Top 250 Tv Shows Like 1986

A list of the best tv shows similar to 1986. If you liked 1986 then you may also like: The Last of Us, Halo, Below Deck, Botched, The Chi and many more great tv shows featured on this list.

movie

Elena is a student in Minsk. She is having an intense but self-destructive love affair with Viktor. When Elena's father goes to prison she has to take charge of his business dealings to help him. She drives repeatedly into the restricted zone at Chernobyl, behind the wheel of a truck, in order to smuggle contaminated steel. The conflicts with Viktor escalate, and Elena is increasingly captivated by the zone's deceptive beauty...

The Last of Us

Twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the United States and depend on each other for survival.

Halo

Depicting an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, the series weaves deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.

Below Deck

The upstairs and downstairs worlds collide when this young and single crew of "yachties" live, love and work together onboard a luxurious mega yacht while tending to the ever-changing needs of their wealthy, demanding charter guests.

Botched

In the multi-billion dollar world of plastic surgery, beauty is in the eye of the beholder... or is it? For some patients, their quest for ultimate perfection ends in disastrous results. World renowned doctors Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow — the best of the best and leaders in their field — will be tasked with some of the most difficult operations of their careers when they try to reverse the effects of horrendous plastic surgeries.  

The Chi

A relevant, timely and distinctive coming-of-age story following a half dozen interrelated characters in the South Side of Chicago. The story centers on Brandon, an ambitious and confident young man who dreams about opening a restaurant of his own someday, but is conflicted between the promise of a new life and his responsibility to his mother and teenage brother back in the South Side.

Dark

A missing child causes four families to help each other for answers. What they could not imagine is that this mystery would be connected to innumerable other secrets of the small town.

Designing Women

Julia Sugarbaker, Mary Jo Shively, Charlene Frazier-Stillfield and Suzanne Sugarbaker are associates at their design firm, Sugarbaker and Associates. Julia is the owner and is very outspoken and strong-willed. Mary Jo is a divorced single-parent whom is just as strong-willed as Julia, but isn't as self-confident. Charlene is the naive and trusting farm girl from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Suzanne is the self-centered ex-beauty queen whom has a number of wealthy ex-husbands.

Dynasty

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.

Ghost Whisperer

Newlywed Melinda Gordon tries to help the dead communicate with loved ones, but sometimes the messages she receives are intense and confusing. Most of Melinda's efforts involve resolving conflicts that are preventing the spirits from passing over.

Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back

Gordon Ramsay drives to struggling restaurants across the country in his state-of-the-art mobile kitchen and command center, Hell On Wheels, and tries to bring them back from the brink of disaster – all in just 24 hours.

House of Lies

Charming, fast talking Marty Kaan and his crack team of management consultants know how to play the corporate game better than anyone, by using every dirty trick in the book to woo powerful CEOs and close huge deals. In the board rooms, barrooms, and bedrooms of the power elite, corruption is business as usual and everyone's out for themselves first. Nothing is sacred in this scathing, irreverent satire of corporate America today.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

The Lightning League drives white and silver vehicles with assorted weaponry, and are led by a teenager named Jayce. The villains are organic green vegetable-based creatures called the Monster Minds, who tend to take the shape of black and green vehicles. They travel via large green organic vines which can grow in and across interstellar space, and sprout seeds that rapidly grow into further Monster Minds. They are led by Saw Boss.

Kendra on Top

Kendra on Top is an American reality television series on WE tv that debuted June 5, 2012. The series follows the day-to-day life of former Playboy model and The Girls Next Door reality television personality Kendra Wilkinson as she balances being a mother and her business ventures. Season 2 chronicles Kendra as she prepares and participates as a celebrity contestant on Splash and stars on Celebrity Wife Swap. Hank is working on his transition from working in the NFL into the business world. Kendra's car accident that occurred in April 2013 is also included.

Orange Is the New Black

A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.

Ray Donovan

Set in the sprawling mecca of the rich and famous, Ray Donovan does the dirty work for LA's top power players, and makes their problems disappear. His father's unexpected release from prison sets off a chain of events that shakes the Donovan family to its core.

