The Greatest Shows of the 1970s, Ranked
It's '70s TV shows that were when television really pushed the limits of what could be shown. This list of the best TV shows from the 1970s ranks the decade's shows from best to worst based on your votes and votes from other television fans. Shows in the '70s, like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and Sanford and Son changed the face of television by including social commentary in between the laughs-a-minute. These shows pushed the limits of what could be discussed on television more than ever before. They were the foundation for what shows could get away with and talk about in later decades, including subjects like poverty, racism, abortion, rape, and abuse.
Lighter sitcoms like The Brady Bunch, Three’s Company, and Laverne & Shirley were also huge hits due to their entertainment factor. Action shows were also extremely popular in the '70s, with shows like Charlie’s Angels, Ironside, and The Six Million Dollar Man bringing in huge ratings. Variety shows also made their mark on television, including the massive hit The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
What are your favorite '70s shows? Which top series from the 1970s deserve to be remembered for years to come? This list includes the highest-rated and most talked-about shows that aired in the '70s, so vote up the best shows of the decade.
- The Cunningham family enjoys life in 1950s Milwaukee.
- Members of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital care for the injured during the Korean War and use humor to escape from the horror and depression of the situation. Among the 4077's people are ...more
- Comedian and stage actress Carol Burnett, who first gained popularity during her stint on "The Gary Moore Show," hosted this one-hour variety series. Her talented supporting players included Harvey ...more
- "All in the Family" is touted as the series that brought reality to prime-time TV entertainment. The lead character, Archie Bunker, is a loudmouthed, uneducated bigot who believes in every stereotype ...more
- Jim Rockford is an ex-con and private detective. He was falsely convicted of a crime he didn't commit, but that doesn't stop him from using his ex-con buddies to help him solve crimes. Nothing comes ...more
- Dr. Johnny Fever heads a cast of offbeat characters at radio station WKRP.
- Junk dealer Fred Sanford runs roughshod over his son and partner, Lamont, in a groundbreaking sitcom. Fred's moneymaking schemes routinely backfire, and he does just about anything to get out of ...more
- A Los Angeles detective solves murder cases.
- This Emmy-winning sitcom follows the lives of a group of cabbies in New York. The employees of the Sunshine Cab Company are a motley crew, including frustrated actor Bobby, struggling boxer Tony, art ...more
- The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for a fictional government office known as OSI. The series is based on the Martin ...more
- Two single girls in need of a roommate settle for Jack Tripper.
- Cartoon capers with Scooby-Doo and the gang.
- Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppets welcome guest stars.
- A woman with three daughters marries a widower with three sons.
- One is neat, one is a slob. Both are divorced and need a place to stay. That's how fussy photographer Felix Unger and sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison end up sharing a New York City apartment. The ...more
- Producer Mary Richards works at WJM-TV in Minneapolis.
- Laverne & Shirley is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from January 27, 1976 to May 10, 1983. It starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, single ...more
- Three police woman solve criminal assignments.
- Welcome Back, Kotter (ABC, 1975) is an American television sitcom. Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) is a sardonic high school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial class called the ...more
- Two plainclothes police officers tackle difficult cases.
- Life on the Ponderosa with the Cartwright clan.
- Mork, an alien from the planet Ork on a mission to Earth to study human behavior, travels to 1970s Boulder, Colo., where he meets up with Mindy, a young journalism graduate, after his egg-shaped ...more
- Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television ...more
- The Duke cousins fight corruption in Hazzard County.
- Not to be confused with Newhart's eponymous 1961 variety show, "The Bob Newhart Show" finds the comic playing Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist living with wife Emily in a highrise. Bob is forced ...more