The BEST shows of 1971
Every show that aired an episode in 1971, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every TV show episode aired in 1971 to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - Mission: Impossible
Elite special agents undertook top-secret assignments in crackerjack episodes, which kicked off with the team leader receiving instructions via a tape-recorded message that self-destructed in five seconds. What followed were usually breakneck spyjinks set to a pulsating Lalo Schifrin score. Martin Landau turned down the Spock role in 'Star Trek' to play IMFer Rollin Hand. When Landau left the series in 1969, his replacement was the man who built a career on Spock, Leonard Nimoy.
View Episode Rankings#2 - The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is among the most successful comedies in American television history, and remains one of the few sitcoms to involve serial plotlines. It centered around Jed Clampett, a simple backwoods mountaineer who becomes a millionaire when oil is discovered on his property and then moves his family to Beverly Hills. The fish-out-of-water farce ran for nine seasons.
View Episode Rankings#3 - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the most literate, realistic, and enduring situation comedies of the 1970s. Mary Richards was the idealized single career woman. She had come to Minneapolis after breaking up with a man she had been dating for four years. Ambitious, and looking for new friends, she moved into an older apartment building and went to work as an assistant producer of the local news show on television station WJM-TV. In her early 30s, Mary symbolized the independent woman of the 1970s.
View Episode Rankings#4 - Mannix
Tough, no-nonsense private eye Joe Mannix investigates in this tense and violent detective series. Originally employed by an ultra-computerized organization, he later set up his own shop. But mayhem always predominated.
View Episode Rankings#5 - Green Acres
A New York attorney and his wife try to live as genteel farmers in the bizarre community of Hooterville.
View Episode Rankings#6 - Adam-12
Follow two Los Angeles police officers as they patrol the streets of Southern California. Adam-12 was the first series to realistically portray the joys/frustrations of being a police officer in the late 1960's-early 1970's. This attention to detail made the show a catalyst for uncounted numbers of people to enter public service as adults. "1-Adam-12" was the radio call number of the unit that Malloy & Reed worked: "1" was the division assigned, "Adam" was LA Phonetic for "A" designating a 2-person patrol unit, and "12" was the beat area assigned. (Although, Malloy & Reed could be seen patrolling the streets anywhere in L.A. from Downtown to the Valley, they retained the number division #1, no matter where they were). The police station used throughout the series was the newly-built (at the time) Rampart Station.
View Episode Rankings#7 - Bewitched
Samantha Stephens is a seemingly normal suburban housewife who also happens to be a genuine witch, with all the requisite magical powers. Her husband Darrin insists that Samantha keep her witchcraft under wraps, but situations invariably require her to indulge her powers while keeping her bothersome mother Endora at bay.
View Episode Rankings#8 - All in the Family
Legendary and controversial series focused on conservative working stiff Archie Bunker fighting the tide of social change and dealing with flighty wife Edith, daughter Gloria and left-leaning son-in-law Michael Stivic.
View Episode Rankings#9 - Dark Shadows
With vampires, witches, warlocks, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures, it became a surprising phenomenon. The show revolves around Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), a guilt-ridden 175-year-old vampire who longs to be human again and returns to his estate after being chained inside a coffin for nearly 200 years.
View Episode Rankings#10 - Hogan's Heroes
The exploits of five World War II prisoners in a German POW camp, 'Stalag 13' who, while "under the cover" of being typical prisoners of war, are really secretly doing their utmost to sabotage the German war effort through whatever means necessary. Col. Klink is very proud that no prisoner has ever escaped under his watch, not that they would want to. Suave, cool and smart, Col. Hogan takes advantage of Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz's bravado and general cluelessness to carry out his missions.
View Episode Rankings#11 - 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#12 - Doctor Who
The Doctor, a mysterious traveller in space and time, travels in his ship, the TARDIS. The TARDIS can take him and his companions anywhere in time and space. Inevitably he finds evil at work wherever he goes...
View Episode Rankings#13 - Gunsmoke
Marshal Matt Dillon keeps the peace in the rough and tumble Dodge City.
View Episode Rankings#14 - Lupin III
Probably the most light-hearted and crazy series of all those dedicated to the gentleman thief.
View Episode Rankings#15 - Hawaii Five-O
The investigations of Hawaii Five-O, an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police answerable only to the governor and headed by stalwart Steve McGarrett.
View Episode Rankings#16 - Bonanza
The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright. He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss"; and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or "Little Joe". Via exposition and flashback episodes and each wife was accorded a different ethnicity. The family's cook was the Chinese immigrant Hop Sing.
View Episode Rankings#17 - The Virginian
The Virginian was the very first 90 minute western on prime-time television, and is about a man, only known as "the Virginian" who served as foreman on the Shiloh Ranch (owned in sequence by Judge Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Col. MacKenzie) in 19th century Medicine Bow, Wyoming. James Drury starred as the title character with the likes of Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, John McIntire, and Clu Gulager co-starring. It is in these settings that a variety of stories, much more based on character and relationships than the usual westerns, take place.
View Episode Rankings#18 - My Three Sons
Widower Steve Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and is later aided by the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.
View Episode Rankings#19 - Night Gallery
Night Gallery was creator-host Rod Serling's follow-up to The Twilight Zone. Set in a shadowy museum of the outre, Serling weekly unveiled disturbing portraiture as preface to a highly diverse anthology of tales in the fantasy-horror vein. Bolstering Serling's thoughtful original dramas were adaptations of classic genre material--short stories by such luminaries as H. P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, A.E. van Vogt, Algernon Blackwood, Conrad Aiken, Richard Matheson, August Derleth, and Christianna Brand. Variety of material brought with it a variety of tone, from the deadly serious to the tongue-in-cheek, stretching the television anthology concept to its very limits.
View Episode Rankings#20 - The Odd Couple
Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? This TV adaptation of Neil Simon's classic play deserves its place among the best-known and funniest sitcoms of the 1970s.
View Episode Rankings#21 - Kamen Rider
A motorcycle-riding hero of justice rises up to fight an evil force, stopping their evil deeds while using their own power against them.
View Episode Rankings#22 - Formula 1
Formula 1 is the highest class of international single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and owned by the Formula One Group. Formula One consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix which take place worldwide on purpose-built circuits and on public roads.
View Episode Rankings#23 - 60 Minutes
60 Minutes has been on the air since 1968, beginning on a Tuesday, but spending most of its time on Sundays, where it remains today. This popular news magazine provides both hard hitting investigations, interviews and features, along with people in the news and current events. 60 Minutes has set unprecedented records in the Nielsen's ratings with a number 1 rating, five times, making it among the most successful TV programs in all of television history. This series has won more Emmy awards than any other news program and in 2003, Don Hewitt, the creator (back in 1968), was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Emmy, along with the 60 Minute correspondents. Added to the 11 Peabody awards, this phenomenally long-lived series has collected 78 awards up to the 2005 season and remains among the viewers top choice for news magazine features.
View Episode Rankings#24 - Match of the Day
Match of the Day (often abbreviated as MOTD) is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in the Barclays Premier League. It is one of the BBC's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1964, though it has not always been aired regularly. The 'Match of the Day' brand is also often used for live football coverage on the BBC. They run a competition called Goal of the Month, choosing the best goal each month, where the winner from there will then be entered into a goal of the season award.
View Episode Rankings#25 - Coronation Street
Follows the lives of the residents of the fictional Coronation Street, located in Greater Manchester, which is made up mainly of working-class people.
View Episode Rankings#26 - Sesame Street
On a special inner city street, the inhabitants, human and muppet, teach preschool subjects with comedy, cartoons, games, and songs.
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