Six Feet Under

A darkly comic look at members of a dysfunctional L.A. family that run a funeral business.  When death is your business, what is your life? For the Fisher family, the world outside of their family-owned funeral home continues to be at least as challenging as--and far less predictable than--the one inside.

Steptoe and Son

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.

Tripping the Rift

The continuing comic saga of a bizarre gang of misfits who live, work and play on the starship Jupiter 42, which is controlled by a neurotic A.I. known as Spaceship Bob. The ethically-challenged shipmates travel through the galaxy taking on one epic adventure at a time all while looking to make a quick buck and avoid getting thrown in jail.

Weeds

After the unexpected death of her husband, a suburban mom resorts to selling weed to support her family.

Alarm for Cobra 11: The Motorway Police

A long-running German television series about a two-man team of highway police, originally set in Berlin and later in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Lexx

A Time Prophet predicted that Kai would be the one to destroy the divine order in the league of the 20,000 planets, someday that will happen, but not today. Today a cowardly security guard, an undead assassin, a female with a body designed for sex and a robot head madly in love with her all make up the crew of the spaceship Lexx, the most powerful weapon in the two universes.

Sanford and Son

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

A Bit of a Do

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.

The Visitors

It's the year 2484 and the Earth is threatened by a rogue comet which could fatally change its orbit. The solution is surprising - Adam Bernau, the greatest genius of 20th century developed 500 years ago an ingenious formula for easy transporting of continents and even worlds. Unfortunately, he made this discovery at the age of 11 and the exercise book containing it was destroyed in the fire. But this is not a challenge to Academic Filip who decides to send an expedition back in time to retrieve the precious exercise book from the fire. But everything is not so simple as it seems...

Hinter Gittern - Der Frauenknast

Drama set in a women's prison in Germany. Susanne Teubner, a sympathetic young woman who has killed her husband in an affect, is poorly advised by her lawyer and sentenced to life imprisonment for willful murder. The arrival in prison is a shock to her. Resigned and exhausted, she endures the degrading admission procedure. She doesn't notice that the young doctor Dr. Beck immediately felt more than professional interest for her.

City Lights

Hapless bank clerk Willie Melvin dreams of being a successful writer but is held back by his own incompetence, the dodgy dealings of his best friend Chancer, and lack of support from his mother, the bank's manager Adam McLelland and his obsequious fellow teller, Brian.

A Case For Two

Ein Fall für zwei is a German television series, which premiered on September 11, 1981 on ZDF. The series, located in Frankfurt am Main, features two main characters who solve crimes: a defense attorney and a private investigator. Josef Matula, a former German police officer, has gone into private business. His method of investigation is very effective and direct, and he sometimes even resorts to dirty tricks. Claus Theo Gärtner has portrayed the role since the start of the series.

White Teeth

The lives of three families are woven together across three decades in multi-cultural Britain.

If Tomorrow Comes

Tracy Whitney was in love, pregnant and engaged to marry into one of America's best family. And then, with one phone call, she lost everything. After 5 years of unjust imprisonment, Tracy emerges from prison a new woman. Cunning. Ruthless. Determined to survive. But there is one man as formidable as she is. As their paths crisscross, they eventually become daredevil partners in an adventure that climaxes their criminal careers.

Downtown

Michael Nouri plays a tough cop who has rubbed his superiors the wrong way once too often. By way of punishment he is assigned the supervision of four colorful parolees in this police drama with humor. They are: Dennis Shotthaffer who imagined himself to be a doctor and tried to perform operations; Terry Casaro, a young black pickpocket; Jesse Smith, a street-wise tough; and Harriet Conover, a land-fraud artist who lives in a big mansion. Forney, who hates his assignment but wants to get back on the force where he belongs, devises a plan to put his four charges under one roof—in Conover's mansion.

Combat Zone

From the streets of an American city under siege, to the far-flung jungles of Vietnam or the deadly desert towns of Iraq, modern warfare is all about cutting-edge strategy, the latest weaponry and soldiers laying their lives on the line to overcome the enemy. Combat Zone takes you behind the lines of engagement of thirteen hard-fought armed conflicts and tells the true stories of the tactics, the firepower and the heroes who risked everything. Historical footage combined with gripping first-hand accounts from soldiers and analysis from military experts puts you right in the action.

