
View Episode Rankings#13 - Lost
After their plane, Oceanic Air flight 815, tore apart whilst thousands of miles off course, the survivors find themselves on a mysterious deserted island where they soon find out they are not alone.
View Episode Rankings#14 - The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Scrappy Too!
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.[1] 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.
View Episode Rankings#15 - Ten Days in the Valley
Jane Sadler is the overworked producer of a controversial show about law enforcement. Already spread thin between work and a separation from her husband, she's dealt a brutal blow when her young daughter goes missing in the middle of the night. The line between her personal life and the show blurs more than she ever thought possible as she wades through the devastating mystery of her daughter's disappearance. She discovers that everyone seems to have a secret, and there is no longer anyone she can truly trust.
View Episode Rankings#16 - The Woody Woodpecker Show
"The Woody Woodpecker Show" was a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of the animated cartoon escapades of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy and Inspector Willoughby. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "Cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness.
View Episode Rankings#17 - The Norm Show
The show focuses on the life of Norm Henderson, a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from hockey due to gambling and tax evasion. In order to avoid jail time for these crimes, Norm must perform five years of community service as a full-time social worker.
View Episode Rankings#18 - Hercules
Follow Herc's many labors during the years he spent training on how to be a hero under the tutelage of satyr Phil. Many of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses pay visit to the young hero-to-be and help or hinder him in his new adventures.
View Episode Rankings#19 - The Langoliers
On a red eye flight to Boston from LA 10 people wake up to a shock. All the other passengers and crew have vanished but all sorts of personal possessions remain. When they try to contact the ground they make no connections. They land the plane only to discover that things haven't changed. But its like the world is dead.
View Episode Rankings#20 - The Crossing
Refugees from a war-torn country start showing up to seek asylum in an American town. However, the country these people are from is America and the war they are fleeing is 180 years in the future. The local sheriff with a past, a federal agent and a mother in search of her missing refugee daughter drive this allegory with a surprising conspiracy at the center.
View Episode Rankings#21 - Columbo
A Los Angeles homicide detective, Lieutenant Columbo, uses his humble ways and shrewd demeanor to ferret out even the most careful criminals.
View Episode Rankings#22 - Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Famed TV chef and cookbook author Jamie Oliver heads to American cities to help get the residents to start leading a healthier life. Oliver's goal is to set each community up as a template for the rest of the country to follow and start a chain reaction of Americans eating healthier. Naysayers challenge Oliver in his quest for improving the health of the residents.
View Episode Rankings#23 - Pound Puppies
Pound Puppies cartoon was inspired by the Tonka Toys line and centers on 11-year old Holly and her dog friends Cooler, Whopper, Nose Marie, and Howler at the Wagga Wagga Pound who work hard to find happy homes for dogs. They are opposed by Brattina and Katrina, along with Catgut and Nabbit. The series began with a one-hour special in 1985 on ABC. The Pound Puppies consisted of 13 episodes, aired Saturday mornings on ABC. It was followed by The All-New Pound Puppies in 1987.
View Episode Rankings#24 - The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years tells the story of Kevin Arnold facing the trials and tribulations of youth while growing up during the 1960s. Told through narration from an adult Kevin, Kevin faces the difficulties of maintaining relationships and friendships on his enthralling journey into adulthood.
View Episode Rankings#25 - Cupid (2009)
New York's new resident, Cupid, must orchestrate 100 happily-ever-afters before he is allowed to return home to Mount Olympus, punishment from the Gods for the current sorry state of love. Sent without his trademark bow and arrow, Cupid must learn what really makes love work as he navigates the modern metropolis of New York City. There, living under the name of Trevor Hale, meets famous psychologist and author Dr. Claire Allen who too is dedicated to helping lonely souls find happiness though she has a very different view on love than Trevor. As they work together, Claire tries to figure out who Trevor really is. Is he Cupid, or just a man who has lost his mind?
View Episode Rankings#26 - Spider-Man
Marvel Comics' most memorable character, Spider-Man (Spidey for short), got the star treatment in animation in 1967. This cartoon premiered at around the same time as The Fantastic Four and the Marvel Superheroes Hour. The theme song is one of the most memorable television theme songs ever, and has been re-recorded plenty of times. When high school student Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider at a lab demonstration, he finds himself owner of some new powers, namely the proportionate strength, speed, and agility of a natural spider, plus a sixth "spider"-sense that enables him to sense danger, and the ability to climb on walls.
View Episode Rankings#27 - The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther is a heroic, moral cartoon cat with pink fur and the manners of an English aristocrat. He only becomes flustered or angry at obtuse or offensive humans who try to disrupt his existence, or at troublesome gadgets, rodents, or insects. In most of his cartoons, he stumbles into a difficult situation and stoically endeavors to make the best of it. Episodes of this series feature three theatrical cartoons, two with the Pink Panther, and one featuring the Inspector, a cartoon version of the accident-prone, bumbling French detective, Inspector Clouseau, played in movies by Peter Sellers. The Inspector is often assisted by a Spanish gendarme, Sergeant Deux-Deux, and together they fallibly battle villains of all shapes and sizes in various parts of the world, always on the orders of the long-suffering Surete Commissioner.
