The BEST shows of 1982
Every show that aired an episode in 1982, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every TV show episode aired in 1982 to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - Knots Landing
Hoping to ride the crest of its success with Dallas, CBS spun off this series featuring the black sheep of the Ewing Family, Gary Ewing. Gary was a weakened reformed alcoholic who had deserted his wife Valene Ewing, and then remarried her and moved to Southern California to escape the formidable nature of life with the Ewings in Dallas. All the equals in this series lived on the same cul-de-sac in the quiet little community of Knots Landing. In addition to being neighbors, their lives intertwined in other ways. Gary worked for Sid Fairgate, owner of Knots Landing Motors, the local classic car dealership. Sid and his wife Karen Fairgate had three teenage children: Eric Fairgate, Michael Fairgate, and Diana Fairgate. The other two couples on the cul-de-sac were young recording executive Kenny Ward and his attractive wife, Ginger, and Richard and Laura Avery.
View Episode Rankings#3 - Only Fools and Horses
Comedy that follows two brothers from London's rough Peckham estate as they wheel and deal through a number of dodgy deals and search for the big score that'll make them millionaires.
View Episode Rankings#4 - Yes Minister
This is the story of the endless battles between the Government in the form of Jim Hacker, a brand new Cabinet Minister and the Civil Service of his department run by Sir Humphrey Appleby. Stuck in the middle of it all is civil servant Bernard Woolley.
View Episode Rankings#5 - Magnum, P.I.
Former Naval Intelligence officer Thomas Magnum resigns his commission to become a private investigator on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. He lands a home in the guest house on the estate of millionaire author Robin Masters in exchange for testing the estate's security, but is forced to work under the strict and ever watchful eye of Jonathan Higgins, a former British Army soldier who serves as the estate manager, and constantly patrols the grounds with his two "lads" Zeus and Apollo, who are loyally trained Doberman Pinschers always ready to pounce on Magnum. Magnum makes good use of the perks that come with working on the estate, including driving Masters' sporty red 308 GTS Ferrari, Audi, and all-terrain Jimmy, as well as equipment such as high-end cameras and telescopes.
View Episode Rankings#6 - Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is an affectionate comedy about people in the autumn of their years. The series is the world's longest-running sitcom, having clocked up 31 series and numerous Christmas specials during its run.
View Episode Rankings#7 - Remington Steele
Try this for a deep, dark secret. The great detective Remington Steele? He doesn't exist. I invented him. Follow: I always loved excitement, so I studied and apprenticed, and put my name on an office. But absolutely nobody knocked down my door. A female private investigator seemed so . . . feminine. So I invented a superior. A decidedly masculine superior. Suddenly, there were cases around the block. It was working like a charm. Until the day he walked in, with his blue eyes and mysterious past. And before I knew it, he assumed Remington Steele's identity. Now I do the work and he takes the bows. It's a dangerous way to live, but as long as people buy it, I can get the job done. We never mix business with pleasure. Well, almost never. I don't even know his real name.
View Episode Rankings#8 - Dynasty
The saga of a wealthy Denver family in the oil business: Blake Carrington, the patriarch; Krystle, his former secretary and wife; his children: Adam, lost in childhood after a kidnapping; Fallon, pampered and spoiled; Steven, openly gay; and Amanda, hidden from him by his ex-wife, the conniving Alexis. Most of the show features the conflict between 2 large corporations, Blake's Denver Carrington and Alexis' ColbyCo.
View Episode Rankings#9 - Hill Street Blues
This groundbreaking and award-winning NBC crime drama provided a very realistic view into the lives of the dedicated cops and detectives of an urban police station. From January 1981 to August 1986, the show ran on Thursdays at 10/9 Central, with occasional repeats on Saturdays at 10/9 Central. From August 1986 to August 1987 first-run episodes aired Tuesdays at 10/9 Central.
View Episode Rankings#10 - Police Squad!
In this cult parody of cop dramas, replete with farce and sight gags, Lieutenant Frank Drebin and his fellow officers from Police Squad bungle their way though crime investigations.
View Episode Rankings#11 - Three's Company
A man pretends to be gay in order to share an apartment with two women in this legendary bedroom farce.
View Episode Rankings#12 - Cheers
Sam, a former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, owns and runs Cheers, a cozy bar in Boston. Somewhat snobby, beautiful and intelligent Diane -- forced to become a waitress when her fiance jilts her -- constantly bickers with Sam. Eventually, they fall in love. Several wacky characters make the bar their home-away-from-home, including sarcastic waitress Carla, beer-loving Norm and Boston letter carrier Cliff.
View Episode Rankings#13 - Taxi
Taxi's success was due to its excellent writing, Burrows's award-winning directing using his innovative four-camera technique, and its largely unknown but talented cast. Danny DeVito's Louie DePalma soon became one of the most despised men on television--possibly the most unredeemable and worthless louse of a character ever to reside on the small screen. Andy Kaufman's foreign mechanic Latka Gravas provided over-the-top comedy within an ensemble emphasizing subtle character humor.
View Episode Rankings#14 - The Dukes of Hazzard
Cousins Bo and Luke Duke and their car "General Lee", assisted by Cousin Daisy and Uncle Jesse, have a running battle with the authorities of Hazzard County (Boss Hogg and Sheriff Coltrane), plus a string of ne'er-do-wells often backed by the scheming Hogg.
View Episode Rankings#15 - Saturday Night Live
Each week, live from New York, a famous guest host appears in sketches and parodies alongside a company of up-and-coming comedians. A popular musical guest, short films, and Weekend Update - a recurring satirical newscast - form the backbone of one of the most influential and culturally significant comedy shows in history.
