1980’s Television
Premieres in 1980
 Magnum P.I.
 Barbara Mandrell and the
Mandrell Sisters
 Nightline
 Too Close for Comfort
Magnum PI
 Magnum was a private
investigator with an
interesting living arrangement.
In return for helping with the
security
arrangements for guarding the
estate of wealthy writer
Robin Masters (never seen on
the show),
 he was provided
with free living quarters at the
rambling beachfront
property on Oahu's north
shore. Masters was always
away,
leaving his stuffy British
manservant, Higgins, to run
the estate.
 The laid-back life-style of
Magnum was in
direct opposition to the strict
military dicpiline that
ruled Higgins' life, and there
was constant bickering
between them, though there
was clearly a
deep-seated mutual affection.
Top Ten 1980
 Dallas
 M*A*S*H
 The Dukes of Hazzard
 60 Minutes
 Three’s Company
 Private Benjamin
 Diff’rent Strokes
 House Calls
 The Jeffersons
 Too Close for Comfort
Emmy Awards
 Hill Street Blues- drama
 Taxi- comedy
Premieres 1981
 Dynasty
 Falcon Crest
 Hill Street Blues
 Private Benjamin
 The Fall Guy
 Gimme a Break
 Simon & Simon
 Simon & Simon: Two brothers of
disparate tastes and manners run a
private detective agency.
Top Ten 1981
 Dallas
 60 Minutes
 M*A*S*H
 The Dukes of Hazzard
 Three’s Company
 Private Benjamin
 Diff’rent Strokes
 House Calls
 Archie Bunker’s Place
 Too Close for Comfort
 The show starred Ted Knight
and Nancy Dussault as Henry
and Muriel Rush, owners of a
duplex in San Francisco. Henry
was a cartoonist who authored a
comic strip called Cosmic Cow.
 Muriel was a freelance
photographer, having been a
band singer in her earlier days.
They had two grown daughters.
Jackie (Deborah Van
Valkenburgh) worked for a bank,
while the younger Sara (Lydia
Cornell) was attending college
Emmy Awards 1981
 Hill Street Blues- drama
 Barney Miller- comedy
 Walter Cronkite retires as CBS
anchor, and is replaced by Dan
Rather this year
Premieres 1982
 Cagney & Lacey
 T.J. Hooker
 St. Elsewhere
 Matt Houston
 Cheers
 Remington Steele
 Newhart
 The show is set in the Cheers bar (itself
named for the toast "Cheers") in Boston,
Massachusetts, where a group of locals
meet to drink and generally have fun.
1982 Top Ten
 Dallas
 60 Minutes
 Three’s Company
 The Jeffersons
 One Day at a Time
 The Dukes of Hazzard
 Too Close for Comfort
 Alice
 The ABC Monday Night Movie
 M*A*S*H
Emmy Awards 1982
 Hill Street Blues- drama
 Cheers- comedy
 Top evening shows are soaps
(Dallas, Knot’s Landing,
Dynasty, Flamingo Road, Falcon
Crest)
 General William Westmoreland
sues CBS for $120 million for
accusing him of conspiring to
falsify information about enemy
forces in Vietnam (on 60
Minutes)
Premieres 1983
 The A-Team
 Wheel of Fortune
 Hardcastle and McCormick
 Scarecrow and Mrs. King
 Hotel
 Night Court
 Webster
A-Team
 fictional group of ex-United
States Army Special Forces who
work as soldiers of fortune while
being on the run from the military
for a "crime they didn't commit".
Top Ten 1983
 60 Minutes
 Dallas
 M*A*S*H
 Magnum P.I
 Dynasty
 Three’s Company
 Simon & Simon
 Archie Bunker’s Place
 Newhart
 Falcon Crest
Emmy Awards 1983
 Hill Street Blues- drama
 Cheers- comedy
 Tom Selleck- actor, Magnum P.I
 John Ritter- comedy
 Tyne Daly- actress, Cagney & Lacey
 Jane Curtain- comedy actress, Kate
& Allie
 The largest T.V. audience of the
year watches the last episode
(251st) of M*A*S*H which began
during the Vietnam War (1972)
Premieres 1984
 Kate and Allie
 Miami Vice
 Hunter
 The Cosby Show
 Murder, She Wrote
 Highway to Heaven
1984 Top Ten
 Dallas
 60 Minutes
 The A-Team
 Simon & Simon
 Falcon Crest
 Magnum P.I.