View Episode Rankings#28 - Sports Night
Sports Night ran nearly two full seasons on the ABC network in the US during the '98-99 and '99-00 seasons. Smart, fast-paced, witty and featuring a fine ensemble cast, Sports Night struggled in the ratings from the start, particularly during its second season, when it was routinely pre-empted and moved from night to night. Art imitated life imitating art, as the show took on a consultant, was hired to "tweak" the ratings. The show within a show continued to falter, amidst rumors of the imminent sale of its network and the subsequent gutting of its staff, until it, like its parent Sports Night, simply disappeared from the schedule.
View Episode Rankings#29 - Jonny Quest
The adventures of Jonny Quest and his father Dr. Benton Quest. Along for the adventure is the multi-faceted "Race" Bannon, the mystical Hadji, and Jonny's dog, the irrepressible Bandit. They solve mysteries and try to thwart the evil of Dr. Zin.
View Episode Rankings#30 - The Fall Guy
The Fall Guy was a series about bounty hunter Colt Seavers. Every week Colt and his gang was assigned to apprehend a fugitive from justice. Colt and his cousin Howie were also working as stuntmen in Hollywood. The tricks of that trade often helped them to capture their guy.
View Episode Rankings#31 - Home Improvement
Home Improvement is a family sitcom about Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, the host of a local cable home improvement show called "Tool Time." Home Improvement looks at Tim at work, and at home, as the husband of Jill and the father to three teenage boys. Having been married for almost 20 years, Tim and Jill have had their share of fights, but with the help of their wise, mysterious neighbor Wilson W. Wilson, Jr., things often turn out all right.
View Episode Rankings#32 - The Outer Limits
Tending toward the hard science, space travel, time travel, and human evolution it tries to examine in each show some form of the question, "What is the nature of man?"
View Episode Rankings#33 - MacGyver
MacGyver follows the adventures of the laid-back, extremely resourceful secret agent Angus MacGyver. He prefers non-violent conflict resolution whenever possible and refuses to carry or use a gun.
View Episode Rankings#34 - Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The series produced original episodes between 1973 and 1986 (with 37 episodes created between 1973 and 1980, and four created as the "Computer Rock" segment between 1983 and 1984), with a return in 1993 and new episodes airing at least once a year between then and 1996, when production of the series for ABC was halted. Episodes continued to air for an additional five years after that, finally coming to an end after a 26-year run cancellation in 1999 by ABC. This television program was often rated TV-G in the United States.
View Episode Rankings#35 - Scrubs
Scrubs focuses on the lives of several people working at Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced dialogue, slapstick, and surreal vignettes presented mostly as the daydreams of the central character, Dr. John Michael "J.D." Dorian.
View Episode Rankings#36 - The Weekenders
The Weekenders is an original Disney animated television series which focuses on a group of hardcore friends named Tino, Lor, Carver and Tish who spend their weekends trying to have as much fun as possible. While sometimes their weekends are far from what they plan, they usually manage to work together with the help of some advice from Tino's mother, and things usually work out in the end. Their weekends often consist of visiting various Pizza Parlors and ultimately to have the perfect weekend, though their weekends seldomly go as planned. The central setting of the cartoon is that it takes place only on the weekends, though in some cases it does show certain days of the week in order to show the cause of the episode or the end result thereof. It also has various quirks, like Tino's gray screen and the end-of-episode catchphrase, "Later days!".
View Episode Rankings#37 - Once Upon a Time (2011)
Emma Swan, a 28-year-old bail bonds collector, has always been a fiercely independent person since being abandoned as a baby. Her son Henry, who she gave up for adoption years ago, finds and tries to convince Emma that she is Snow White's missing daughter. Henry shows Emma that in the fairytale, Prince Charming and Snow White sent her away to protect her. Emma doesn't believe him and takes Henry back to Storybrooke...
View Episode Rankings#38 - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now that the existence of super heroes and aliens has become public knowledge, the world is trying to come to grips with this new reality. Agent Phil Coulson is back in action and now has his eye on a mysterious group called The Rising Tide. In order to track this unknown enemy, he has assembled a small, highly select group of agents from the law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. The team has a mission: To investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.
View Episode Rankings#39 - On the Air
Czars of the bizarre, Mark Frost & David Lynch have concocted a new series that shows the perils of live television during the "Golden Age of Television." Complete with the usual odd assortment of strange characters that would normally be associated with a Lynch / Frost production. Music for the series was composed and conducted by Angelo Badalamenti. In an attempt to revive his failing career, movie star Lester Guy has agreed to star in this new live variety show for the Zoblotnick Broadcasting Company (ZBC). The owner of the network sends his nephew, from the old country, to direct this show...
