Top 250 Tv Shows Like 1981

A young boy growing up in the suburbs of 1980s Brisbane faces the harsh realities of life — and the looming dangers that threaten his family.

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

Chronicles the life of Griselda Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. A devoted mother, Blanco’s lethal blend of charm and unsuspecting savagery helped her expertly navigate between family and business leading her to become widely known as the “Black Widow”.

A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her neighbors.

Angelo is the kid who tries to be the wise guy. He is constantly coming up with plans and strategies to get out of trouble. ... Angelo isn't put off by the natural setbacks most kid have to confront: like parents, siblings and rules but that doesn't deter him.

The Angry Video Game Nerd is an adult web television series of comedic retrogaming video reviews created by and starring James Rolfe. The show's format revolves around his commentary and review of older, but unsuccessful video games which are deemed to be of particularly low-quality, unfair difficulty or poor design. The series began as a feature on YouTube and later became a program on ScrewAttack Entertainment before moving to GameTrailers exclusively. The show was renamed The Angry Video Game Nerd to prevent any trademark issues with Nintendo and due to the fact he started reviewing games from non-Nintendo consoles such as those made by Atari and Sega. Rolfe's character, "The Nerd" is a short-tempered and foul-mouthed video game fanatic. He derives comic appeal from excessive and inventive use of anger, profanity, and habitual consumption of alcohol while reviewing video games.

A coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and for her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890’s, who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an elderly woman and her aging brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.

Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC for 35 years from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. Set in the fictional town of Bay City, the show in its early years opens with announcer Bill Wolff intoning its epigram, “We do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand other worlds,” which Phillips said represented the difference between “the world of events we live in, and the world of feelings and dreams that we strive for.” Another World focused less on the conventional drama of domestic life as seen in other soap operas, and more on exotic melodrama between families of different classes and philosophies.

Eleven-year old genius and kid-scientist Anne has invented and built her own amazing androids. Nick discovers Anne's secret junkyard laboratory and enlists the help of Shania to befriend Anne and her mechanical companions. Together they help solve Anne's scientific problems through real-life solutions.

Crime drama series featuring Life On Mars' DCI Gene Hunt. After being shot in 2008, DI Alex Drake lands in 1981, where she finds herself in familiar company.

Sixth-grader Nate Wright has a never-ending need to prove his awesomeness to the world. Whether he’s dealing with disasters at home or detention at school, Nate is no stranger to a challenge. Luckily, he’s able to express himself through the world of cartoons that he creates. Charming, mischievous and a magnet for misadventure – trouble is always fun when Nate is around.

The coming of age events and everyday life-lessons of Cory Matthews, a Philadelphian who grows up from a young boy to a married man.

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."

The Clangers are strange, long-nosed, pink, woolly creatures that live inside a small blue planet, which lies far, far away in space.Under the dustbin-lidded craters that cover the planet's surface is the cave system where the these strange yet cuddly extraterrestrials live. They share their world with the bizarre Soup Dragon, who lives in a soup well and provides them with their staple diet of green soup and blue string pudding; the Glow Buzzers, which supply light and tasty glow honey; and the tiny orange Froglets, magical creatures that live inside a travelling top-hat. Other beings encountered by the Clangers are the Iron Chicken, originally found in pieces and who, once reconstructed by the little planet's inhabitants, now lives in a nest in the sky; the large, odd, blue-skinned Skymoos; and the water-providing Cloud.

Combat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The program starred Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders.

Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama that portrays the fictional lives of a close-knit group of teenagers through high school and college.

Historical reenactments from A-list talent as told by inebriated storytellers. A unique take on the familiar and less familiar people and events from America’s great past as great moments in history are retold with unforgettable results.

The saga of a wealthy Denver family in the oil business: Blake Carrington, the patriarch; Krystle, his former secretary and wife; his children: Adam, lost in childhood after a kidnapping; Fallon, pampered and spoiled; Steven, openly gay; and Amanda, hidden from him by his ex-wife, the conniving Alexis. Most of the show features the conflict between 2 large corporations, Blake's Denver Carrington and Alexis' ColbyCo.