 Dynasty
 Hotel
 Knot’s Landing
 Newhart
1984 Emmy Awards
 Cagney & Lacey- drama
 The Cosby Show- comedy
 Robert Guillaume- comedy actor
in Benson
 Tyne Daly- actress in Cagney &
Lacey
 Jane Curtain- comedy actress in
Kate and Allie
 The Cosby Show is the first
sitcom about a professional
upper middle class black family
 The National Coalition on TV
Violence reports a 75% increase
in TV violence since 1980 (V and
The A-Team)
1985
 The Golden Girls
 Dynasty II: The Colbys
 The Equalizer
 Spenser for Hire
 The Oprah Winfrey Show
Top Ten 1985
 Dynasty
 Dallas
 The Cosby Show
 60 Minutes
 Family Ties
 The A-Team
 Simon & Simon
 Knot’s Landing
 Murder, She Wrote
 Falcon Crest
 Crazy Like a Fox
1985 Emmy Awards
 Cagney & Lacey: drama
 The Golden Girls: comedy
 Michael J. Fox: comedy actor in
Family Ties
 Sharon Gless: actress in
Cagney & Lacey
 Betty White: comedy actress in
The Golden Girls
1986 Premieres
 L.A. Law
 Our World
 Matlock
 Alf
 Crime Story
 Perfect Strangers
1986 Top Ten
 The Cosby Show
 Family Ties
 Murder, She Wrote
 60 Minutes
 Cheers
 The Golden Girls
 Dallas
 Dynasty
 Miami Vice
 Who’s the Boss
Emmy Awards 1986
 L.A. Law- drama
 The Golden Girls: comedy
 Bruce Willis: actor in
Moonlighting
 Michael J. Fox: comedy actor in
Family Ties
 Sharon Gless: actress in
Cagney & Lacey
 Rue McClanahan: comedy
actress in The Golden Girls
1986
 On July 29, 350 million watch
Prince Andrew wed Sarah
Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
 Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy)
returns to Dallas in a well
publicized shower scene, his
death, along with the entire last
season, was just a dream
1987 Premieres
 Tour of Duty
 Jake and the Fatman
 A Different World
 Beauty and the Beast
Top Ten 1987
 The Cosby Show
 Family Ties
 Cheers
 Murder, She Wrote
 The Golden Girls
 60 Minutes
 Night Court
 Growing Pains
 Moonlighting
 Who’s the Boss?
1987 Emmy Awards
 L.A. Law: drama
 The Golden Girls: comedy
 Bruce Willis: actor in
Moonlighting
 Sharon Gless: actress in
Cagney & Lacey
 Michael J. Fox: comedy actor in
Family Ties
 When overtime sports coverage
of the U.S. Tennis Open intrudes
on news time, Dan Rather storms
off the set, and TV screens go
black for six minutes
 The last “Hill Street Blues” show
is broadcast
 The Iran-Contra hearings gain a
large audience
1988 Premieres
 Roseanne
 Thirtysomething
 The Wonder Years
 Dear John
 Night Caller
 Wiseguy
 Murphy Brown
 In the Heat of the Night
1988 Top Ten
 The Cosby Show
 A Different World
 Cheers
 Roseanne
 Who’s the Boss
 The Golden Girls
 L.A. Law
 Murder, She Wrote
 Dear John
 60 Minutes
1988 Emmy Awards
 Thirtysomething: drama
 The Wonder Years: comedy
 Michael J. Fox: comedy actor in
Family Ties
 Beatrice Arthur: comedy actress
in The Golden Girls
 On 20/20 Jane Fonda describes
her 1972 Hanoi interview as
“thoughtless and cruel” toward the
POW’s
 Numerous remembrances air on
the 25th anniversary of JFK’s
assassination
 George Bush and Dan Rather
exchange harsh words when
Rather asked Bush about Iran
Contra affair
1989 Premieres
 Life Goes On
 Anything But Love
 The Amazing
Teddy Z
1989 Top Ten
 Roseanne
 The Cosby Show
 Cheers
 A Different World
 Dear John
 The Golden Girls
 60 Minutes
 The Wonder Years
 L.A. Law
 Empty Nest
1989 Emmy Awards
 L.A. Law: drama
 Cheers: comedy
 Carroll O’Conner: actor In the
Heat of the Night
 Richard Mulligan: comedy actor
in Empty Nest
 Dana Delany: actress in China
Beach
 Candice Bergen: comedy actress
in Murphy Brown
 Live news coverage of the
Chinese and Eastern Europe
revolutions, as well as the San
Francisco earthquake
 Arsenio Hall and Pat Sajak vie
with 27 year veteran Johnny
Carson for late night attention