Best TV Series from 1980's to date
by nocturnal_grey | created - 22 May 2011 | updated - 24 Apr 2013 | PublicBest Western/Asian TV Series - listed according to release year
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1. Downton Abbey (2010–2015)
TV-PG | 60 min | Drama, Romance
A chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.
Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Brendan Coyle
Votes: 224,774
S01, S02 - superb, S03 - a lil bit boring with severe twists (aaarrghh), S04 - man, when will this end??
2. Castle (2009–2016)
TV-14 | 43 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When a psychopath commits murders based on novelist Castle's books, Detective Beckett seeks his help to solve the case. He decides to work with her and uses his experiences as research for his novels.
Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Jon Huertas
Votes: 174,319
S02 & S03 were really interesting. Now a little bit boring, I know the formula, but they're still funny sometimes....
3. Glee (2009–2015)
TV-PG | 44 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A group of ambitious misfits try to escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club headed by a passionate Spanish teacher.
Stars: Lea Michele, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith
Votes: 155,429
Love the songs, dislike the storyline (too cliche)
4. Lie to Me (2009–2011)
TV-14 | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
About Cal Lightman, the world's leading deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to expose the truth behind the lies.
Stars: Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, Monica Raymund
Votes: 127,795
dr.Cal Lightman, a facial microexpression expert is on the move. He's eccentric, just like House, MD. Sometimes unbearable, just like House, MD - again. Genius, of course. It had to end though, the series seemed to run out of methods & ideas. Unfortunately the relationship between Cal & Gillian haven't been explored much & left hanging in the end.
5. Fringe (2008–2013)
TV-14 | 46 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
An F.B.I. agent is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist and his son in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.
Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole
Votes: 257,387
Half first season were sooo weird, but began to like it since last half of S01 then love it since S02 til S03! Can't wait for S04! (but I do hope this series will have an ending, soon, not in 10 yrs like Smallville ^^'')
6. Legend of the Seeker (2008–2010)
TV-14 | 44 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After the mysterious murder of his father, a son's search for answers begins a momentous fight against tyranny.
Stars: Craig Horner, Bridget Regan, Bruce Spence, Craig Parker
Votes: 36,272
Premature ending. They should've add more seasons!! *sigh* Love The Seeker & The Confessor
7. Bones (2005–2017)
TV-14 | 40 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
F.B.I. Special Agent Seeley Booth teams up with the Jeffersonian's top anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan, to investigate cases where all that's left of the victims are their bones.
Stars: Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, T.J. Thyne
Votes: 176,124
S01 - S05 were really fascinating & interesting. Now since they had babies...boring boring boring
8. Prison Break (2005–2017)
TV-14 | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.
Stars: Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper
Votes: 579,014
Season 1, 2, and 4 are superb! (3 was lame)
9. House M.D. (2004–2012)
TV-14 | 45 min | Drama, Mystery
Using a crack team of doctors and his wits, an antisocial maverick doctor specializing in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way.
Stars: Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jesse Spencer
Votes: 512,891
Season 1-2 were good; 3 boring; 4 great; 5 tet-tot; 6 great; 7 uhmm, first half booo, second half (maybe) OK, but with crap ending - they better come up with s'thing good next season or end it plz.... And they finally ended it in S08 (hmm...weird ending but I guess that's the best they can do)
10. Jewel in the Palace (2003–2004)
60 min | Biography, Drama, History
A series based on a real person in Korean history, Suh, Jang-geum.
Stars: Lee Yeong-ae, Hong Ri-na, Ji Jin-hee, Lim Hyeon-shik
Votes: 4,363
Superb! Love it. Very inspiring.
11. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015)
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In Las Vegas, a squad of forensic investigators are trained to solve crimes by meticulously examining the evidence. They employ advanced technology and their rationality to detect the perpetrators.
Stars: William Petersen, Laurence Fishburne, Ted Danson, George Eads
Votes: 89,070
CSI Las Vegas : very cool but too long....
12. Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)
TV-PG | 44 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.
Stars: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill
Votes: 77,272
Love it, love it, love it *sci-fi lover The ending is quite satisfactory ;D
13. ER (1994–2009)
TV-14 | 44 min | Drama, Romance
The doctors who work in the ER at the County General Hospital in Chicago grapple with ups and downs in their personal and professional lives while trying to give apt medical care to their patients.
Stars: Anthony Edwards, George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, Eriq La Salle
Votes: 67,690
The first half seasons were great...but too long
14. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.
Stars: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton
Votes: 135,888
Love it, love it, love it *sci-fi lover
15. Friends (1994–2004)
TV-14 | 22 min | Comedy, Romance
Follows the personal and professional lives of six twenty to thirty year-old friends living in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc
Votes: 1,087,457
Funny & entertaining!
16. The Nanny (1993–1999)
TV-PG | 22 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
After being fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, a cosmetics saleswoman becomes the nanny to the three children of a rich English widower. As time passes, the two fall for each other.
Stars: Fran Drescher, Charles Shaughnessy, Daniel Davis, Lauren Lane
Votes: 49,262
Makes me laugh all the time! Nanny Fran - hilariously ridiculous =)
17. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993–1998)
TV-G | 60 min | Drama, Family, Western
The trials and adventures of a female doctor in a small Wild West town.
Stars: Jane Seymour, Joe Lando, Shawn Toovey, Chad Allen
Votes: 13,711
First half seasons were good, last half seasons were boring&dark tone
18. Saved by the Bell (1989–1992)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
A close-knit group of six friends get through their teens together while attending Bayside High School in Palisades, California.
Stars: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies
Votes: 37,507
19. Quantum Leap (1989–1993)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During an experiment into time travel, a scientist finds himself trapped in the past, "leaping" into the lives of different people, sorting out their problems and changing history in hopes of getting back to his own life in the present.
Stars: Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell, Deborah Pratt, Dennis Wolfberg
Votes: 36,455
20. Full House (1987–1995)
TV-G | 22 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A widowed sportscaster raises his three daughters with assistance from his rock and roll brother-in-law and madcap best friend.
Stars: Bob Saget, John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Candace Cameron Bure
Votes: 63,071
21. MacGyver (1985–1992)
TV-PG | 48 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
The adventures of a secret Agent armed with almost infinite scientific resourcefulness.
Stars: Richard Dean Anderson, Dana Elcar, Bruce McGill, Robin Mossley
Votes: 41,997
My fave "do-it-yourself" guy in my childhood ^^
22. Moonlighting (1985–1989)
TV-PG | 3,073 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
The quirky cases of a former model and a smart aleck detective who manage a private detective agency.
Stars: Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, Allyce Beasley, Curtis Armstrong
Votes: 24,244
23. Growing Pains (1985–1992)
TV-G | 30 min | Comedy, Family
The misadventures of a family with a home business father and a journalist mother.
Stars: Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Jeremy Miller
Votes: 16,330
24. The Cosby Show (1984–1992)
TV-G | 30 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
The goings-on in the life of a successful African-American family.
Stars: Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Tempestt Bledsoe
Votes: 36,341
25. The A-Team (1983–1987)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Four Vietnam vets, framed for a crime they didn't commit, help the innocent while on the run from the military.
Stars: George Peppard, Mr. T, Dwight Schultz, Dirk Benedict
Votes: 41,778
26. Remington Steele (1982–1987)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The cases of a female private detective partnered with a former thief who assumes the role of a fictitious detective in the business.
Stars: Stephanie Zimbalist, Pierce Brosnan, Doris Roberts, James Read
Votes: 9,971
Love the duo so much! Original ideas (compared w/ Moonlighting)
27. Knight Rider (1982–1986)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A lone crimefighter battles the forces of evil with the help of a virtually indestructible and artificially intelligent supercar.
Stars: David Hasselhoff, Edward Mulhare, Richard Basehart, Patricia McPherson
Votes: 37,564
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