The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.

Chris is a teenager growing up as the eldest of three children in Brooklyn, New York during the early 1980s. Uprooted to a new neighborhood and bused to a predominantly white middle school two-hours away by his strict, hard-working parents, Chris struggles to find his place while keeping his siblings in line at home and surmounting the challenges of junior high.

Former 1960s flower children Steven and Elyse Keaton raise their conservative son Alex, daughters Mallory and Jennifer, and later, youngest child Andrew.

A good-hearted frontiersman poses as a priest to start an orphanage for a group of kids whose homes have been destroyed by an evil mining manager.

High school mathlete Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts (the "freaks"), while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy friends (the "geeks").

Families, friends, enemies and lovers experience life-changing events in the large upstate New York city of Port Charles, which has a busy hospital, upscale hotel, cozy diner and dangerous waterfront frequented by the criminal underworld.

Jonny Briggs centers on the exploits of a young boy, the eponymous hero, his pet dog, Razzle, and his eccentric family members.

Jonny Quest – often casually referred to as The Adventures of Jonny Quest – is an American animated science fiction adventure television series about a boy who accompanies his scientist father on extraordinary adventures. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems, and created and designed by comic book artist Doug Wildey. Inspired by radio serials and comics in the action-adventure genre, it featured more realistic art, characters, and stories than Hanna-Barbera's previous cartoon programs. It was the first of several Hanna-Barbera action-based adventure shows – which would later include Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio – and ran on ABC in prime time on early Friday nights for one season in 1964–1965.

In a working-class neighborhood outside Los Angeles, Mike and Peggy raise eight boisterous boys. There are 10 people, three bedrooms, one bathroom and everyone in it for themselves.

Life’s good for deliveryman Doug Heffernan, until his newly widowed father-in-law, Arthur, moves in with him and his wife Carrie. Doug is no longer the king of his domain, and instead of having a big screen television in his recently renovated basement, he now has a crazy old man.

Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive and often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beaver's parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and Tony Dow as Beaver's brother Wally. The show has attained an iconic status in the US, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century.

Welcome to the Loud House, where life can get pretty crazy. One boy, TEN girls?! Lincoln Loud wouldn’t change it for the world!

Set against the backdrop of the greatest clandestine race against time in the history of science with the mission to build the world's first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Flawed scientists and their families attempt to co-exist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives.

The story of a 10-year-old girl Dawn Haley whose sibling rivalry with her three brothers is heightened by the fact that they are quadruplets.

Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke and starring Ronnie Barker as a miserly shop keeper and David Jason as his put-upon nephew who works as his errand boy.

A tight-knit group of teens unearths a long-buried secret, setting off a chain of illicit events that takes them on an adventure they'll never forget.

The adventures of fictitious gunfighter Ethan Allen Cord, whose sister left her four children in his custody when she died.

A working-class family struggles to get by on a limited income in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois.

Sanjay and Craig is an American animated television series produced by Nickelodeon. The show is about a 12-year-old boy named Sanjay Patel who owns a talking pet snake named Craig.

Lovable schemer Zack Morris leads his pals on adventures at California's Bayside High School. The friends navigate relationships, final exams, school dances, breakups and more while frequently frustrating their principal, Mr. Richard Belding, who does his best to keep them in check.

Silver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987. The series was produced by Embassy Television for the first four seasons, until Embassy Communications moved the series to syndication. Silver Spoons was created by Martin Cohan, Howard Leeds and Ben Starr. The show's title refers to family wealth and to the expression that rich children are born with "silver spoons" in their mouths—they are given only the very best and want for nothing.

Spider-Man is an American animated TV series based on the popular Marvel Comics character of the same name.

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father and son played by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett who deal in selling used items. They live on Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the US as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert and in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon. In 1972 a movie adaptation of the series, Steptoe and Son, was released in cinemas, with a second Steptoe and Son Ride Again in 1973.