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

Comedy about an inept American placed in charge of sales at his company's London branch. He has no experience with British culture, knows nothing about sales, and has only one employee, Dave. Each episode begins with a scene of Margaret appearing in dire circumstances.

The Squad: Prison Police

A team of special agents react to and investigate crimes within the Tennessee prison system.

Killer Women

Anthology series, in which every episode introduces fictionalized versions of real cases about women who, for different reasons, ended up committing murder.

Magic City

Set in 1959 Miami, Florida shortly after the Cuban Revolution, Magic City tells the story of Ike Evans, the owner of Miami's most glamorous hotel, the Miramar Playa. Evans is forced to make an ill-fated deal with Miami mob boss Ben Diamond to ensure the success of his glitzy establishment.

Guns

Detective Rick Merriweather and Detective Constable Ford Sanders from the Weapons Enforcement Unit in Toronto struggle to balance family life with a complex investigation centering on a twenty-three year old gun trafficker.

Großstadtrevier

Follow the everyday work of a fictional police station on the Kiez of Hamburg.

Kir Royal

Kir Royal – Aus dem Leben eines Klatschreporters is a six-part television series by Helmut Dietl from the year 1986. This is a parody of the Munich newspaper, their gossip reporter Michael Graeter and Issuer Anneliese Friedmann. The series about the tabloid reporter Baby Schimmerlos plays in the Munich "Schicki-Micki" scene of the 1980s.

Power

A successful New York entrepreneur lives a double life as the head of a drug empire that serves only the rich and influential, all while wanting to escape the underworld and keep his family safe.

Bosch

Based on Michael Connelly's best-selling novels, these are the stories of relentless LAPD homicide Detective Harry Bosch who pursues justice at all costs. But behind his tireless momentum is a man who is haunted by his past and struggles to remain loyal to his personal code: “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”

Dumbest Stuff on Wheels

This comedy series focuses on crashes recorded via amateur video and involving anything that's on wheels, from cars and trucks, to even shopping carts and unicycles.

Outback Truckers

Jump in the cab with some of the men and women behind the wheel of monster road trains and reveals what life is really like on the wide-open road. Highly dramatic, often humorous, Outback Truckers reveals the true blue heart and soul of Aussie trucking.

The Godmother - No Way Back

Catherine Almeda is a housewife and mother of two children. Her husband owns an export company and what Catherine does not know, involved in various illegal transactions. With his accomplice and lover, Marie, who he claims as his wife, he traveled through Europe and is expanding its network illegal. But now he is cooperating with the BND to get out and is held in a hidden place. His wife Catherine comes into the focus of investigations by the BKA and the children are threatened by criminals. Catherine is forced to smuggle five million euros from Moscow to Geneva, and must quickly raise half a tonne of heroin. Meanwhile, Catherine Bandelt nor with the Russians to Sergei, but they can fall back on before she settles with her husband, the children and their widowed father in Argentina.

Gearz

Instruction on customizing and building cars, trucks, hot rods and other rides. Also: test drives.

The Spoils of Babylon

Follow the saga of Cynthia and Devon, two siblings whose intense love drives everything and everyone around them to ruin.

Animal Kingdom

17-year-old Joshua "J" Cody moves in with his freewheeling relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Headed by boot-tough matriarch Janine "Smurf" Cody and her right-hand Baz, who runs the business and calls the shots, the clan also consists of Pope, the oldest and most dangerous of the Cody boys; Craig, the tough and fearless middle son; and Deran, the troubled, suspicious "baby" of the family.

Naked Attraction

The show looks at whether a partner can be found based solely on the naked body and animal magnetism. Two singletons join host Anna Richardson as they seek to choose a date from a selection of six naked people, who will be revealed to them one body part at a time. They then get dressed and head off on a date, to see if there is any chemistry when the clothes come on.

The Godmother

It’s 1993, and Paloma Luisa Marquez Hermosa is on top of the world. Originally from Columbia, she now heads a very discreet – and very efficient – criminal organization that smuggles cocaine into Montreal and launders drug money. Nicknamed the “Cali Cartel Godmother”, she stops at nothing to provide for her family. But Paloma eventually becomes the target of Paul Généreux, an honest cop who’s determined to destroy her organization – until his investigation turns into a tangled web of corruption that reaches the upper echelons of the police force.

