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Best Drama TV Series of the 1980s

Top 500 most popular Drama series that started in the 1980s

All Drama series All series from the 1980s
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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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Tags

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)

Return to Eden

★ 7.1
698 22 1986–1986
Drama

Deceptions

★ 7.1
695 2 1985–1985
Drama · Mystery · Romance

Vale Tudo

★ 9.1
694 204 1988–1989
Crime · Drama · Mystery

The Beiderbecke Affair

★ 8.6
693 6 1985–1985
Comedy · Drama · Music

The Prisoner of Castle If

★ 7.0
675 3 1988–1988
Adventure · Drama · History

Kennedy

★ 7.7
669 7 1983–1983
Biography · Drama · History

Vietnam

★ 7.6
661 10 1987–1987
Drama · War

Police Rescue

★ 7.3
658 62 1989–1996
Crime · Drama

A Very Peculiar Practice

★ 8.3
654 14 1986–1988
Comedy · Drama

Katri, Girl of the Meadows

★ 7.1
635 49 1984–1984
Animation · Drama

Christopher Columbus

★ 6.8
634 4 1985–1985
Adventure · Biography · Drama

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe

★ 7.5
634 14 1980–1980
Comedy · Crime · Drama

The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd

★ 8.1
629 65 1987–1991
Comedy · Drama · Romance

Tieta

★ 8.3
622 196 1989–1990
Drama · Romance

Paradise

★ 8.0
618 56 1988–1990
Drama · Western

Up All Night

★ 8.5
615 934 1989–1998
Comedy · Drama · Horror

A.D.

★ 7.2
611 5 1985–1985
Drama · History

De zevensprong

★ 8.1
603 13 1982–1982
Adventure · Drama · Family

George Washington

★ 7.9
601 3 1984–1984
Biography · Drama · History

Fox Mystery Theater

★ 7.1
601 13 1984–1984
Drama · Horror · Mystery

Frank's Place

★ 8.5
599 22 1987–1988
Comedy · Drama

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

★ 9.1
596 4 1982–1982
Drama

Master of the Game

★ 7.3
588 3 1984–1984
Drama

Crossbow

★ 7.2
586 72 1987–1989
Action · Adventure · Drama
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