Following the chronicles of the East End working-class Garnett family, headed by patriarch Alf Garnett, a reactionary working-class man who holds racist and anti-socialist views.

A mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. Our only hope is an unexpected team: a scientist, a soldier and a history professor, who must use the machine's prototype to travel back in time to critical events. While they must make every effort not to affect the past themselves, they must also stay one step ahead of this dangerous fugitive. But can this handpicked team uncover the mystery behind it all and end his destruction before it's too late?

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

A former professional baseball player, along with his preteen daughter, moves into New York advertising executive Angela Bower's house to be both a housekeeper and a father figure to her young son. Tony 's laid-back personality contrasts with Angela's type-A behavior.

From roots in the Deep South to the slums of New Jersey, "Who Do You Think You Are?" follows the journeys of some of the most well-known names in American popular culture. Watch as celebrities discover unknown details about themselves and their families while researching their ancestry with the help of historians and genealogical experts.

Fievel's American Tails is an American/Canadian animated television series, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, Nelvana, and Universal Cartoon Studios. It aired for one season in 1992, and continued Fievel's adventures from the film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. In 1993 and 1994, MCA/Universal Home Video released twelve episodes on six VHS video-cassettes, two Laserdisc volumes. These have been the only home video releases of the cartoon, at least in the United States. In the United Kingdom, 12 episodes were released on six video-cassettes in 1995, but were in a different episode order to the United States and Vol.4 features the only episode that hasn't been released in the United States. Episodes have been released on DVD in France, Germany, and Italy. Universal currently has no plans to release the show on DVD in the United States, as of November 19, 2009.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is an American animated television series produced by Marvel Productions starring established Marvel Comics characters Spider-Man and Iceman and an original character, Firestar. As a trio called the Spider-Friends, they fought against various villains.

Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett instructing his subordinate to "Book 'em, Danno!", sometimes specifying a charge such as "murder one".

Reunion is an American television series that aired on FOX in late 2005. The series was intended to chronicle 20 years in the lives of a group of six high school friends from Bedford, New York, with each episode following one year in the lives of the six, beginning with their high school graduation year 1986. Each episode also featured scenes in the present where Detective Marjorino is investigating the brutal murder of one of the group during the night of their 20-year class reunion in 2006. The identity of the murder victim was not revealed until the fifth episode, "1990". Due to low ratings, the series was canceled after only nine episodes, and the identity of the killer remained unrevealed in the aired episodes.

The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly, for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the first season and first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett.

The misadventures of a cantankerous junk dealer and his frustrated son.

Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.

A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

The story of Kevin Arnold facing the trials and tribulations of youth while growing up during the 1960s and 70s. Told through narration from an adult Kevin, Kevin faces the difficulties of maintaining relationships and friendships on his enthralling journey into adulthood.

Set in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the series follows the captivating lives of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a mother/daughter pair who have a relationship most people only dream of.

A Bit of a Do is a British comedy drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and was aired on ITV in 1989. It was made for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television. The show was set in a fictional Yorkshire town. Each episode took place at a different social function and followed the changing lives of two families, the working-class Simcocks and the middle-class Rodenhursts, together with their respective friends, Rodney and Betty Sillitoe, and Neville Badger. The series begins with the wedding of Ted and Rita Simcock's son Paul to Laurence and Liz Rodenhurst's daughter Jenny; an event at which Ted and Liz begin an affair. The subsequent fallout from this affair forms the basis for most of the first series.

This series investigated the way that history and memory have been used by politicians and others.

Ready or Not is a Canadian teen drama series which aired on the Showtime Movie Channel and later on the Disney Channel and Global Television Network for 5 seasons and 65 episodes between 1993 and 1997 in both Canada and the United States.

The gripping story of three different families living in the same house in the 1960’s, 1980’s and present day. The families are linked by the spirit of a young girl – the 1960’s family’s daughter who died in mysterious circumstances.