Kronprinz Rudolf

Drama about the last ten years of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria.

I'm Dying Up Here

Set in LA’s celebrated, infamous stand-up comedy scene of the 1970s, this series delves into the inspired and damaged psyches that inhabit the hilarious, but complex business of making an audience laugh.

Detroit Steel

The Motor City, once the Mecca of American auto manufacturing, is making a comeback and classic car builder Adam Genei's leading the charge. Born and bred in Detroit, Adam and his team at Mobsteel turn worn out, rundown rides into full throttle, high-end masterpieces.

Exposed

Annie has a plan for her 300k student loans: become a porn star.

Safe

After his daughter goes missing, a widower begins uncovering the dark secrets of the people closest to him.

Wild Wild Country

When a controversial cult leader builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal.

Hold the Dream

The follow-up to A Woman of Substance with Emma Harte at age eighty in the last winter of her life and dealing with her granddaughter Paula, as well as her respected advisor Henry Rossiter and Blackie O'Neill.

Truck Night in America

With the assistance of four experts, owners compete for the chance to drive the toughest, most arduous truck obstacle course ever built and drive away with the $10,000 prize.

Playmate Playback

Magazine covers, parties, exclusive photo-shoots, behind-the-scenes confessions and more. Meet the latest Playmates of Playboy like never before.

My Brilliant Friend

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.

Age Before Beauty

Bel, after spending the past 18 years as a homemaker, steps in to save the family business in a failing family run beauty salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Family feuds and bitter rivalries, professional and personal, escalate in the salon amongst the Botox, fillers and facelifts.

Tell Me a Story

The world's most beloved fairy tales reimagined as a dark and twisted psychological thriller.

Beat

Robert Schlag, nicknamed "Beat", is a Berlin club promoter who lives for the excesses of sex, drugs and the city nightlife. His connections to the underworld lead the police to use Beat to try and infiltrate a notorious organ smuggling ring.

Deadly Secrets

Documentary series about suspenseful games of cat-and-mouse between deceptive villains on journeys of escalating danger and the everyday heroes who struggle to derail their evil intentions.

Jett

Fresh out of prison, world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

Chernobyl

The true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history: the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A tale of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.

Le Tiroir secret

Le Tiroir secret is a 1986 French family drama TV mini-series directed by Michel Boisrond, Edouard Molinaro, Nadine Trintignant and Roger Gillioz. The screenplay was written by Danièle Thompson, Jean-Patrick Manchette, Patrick Besson and Roger Grenier. The music score is by Vladimir Cosma. It was released on DVD in France on 18 October 2006. It tells the story of a woman who suspects that her husband had in fact led a double life.

The Undoing

Grace and Jonathan Fraser are living the only lives they ever wanted. Overnight a chasm opens in their lives: a violent death and a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and her family.

We're Here

Small-town residents from across America are recruited and trained to participate in a one-night-only drag show. In each episode, former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley will help prepare their “drag daughters” by teaching them how to step outside of their comfort zones.

Women: Stories of Passion

Women: Stories of Passion is a dramatic series that aired on the American cable television network Showtime and distributed by Playboy Entertainment overseas. The episodes were based on stories of love, and passion from a woman's point of view.

White Lines

Zoe Walker leaves her quiet life behind to investigate her brother's disappearance in Ibiza, where she quickly heads down a decadent and dangerous path.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

In a dystopia riddled with corruption and cybernetic implants, a talented but reckless street kid strives to become a mercenary outlaw — an edgerunner.

Conversations with Friends

Two college students, Frances and Bobbi, forge a strange and unexpected relationship with a married couple.

The Deceived

English student Ophelia falls in love with her married lecturer, seeing in him all the answers to her needs. When their affair is interrupted by a shocking and tragic death, Ophelia finds herself trapped in a world where she can no longer trust her own mind.

Mayor of Kingstown

In a small Michigan town where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry, the McClusky family are the power brokers between the police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians in a city completely dependent on prisons and the prisoners they contain.

Oktoberfest: Beer and Blood

A young girl falls in love with a poor brewer's son. Their relationship is opposed by the girl's father, a rich mobster who has come to town to try to bully his way into the inner circle of Munich's brewery dynasties.

