1. At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert

 

Who knows what people did with two thumbs before Siskel and Ebert? (This guy!) Ah, we kid. But popular film appreciation was changed forever with the two charmingly combative Chicago critics.

Image: Tribune Entertainment

2. Cagney & Lacey

 

Loretta Swit was originally tapped to play Cagney… until M*A*S*H locked her into her contract. Then Meg Foster was cast. Then producers replaced Foster with Sharon Gless, the Cagney we know, to soften the character. Tyne Daly was there all along. Here's a crazy stat: for six straight years, one of the two women won the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama.

3. Cheers

 

We still want to go to a place where everybody knows your name. Consider how Ted Dansen and Woody Harrelson remain A-list actors. Who would have ever thought Woody would be the one to go on to decades of prestige? 

4. Fame

 

The movie Fame did wanna live forever — as a TV show. Well, it lasted six seasons. Not shabby at all. And it helped make Janet Jackson a star.

Image: MGM

5. Family Ties

 

The decade of Michael J. Fox. Okay, it technically started with Midnight Madness, a cult comedy we refuse to overlook, but Family Ties made the energetic actor a sensation.

Image: Paramount

6. Knight Rider

 

A talking Pontiac was the coolest thing on TV that year. And we're including Hasselhoff. Sorry, Hoff. The car was more awesome.

Image: NBC Universal

7. Late Night with David Letterman

 

So much modern (or should we say post-modern) comedy traces its roots back to Letterman. He made late-night delightfully weird, with regular players like Chris Elliott and Larry "Bud" Melman. And then there were the Top 10 Lists and Stupid Pet Tricks. And countless other memorable gags. Not bad for a weatherman.

Image: NBC Universal

8. Newhart

 

A decade after The Bob Newhart Show premiered, Newhart returned with a more concisely titled sitcom, changing his character and setting. The urban comedy shifted to a rural setting, in Vermont. Of course, it was all a dream of psychologist Bob Hartley. As we learned in that brilliant finale.

9. Police Squad!

 

Though it lasted a mere six episodes, Police Squad! packs more side-splitting laughs than most long-running sitcoms. The Zucker Brothers, hot off Airplane!, took their surreal slapstick humor to the small screen, casting former straight man Leslie Nielsen as a buffoon detective. ABC canceled the show, but it earned Emmy nominations and spawned a film franchise in The Naked Gun.

10. The Powers of Matthew Star

 

Blending superheroes and space opera, Matthew Star centered around the titular prince of the planet Quandris (Peter Barton), who flees 12 light-years to pose as a teenager on earth with his protector, who assumes the role of a high school teacher (Lou Gossett, Jr.). Barton nearly died making it. Read up on why it's a rather fascinating show.

11. Remington Steele

 

With his suave style, winking humor, and sharpshooting, the character Remington Steele was essentially a dry run for Pierce Brosnan becoming James Bond. Stephanie Zimbalist, daughter of 77 Sunset Strip star Efrem Zimbalist Jr., offered a link to TV past. And the show itself harkened back to the hip detective series of the '60s.

Image: 20th Television

12. Ripley's Believe It or Not

 

This syndicated "true stories" series was basically our internet, sharing unbelievable tales that had to be shared. Only, we had to use our mouth.

Image: ABC

13. Silver Spoons

 

Every kid who grew up in this era yearned to have Ricky's set-up — the arcade machines, the train, the racecar bed. Of course, they were all owned by his dad, Edward Stratton III (Joel Higgins), the original man-child and predecessor to the modern bro.

Image: Sony Pictures Television

14. Square Pegs

 

Sarah Jessica Parker may be Carrie Bradshaw to most, but she will forever be adorkable teen Patty Greene in our minds. Square Pegs was perhaps the first show to humanize nerds, nearly two decades before Freaks and Geeks. Of course, this show about nerds was hipper than the rest, booking music acts The Waitresses and Devo to play dances, and bringing in Bill Murray as a guest star.

15. St. Elsewhere

 

It's Tommy Westphall's world, and we're just living in it. If you know the legend of the last episode, you get that reference. (Basically, the entire series was revealed to be the fantasy of an autistic child with a snowglobe.) Give the casting director all the awards — this hospital dramedy made Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel household names.

Image: 20th Television

16. T.J. Hooker

 

The second coming of Shatner. The Canadian thespian was pigeonholed as Captian Kirk. Certainly not a bad way to make a living. But throughout the Seventies, he struggled to shake off the stereotype, largely appearing in small roles as a bad guy or failing to launch new shows like Barbary Coast. Cop action hour T.J. Hooker changed that. Rescue 911, Boston Public and the Shatnerenaissance followed.