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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)

Queen Millennia

★ 7.9
244 42 1981–1982
Animation · Drama · Mystery

Christabel

★ 6.4
242 4 1988–1988
Biography · Drama

Seagull Island

★ 6.0
242 5 1981–present
Adventure · Drama · Horror

Forsthaus Falkenau

★ 4.8
239 324 1989–2013
Drama · Family

Super Electronic Bioman

★ 6.6
238 52 1984–1985
Action · Adventure · Drama

Dombey & Son

★ 7.1
238 10 1983–1983
Drama

The Flying House

★ 6.7
237 52 1982–1983
Adventure · Animation · Drama

A Death in California

★ 6.3
237 2 1985–1985
Drama

From the Northern Country

★ 8.2
234 24 1981–1982
Drama

The Borgias

★ 7.3
234 10 1981–1981
Biography · Drama · History

Blackeyes

★ 6.9
233 4 1989–1989
Drama

Breaking Away

★ 7.3
232 8 1980–1981
Drama · Family

The Dismissal

★ 8.2
232 3 1983–1983
Drama · History

Masterpiece Theatre: Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy

★ 7.3
230 6 1986–1986
Biography · Drama

Eishob Dinratri

★ 9.2
229 2 1985–present
Drama · Family

The New Heaven Sword and the Dragon Sabre

★ 8.1
229 40 1986–present
Action · Drama

Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls

★ 4.8
228 2 1981–1981
Drama

Casablanca

★ 5.5
228 5 1983–1983
Drama · Romance · War

Code Red

★ 7.1
227 19 1981–1982
Action · Adventure · Drama

The Dirty Dozen

★ 6.7
227 11 1988–1988
Drama · War

E.N.G.

★ 7.6
227 96 1989–1994
Drama

Rossiya molodaya

★ 7.6
223 9 1981–1984
Drama · History

The Children of Green Knowe

★ 8.3
221 4 1986–1986
Drama · Family · Fantasy

Kouchak Jangali

★ 6.4
218 14 1987–present
Biography · Drama · History
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