Big Rig Warriors

During the week they earn a living travelling North America’s highways behind the wheels of their big rig trucks. But in their downtime, they meet on tracks where they drive on their own terms. Follow five dynamic truckers and the families and friends who support them during the exciting racing season, amid exhaust, roaring engines and burning tires, on their quest to cross the finish line and be crowned the “fastest.”

Time

Guilt, violence and impossible choices – what does it take to survive? Tense, gritty and heartbreaking – Jimmy McGovern's award-winning prison drama, with an all-star cast.

1883

Follow the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. A stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.

Phungus & Mowld

Hired gun and loudmouth Mowld repeatedly drags Phungus, an anxious little alien, from his cushy life as bartender into countless outlandish adventures. Accompanied by ALIS, their hacked robot, they travel in a decrepit spaceship with an experimental Framistan Drive.

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

A fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined an era, both on and off the court.

Black Bird

As Jimmy Keene begins a 10-year prison sentence, he gets an incredible offer: If he can elicit a confession from suspected killer Larry Hall, Jimmy will be freed. Completing this mission becomes the challenge of a lifetime.

American Gigolo

Julian Kaye has always been an object of desire, so much so that people are willing to destroy him in order to have him. Exonerated, after 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, he now faces the challenge of picking up the pieces as the detective who put him behind bars tries to unravel the mystery that led to his wrongful incarceration.

Love & Death

Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore — two churchgoing couples — enjoy their small town Texas life… until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe.

En la Boca del Lobo

Based on a true story and the book, At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel by award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel, En la Boca del Lobo follows the series of events that ultimately lead to the dramatic downfall of Colombia’s infamous Cali drug cartel. The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, an engineer and soldier who rises ranks and became in charge of the security of the godfather of the Cali Cartel, one of the largest criminal organizations in the world and rival of the Medellin Cartel.

Django

In the Wild West in the 1860s and 1870s, Sarah and John have founded New Babylon, a city of outcasts of all backgrounds. Haunted by the murder of his family eight years earlier, Django is still looking for his daughter, believing she may have survived the killing. When Django shockingly finds her in Babylon, about to marry John, Sarah - now a grown woman - wants Django to leave fearing he'll put Babylon in jeopardy. But Django, believing the city is in danger, is adamant that he will not lose his daughter twice.

Kingdom Business

An exotic dancer with a powerful voice rises from the pole to the pulpit, forcing the reigning queen of gospel to guard her family and its many secrets.

Selling The OC

A fresh set of realtors square off, competing to establish themselves at The Oppenheim Group’s second office on the Orange County coast. Will the pressure prove too much for these agents to handle?

Heimat II: A Chronicle of a Generation

The movie consist of 13 separate episodes each handling a period between 1960 and 1970. It tells the story of a group of people in Munich (mostly music and film students). The movie tells a story in many different levels about love, friendship, misfortune, loss, art, politics, history with important historic events of the decennium in the background.

Señorita 89

A period drama set in the dark glamour of 1980s Mexico following the contestants training for the country’s Miss Mexico pageant as they vie not only to win - but to make it to the final contest alive.

The Chernobyl Disaster

A dramatic and detailed 3-part documentary series that reveals the events that led to the 1986 nuclear accident.

Drive Hard: The Maloof Way

The Maloofs, a lovable family of gearheads and stunt drivers, use their passion and skill to build car engines and perform wild feats behind the wheel.

Bookie

A veteran bookie struggles to survive the impending legalization of sports gambling, increasingly unstable clients, family, co-workers, and a lifestyle that bounces him around every corner of Los Angeles, high and low.

Becoming Frida Kahlo

A look into Frida Kahlo's world, revealing an artist driven by politics, power, sex and identity, with her epic love affair with Diego Rivera at the heart of it all.

Steel River

Steel River, set in Atlanta Georgia, captures different emotions that are seen through the eyes of four gay men, stifled, damned, immune, and jaded. Some of the poignant disasters in their lives come from the idea of what they thought they were going to become. Life as you well no, does not always work the way that you wanted.

Tires

At his father's auto shop, a hapless manager strives to improve customer service and drive profits while keeping his troublemaking cousin in line.

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