The true story of the Allied ship Laconia, sunk in WWII by a German U-Boat, which then surfaced against orders to rescue the civilian crew

On April 1st, 1986, Jean-Guy Lavigueur, an unemployed blue-collar worker and his family won 7.6 million dollars. At the time, it was the largest amount ever won at Loto-Quebec's 6/49 weekly draws. What should have been the beginning of a fairytale for the family turned rapidly into a nightmare...

Dance Moms: Miami was an American reality television series on Lifetime and debuted on April 3, 2012. It was a spin-off of Dance Moms and was cancelled in September 2012 after eight episodes.

It’s the true American story of a legendary family feud—one that spanned decades and nearly launched a war between Kentucky and West Virginia. The Hatfield-McCoy saga begins with Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy.. Close friends and comrades until near the end of the Civil War, they return to their neighboring homes—Hatfield in West Virginia, McCoy just across the Tug River border in Kentucky—to increasing tensions, misunderstandings and resentments that soon explode into all-out warfare between their families. As hostilities grow, friends, neighbors and outside forces join the fight, bringing the two states to the brink of another civil war.

Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.

A minor league defenseman's journey from obscurity to national fame as the opinionated commentator on Hockey Night In Canada, and undoubtedly one of the most recognized faces in the country.

Having recently lost his job and his girlfriend, 30-year-old Tom Chadwick has a rather unsure sense of his own identity. But when he inherits a mysterious box of belongings from a great aunt he never met, Tom starts investigating his lineage and uncovers a whole world of unusual stories and characters, acquiring a growing sense of who he and his real family are.

Adapted from M.M. Kaye's best-selling novel, this dramatic HBO miniseries follows two star-crossed lovers -- the young British officer Ash (Ben Cross) and the betrothed princess Anjuli (Amy Irving) -- as they face daunting odds in their quest to be together. Set in India during the time of the British Raj, this haunting (and BAFTA-nominated) love story features spectacular scenery and an epic saga of battle, treachery and intrigue.

Joe leaves working-class, industrial Dufton behind him and takes a job as senior audit clerk at the town hall in affluent Warley. He takes lodgings at the poshest part of the town and starts to make his mark on local society.

Will Freeman lives a charmed existence as the ultimate man-child. After writing a hit song, he was granted a life of free time, free love and freedom from financial woes. He's single, unemployed and loving it. So imagine his surprise when Fiona, a needy single mom and her oddly charming 11-year-old son, Marcus, move in next door and disrupt his perfect world. When Marcus begins dropping by his home unannounced, Will's not so sure about being a kid's new best friend, until, of course, Will discovers that women find single dads irresistible. That changes everything and a deal is struck: Marcus will pretend to be Will's son and, in return, Marcus is allowed to chill at Will's house. Before he realizes it, Will starts to enjoy the visits and even finds himself looking out for the kid. In fact, this newfound friendship may very well teach him a thing or two that he never imagined possible - about himself and caring for others.

The explosive lives, loves and losses of an intermingled group of Montréalers are explored as they confront the subject of difference. Managing a modern relationship can be a mess. Single? Attached? Married? Divorced? Open? Closed? The most common answer is ‘It’s complicated.’

A type of docu-dramatic comedy, straddling both documentary and fiction, Féminin/Féminin delves into the lives of six 20-something friends—lesbian, bisexual, and, yes, even straight—as they “live and love” in Montreal.

An intense and fictionalized account of actual events and people surrounding Lizzie’s life after her controversial acquittal of the horrific double murder of her father and stepmother in 1892.

It's the first day of camp in this outrageous prequel to the hilarious 2001 cult classic movie. And at Camp Firewood, anything can happen.

Epic mini-series chronicling the lives of two 19th-century families -- one Irish, the other English -- and the American family dynasties they began.

