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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)

Quincy, M.E.

★ 7.3
8K 148 1976–1983
Procedural · Medical

Sybil

★ 8.0
8K 3 1976–1976
Mental health · Emotionally heavy

The Streets of San Francisco

★ 7.3
8K 120 1972–1977
Procedural · Detective mystery

The Young and the Restless

★ 5.4
7K 13574 1973–present
Soap & telenovela · Long-runner

The Godfather: A Novel for Television

★ 9.5
7K 4 1977–1977
Criminal underworld · Family saga

Matador

★ 9.2
6K 24 1978–1982
Family saga · Period piece

Holocaust

★ 8.0
6K 5 1978–1978
Bleak · Real history

Seventeen Moments of Spring

★ 8.7
6K 12 1973–1973
Espionage · Period piece

All Creatures Great & Small

★ 8.4
5K 90 1978–1990
Cozy · Wholesome · British TV

Blake's 7

★ 8.0
5K 52 1978–1981
Cynical · Dystopia · Morally gray

Once Upon a Time... Man

★ 8.0
5K 26 1978–1979
Real history · Kids & family

Eight Is Enough

★ 6.6
4K 112 1977–1981
Family saga · Wholesome

McCloud

★ 7.0
4K 47 1970–1977
Procedural · Detective mystery

Centennial

★ 8.3
4K 12 1978–1979
Sprawling saga · Family saga

Helter Skelter

★ 7.4
4K 2 1976–1976
True crime · Disturbing

Cannon

★ 6.8
4K 120 1971–1976
Detective mystery · Procedural

Upstairs, Downstairs

★ 8.4
4K 68 1971–1975
Class divide · Period piece

Knots Landing

★ 7.0
4K 344 1979–1993
Soap & telenovela · Long-runner

Emmerdale Farm

★ 4.9
4K 10548 1972–present
Long-runner · Soap & telenovela

Black Sheep Squadron

★ 7.7
4K 36 1976–1978
War & military · Period piece

Rich Man, Poor Man

★ 8.2
4K 9 1976–1976
Family saga · Event miniseries

All My Children

★ 6.8
4K 9705 1970–2011
Soap & telenovela · Long-runner

Barnaby Jones

★ 7.0
4K 178 1973–1980
Procedural · Episodic

Tatort

★ 7.0
3K 1344 1970–present
Long-runner · Procedural
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