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

Decades

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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
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500 series (top 500 shown)

Mikhaylo Lomonosov

★ 7.9
413 9 1986–1986
Biography · Drama · History

The Crime of Ovide Plouffe

★ 7.2
412 6 1984–present
Crime · Drama

Twist of Fate

★ 7.4
409 2 1989–1989
Drama

Al Helmeya Nights

★ 8.1
409 185 1987–2016
Drama · History

A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery

★ 8.2
408 10 1987–1987
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Starship Troopers

★ 5.9
407 6 1988–1988
Action · Animation · Drama

On Wings of Eagles

★ 6.5
407 2 1986–1986
Drama

Oliver Twist

★ 7.3
405 12 1985–1985
Drama

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

★ 6.6
404 23 1982–1983
Adventure · Comedy · Drama

A TV Dante

★ 7.3
404 10 1989–1991
Drama

Call to Glory

★ 7.9
401 23 1984–1985
Drama

Darkroom

★ 7.2
396 16 1981–1982
Drama · Fantasy · Horror

Sarbadars

★ 7.4
396 1983–1985
Drama · History · War

A Taste for Death

★ 7.7
395 6 1988–1988
Crime · Drama · Mystery

A Rumor of War

★ 6.6
392 2 1980–1980
Biography · Drama · War

Five Mile Creek

★ 7.7
391 39 1983–1985
Drama · Family · Western

Mujer, casos de la vida real

★ 6.5
389 1760 1985–2007
Crime · Drama · Thriller

CBS Schoolbreak Special

★ 6.9
388 65 1984–1996
Adventure · Comedy · Drama

The Return of the Condor Heroes

★ 8.4
388 50 1983–1984
Action · Drama · Romance

Dead Souls

★ 7.6
387 5 1984–1984
Comedy · Drama · History

Sons and Daughters

★ 6.1
387 972 1982–1987
Drama · Romance

Lost Empires

★ 7.4
382 7 1986–1986
Drama

The Beiderbecke Connection

★ 8.4
378 4 1988–1988
Comedy · Drama

Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years

★ 8.5
377 8 1981–1981
Biography · Drama · History
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