Somerset 1894. When a pioneering Victorian psychologist brings his vivacious young wife to live on his family's estate, he is confronted by one disturbing case after another. Are these strange events linked merely by coincidence, or is there something more sinister - more supernatural - going on at Shepzoy?

Karine and Patrick are a loving but debt-ridden couple. Their only solution is to swallow their pride and accept to sleep in Karine’s parents’ basement –with all the conditions and sacrifices the new situation brings …

The joys and trials of five funny, intelligent and sexy young adults bound by the sacred ties of friendship.

A comedy that takes place in the 1960s during turbulent times in the United States when a middle class suburban family is visited by a guest who turns their household completely upside down.

The life stories of history's greatest minds. From their days as young adults to their final years we see their discoveries, loves, relationships, causes, flaws and genius.

A dramatization of the life and death of Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto.

Coming-of-age drama about lovable rogues Conor and Jock as they navigate their awkward teenage years, hatching plans and adventures to help distract from their tough home lives and their inability to stay out of trouble at school.

Jean Béliveau was gentleman, a businessman, a captain, a star, a husband, a father, and one of the greatest hockey players of his time.

When the most important friend in her life seems to have disappeared without a trace, Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman immersed in a house full of books, turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their friendship.

From a young age, 11-year-old, Max, has identified as a girl and as puberty looms, she begins to present increasing signs of gender variance. When Max was eight, her father, Stephen, left the family home. But as Max’s conviction that she’s in the wrong body intensifies, her distress escalates, and Stephen seizes the opportunity to return to live at the family home and support his daughter.

Three friends in a low-income neighborhood find humor and hope in their lives as they grapple with bad boyfriends and their dysfunctional families.

While touting itself as a mecca for progressive expansion, early 1980s Atlanta has a dark secret. Over two years, at least twenty-nine black children, teens, and young adults have been systematically abducted and murdered from low income neighborhoods. As the mothers of the victims beg law enforcement to take action, the investigation languishes while the country looks on. Suspects include the KKK, the police and known pedophiles. The nightmare is seemingly over when Wayne Williams, a young black man, is arrested and the majority of the crimes are attributed to him. But was he simply a scapegoat? In this 3-part special we explore the case from those closest to it while highlighting the enduring questions surrounding this tragic chapter in Atlanta's history.

The six-part series features gripping first-hand accounts of how the year's events came together at the same dizzying, chaotic time.

An anthology series of five stories looking at the lives of a group of friends and their families in London’s West Indian community from the late 1960s to the early 80s.

Celebrities are given a unique insight into their lives using innovative DNA science and technology to trace their ancestors.

A 1980's series of events revolving around Benny Zerletta (William DeMeo), a Brooklyn based Italian-American, soldier in the Colezzo crime family. Benny depicts the difficulties.

A coming of age story set in the late 1960s that takes a nostalgic look at a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama through the point-of-view of imaginative 12 year-old Dean. With the wisdom of his adult years, Dean’s hopeful and humorous recollections show how his family found their “wonder years” in a turbulent time. Inspired by the classic series of the same name.

Steve McQueen and James Rogan’s new docuseries Uprising examines three pivotal events from 1981 and how they defined race relations in Britain for a generation

Two very different families join forces to create a new community, an us-against-the-world, cave person co-op on the most amazing farm in the history of prehistory!

The true story of a duchess publicly shamed in a high society divorce that gripped the nation.

When the Duke of Milan is brutally murdered, the Assassin Giovanni Auditore is dispatched to investigate. What he uncovers implicates Italy's most powerful families reaching all the way back to the Vatican itself. As Giovanni draws closer to the truth, he becomes hunted himself. He must expose the conspirators before he joins their ever-growing list of victims. Three short films based on the Assassin's Creed II video game.

Gino D'Acampo is back in his beloved Italy, but this time he is joined by his wife Jess and their three children, as he takes his family to explore the hidden gems of Sardinia and the very best of Southern Italy.

As part of a racist government policy now known as the Sixties Scoop, Bezhig Little Bird is removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan and adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at the age of five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them.