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Best Drama TV Series of the 1970s

Top 500 most popular Drama series that started in the 1970s

All Drama series All series from the 1970s
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Genres

Genres as assigned by IMDb. Selecting several means a show must match all of them.

Decades

By first-air year. Several selections widen the range; a specific year narrows within its decade.

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Rating patterns, computed from IMDb episode-rating trajectories. Deliberately strict: only shows with an unmistakable pattern carry one, so expect small numbers.

Rating patterns

Taste tags, judged by our AI taste model. They cover the 5,000 most-rated shows.

Tone & mood
Pacing & structure
Humor style
Themes & subject matter
Characters & perspective
Emotional payoff
Craft & style
Format & audience
Viewing-culture clusters
Intensity & content character
500 series (top 500 shown)

M*A*S*H

★ 8.5
70K 251 1972–1983
War & military · Dark comedy

Columbo

★ 8.3
48K 67 1971–1998
Detective mystery · Episodic

Little House on the Prairie

★ 7.6
31K 204 1974–1983
Rural & frontier · Wholesome

Jesus of Nazareth

★ 8.5
28K 4 1977–1977
Faith & religion · Period piece

I, Claudius

★ 8.8
22K 13 1976–1976
Royalty & aristocracy

All in the Family

★ 8.4
21K 207 1971–1979
Satirical · Social commentary

Roots

★ 8.4
20K 8 1977–1977
Event miniseries · Real history

Battlestar Galactica

★ 7.2
19K 21 1978–1979
Space & sci-fi · Survival

Dallas

★ 7.1
18K 356 1978–1991
Soap & telenovela

The Incredible Hulk

★ 7.0
18K 82 1977–1982
Episodic · Outsider lead

Scenes from a Marriage

★ 8.5
18K 6 1973–1973
Central duo · Dialogue-driven

The Love Boat

★ 6.3
16K 250 1977–1987
Love story · Episodic

Diff'rent Strokes

★ 6.7
14K 181 1978–1986
Sitcom · Found family · Episodic

CHiPs

★ 6.5
13K 139 1977–1983
Procedural · Episodic

The Rockford Files

★ 8.2
13K 119 1974–1980
Detective mystery · Episodic

Starsky and Hutch

★ 7.0
12K 92 1975–1979
Episodic · Banter chemistry

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

★ 8.4
11K 7 1979–1979
Espionage · Slow burn · British TV

Space: 1999

★ 7.3
11K 48 1975–1977
Space & sci-fi · Episodic

The Waltons

★ 7.6
10K 212 1972–1981
Wholesome · Warm glow · Nostalgic

Kojak

★ 7.1
10K 117 1973–1978
Detective mystery · Procedural

Soap

★ 8.3
9K 88 1977–1981
Soap & telenovela · Parody · Campy

The Bionic Woman

★ 6.7
9K 58 1976–1978
Episodic · Strong female lead

Barney Miller

★ 8.3
9K 171 1975–1982
Workplace · Ensemble cast

Kung Fu

★ 7.6
8K 63 1972–1975
Philosophical · Outsider lead
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