View Episode Rankings#16 - Barney Miller
Hal Linden stars in the title role as a NYPD captain in charge of a squad of oddball detectives and even stranger criminals.
View Episode Rankings#17 - Little House on the Prairie
Based upon the best selling "Little House" series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The show follows the lives of a simple farming family, the Ingalls, who settle into a quaint little house near the small town of Walnut Grove during the late 1800s. The majority of the shows were narrated by Laura and the series follows her from when she and her family arrive in Walnut Grove until her adulthood with Almanzo Wilder, with whom she starts a family of her own.
View Episode Rankings#18 - This Old House
This Old House celebrates the fusion on old world craftsmanship and modern technology. Each season features two renovation projects. Project One traditionally consists of eighteen or more so episodes and is filmed in Massachusetts. Project Two is taped in a different region of the country to highlight the variety of American architectural styles and renovation issues.
View Episode Rankings#19 - The Facts of Life
Charlotte Rae stars as a dietician and house mother at a private girls' boarding school, watching over students Blair, Tootie, Natalie and Jo.
View Episode Rankings#20 - Mork & Mindy
A wacky alien comes to Earth to study its residents and the life of the human woman he boards with is never the same.
View Episode Rankings#21 - Diff'rent Strokes
Two orphaned brothers, Arnold & Willis Jackson, are adopted by wealthy Manhattan widower Phillip Drummond when their mother (Drummond's maid) passes away. Along with Drummond's daughter Kimberly & housekeeper Mrs. Garrett, this family sitcom covers topics such as wealth- & racial- inequality. This was Gary Coleman's breakout role as short but sassy Arnold, whose catchphrase "What'choo talkin' 'bout?" became a national trend.
View Episode Rankings#22 - M*A*S*H
The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable.
View Episode Rankings#23 - Knight Rider
Michael Long, an undercover police officer, is shot while investigating a case and left for dead by his assailants. He is rescued by Wilton Knight, a wealthy, dying millionaire and inventor who arranges life-saving surgery, including a new face and a new identity: Michael Knight. Michael is then given a special computerized and indestructible car called the Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T.) and a mission: apprehend criminals who are beyond the reach of the law. The series depicts Michael's exploits as he and K.I.T.T. battle the forces of evil on behalf of the Foundation for Law and Government.
View Episode Rankings#24 - CHiPs
Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main characters are Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, two motorcycle officers always on the street to save lives.
View Episode Rankings#25 - WKRP in Cincinnati
A cast of odd characters must run a struggling Cincinnati radio station.
View Episode Rankings#26 - Dallas
The world's first mega-soap, and one of the most popular ever produced, Dallas had it all. Beautiful women, expensive cars, and men playing Monopoly with real buildings. Famous for one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, as the world asked "Who shot J.R.?" A slow-burner to begin with, Dallas hit its stride in the 2nd season, with long storylines and expert character development. Dallas ruled the airwaves in the 1980's.
View Episode Rankings#27 - The Smurfs
The Smurfs are tiny blue creatures that live in mushroom houses in a peaceful forest. They repeatedly try to outwit Gargamel, an evil sorcerer, his apprentice, Scruple, and his mangy cat, Azrael.
View Episode Rankings#28 - 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#29 - The Jeffersons
A black couple, headed up by opinionated loud-mouth George Jefferson, moves from a modest Queens neighborhood to deluxe apartment in Manhattan's ritzy East Side.
View Episode Rankings#30 - Newhart
Dick Loudon and wife Joanna relocate from New York City to a small town in Vermont, where they run the historic Stratford Inn. They're surrounded by a town full of oddballs and colorful characters, whom Loudon deals with in various states of bemusement.
View Episode Rankings#31 - Tales of the Unexpected
Tales Of The Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. The series was an anthology of different tales. Initially episodes were based on the short stories collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You by Roald Dahl. The stories were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly comedic, and usually had a twist ending. The upbeat theme music for the series was written by the prolific film and television composer Ron Grainer.
View Episode Rankings#33 - Family Ties
In this family sitcom, former 1960s flower children Steven and Elyse Keaton raise their four kids Alex, Mallory, Jennifer, and Andrew, who was born in 1985. The show revealed the changing values during the Reagan era as the 1960s hippie parents clashed with their 1980's conservative son, Alex. The show also tackled a number of serious issues ranging from suicide to racism to drug dependency.
View Episode Rankings#34 - Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
The adventures of the mystery solving dog and his nephew.
View Episode Rankings#35 - Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E, a man who must have been a nightmare to work with! Quincy was a crusading Medical Examiner in Los Angeles, an expert at his job he was always capable of finding something that everyone else missed. A small clue that would go against all the rest of the evidence in a case and would lead to him arguing with his boss, Asten, and/or the investigating detective, nearly always Monahan. Quincy started of as a straight forward crime series with a difference, it was a M.E. investigating not a police officer or private eye.As the series went from strength to strength the writers, probably with a little push from Klugman, started bringing in stories about social injustice rather than criminal. Most of the time this worked, in fact it is sometimes interesting to see that some of the things highlighted still have not changed even now! Sometimes it came over a little preachy but the show can never be faulted for trying to enlighten the eyes of its viewers.
View Episode Rankings#36 - 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#37 - Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British children's soap opera television series originally made by the BBC and portraying life in a typical secondary school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running programmes on British television when it ended its run on 15 September 2008.
View Episode Rankings#38 - Nature
Transport viewers to faraway places ranging from the steamy plains of Africa to the splendors of cold Antarctica. The main focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world.
View Episode Rankings#40 - Emmerdale
The lives of several families in the Yorkshire Dales revolve around a farm and the nearby village. With murders, affairs, lies, deceit, laughter and tears, it's all there in the village.
View Episode Rankings#41 - 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.
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