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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)

The Department Store

★ 6.2
375 60 1987–1989
Drama

Quo Vadis?

★ 6.5
374 6 1985–1985
Drama

Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow

★ 7.1
372 50 1982–1982
Adventure · Animation · Drama

Shanghai Beach

★ 8.1
367 25 1980–present
Drama · History

Little Tragedies

★ 7.9
366 3 1980–1980
Drama · History · Horror

Dirty Dancing

★ 5.8
366 11 1988–1989
Drama · Romance

Simplemente María

★ 4.9
365 150 1989–1990
Drama · Romance

Captain James Cook

★ 8.1
365 4 1987–2000
Biography · Drama · History

Jamaica Inn

★ 6.6
364 3 1983–1983
Drama · Thriller

Batalyony prosyat ognya

★ 7.8
362 4 1985–present
Drama · War

Father Murphy

★ 6.6
362 34 1981–1983
Drama · Family · Western

The Gentle Touch

★ 6.7
359 56 1980–1984
Crime · Drama

Les uns et les autres

★ 7.8
357 5 1981–1983
Drama

Shades of Darkness

★ 7.7
355 9 1983–1986
Drama · Fantasy · Horror

Jimbo and the Jet-Set

★ 6.3
355 25 1986–1987
Adventure · Animation · Drama

Juliet Bravo

★ 6.7
349 88 1980–1985
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Verdi

★ 8.1
349 9 1982–1983
Biography · Drama · Music

Kessler

★ 6.7
346 6 1981–1981
Drama · Thriller

Walking Tall

★ 7.0
341 7 1981–1981
Action · Crime · Drama

The Pickwick Papers

★ 7.1
341 12 1985–1985
Drama

Das Erbe der Guldenburgs

★ 6.9
341 40 1987–1990
Drama

The Gangster Chronicles

★ 8.1
336 15 1981–1981
Biography · Crime · Drama

T and T

★ 7.0
333 65 1988–1991
Crime · Drama

Howards' Way

★ 6.7
332 78 1985–1990
Drama
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