View Episode Rankings#40 - The Family (2016)
The return of Adam, a politician’s son, presumed dead after disappearing over a decade earlier, sends shockwaves through his tight knit family. His parents, John and Claire, struggle to deal with the emotional weight of Adam’s return; his brother, Danny, is slow to welcome him as Adam seems so different than the brother he knew; while his sister, Willa, holds the family together as she hides secrets of her own. As the mysterious young man is welcomed back, the neighbor sitting in jail for his murder is released, and the cop responsible is forced to reexamine what truly happened. But the bigger question remains, is Adam really who he says he is?
View Episode Rankings#41 - Castle (2009)
Rick Castle is one of the world's most successful crime authors. But when his rock star lifestyle isn't enough, this bad boy goes looking for new trouble and finds it working with smart, beautiful Detective Kate Beckett. Inspired by her professional record and intrigued by her buttoned-up personality, Castle's found the model for his bold new character whether she likes it or not. Now with the mayor's permission, Castle is helping solve crime with his own twist.
View Episode Rankings#42 - Boston Legal
Boston Legal tells the professional and personal stories of a group of brilliant but often emotionally-challenged attorneys. James Spader and William Shatner play Alan Shore and Denny Crane, unlikely kindred spirits among the brigade of high-priced litigators at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. In addition, Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner of the firm, continues to help bring order to the chaotic office. She keeps a vigilant eye on all, particularly Denny Crane, with whom she shares a checkered past. Fast-paced and wildly comedic, the series confronts social and moral issues, while its characters continually stretch the boundaries of the law.
View Episode Rankings#43 - Bump in the Night
Mr. Bumpy is a monster who lives under the bed, has many adventures around the house with his friends Squishington, the bathroom monster and Molly Coddle, the comfort doll.
View Episode Rankings#44 - Veritas: The Quest
What if you watched your mother mysteriously vanish in an ancient tomb? What if you discovered that your father was not who he seemed to be? What if the worst day of your life began your life's greatest adventure? Meet Nikko Zond, a hyper-intelligent but rebellious teenager still… More mourning the death of his renowned archeologist mother and a virtual stranger to his workaholic father, Solomon. On the day Nikko gets kicked out of the latest in a long line of boarding schools, he discovers his father's career as a university professor is just a cover. Solomon is really head of the Veritas Foundation, whose agenda is to seek the truth behind the mysteries of history and civilization. Teaming up for the first time with his father, Nikko finds his parents' spirit of adventure clearly runs in his blood, as he inadvertently gets entangled in his dad's dangerous adventures. Soon, and against his father's better judgment, Nikko enters the high tech, classified world of Veritas and begins the adventure of his lifetime - a journey that will lead to the unlocking of universal mysteries and, hopefully, will bring him and his emotionally estranged father back together. The Veritas team includes: The highly intelligent and mysterious Vincent Siminou, Solomon's closest confidant and protector; Calvin Banks, a high strung but brilliant by-the-books archaeologist; and Maggie, a cool and sophisticated computer scientist. And charged with the difficult task of trying to keep Nikko out of trouble is Juliet Droil, a beautiful and brilliant former student of his father's who will be Nikko's tutor and friend. From an excavation site of the pre-Roman civilization of Ancient Gaul to the North Pole, there is no place to which the Veritas Foundation will not venture in their mission for the truth. But a secret nefarious organization, seeking to destroy the Foundation's research, will never be far behind. The series stars Ryan Merriman as Nikko Zond, Alex Carter as Solomon Z
View Episode Rankings#45 - Pushing Daisies
Pushing Daisies centers on the life of Ned, a pie-maker gifted with the mysterious ability to bring dead things back to life by touching them. There are some conditions to this somewhat unusual talent. Ned quickly learns that if something is revived for more than exactly one minute, something of similar "life value" in the vicinity drops dead, as a form of balance. Additionally, if he touches the revived person or thing a second time, it falls dead again, this time permanently.
View Episode Rankings#46 - Day Break
Today Detective Brett Hopper will be accused of shooting state attorney Alberto Garza. He will offer his rock solid alibi. He will realize he's been framed. And he will run. Then, he will wake up and start the day over again.
View Episode Rankings#47 - Pan Am
Period drama about the pilots and flight attendants on the iconic airline. Set in the 1960s, when air travel represented the height of luxury.
View Episode Rankings#48 - The Scooby-Doo Show
The Scooby Doo Show premiered on ABC in September 1976 as part of The Scooby-Doo-Dynomutt Hour, in which new episodes of Scooby Doo shared an hour with a superhero dog named Dynomutt. It was a revamped version of Scooby Doo, Where Are You? which started on CBS in 1969.
View Episode Rankings#49 - Gargoyles
Follows a species of nocturnal creatures known as gargoyles that turn to stone during the day. After spending a thousand years in an enchanted petrified state, the gargoyles, who have been transported from medieval Scotland, are reawakened in modern-day New York City, and take on roles as the city's secret night-time protectors.
View Episode Rankings#50 - The Addams Family
A satirical inversion of the ideal of the perfect American nuclear family, they are an eccentric wealthy family who delight in everything grotesque and macabre, and are never really aware that people find them bizarre or frightening. In fact, they themselves are often terrified by "normal" people. Based on the creation of the American cartoonist Charles Addams' New Yorker single panel comics of the same name.
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