Ahh… the 80’s… such fond memories. Bad hair, loud colors, leg warmers and classic TV shows. I thought that I would give a tribute to this fun time period in history. TV programs were funny, family oriented and had all types of quirky plots but, we loved every minute of them. I invite you to stroll with me down memory lane with my picks for the Top 10 TV shows of the 80’s that focused on family. I ordered them according to the year they aired on TV.
1. Different Strokes-1978-1986- around the happenings in the Drummond household. Philip Drummond was a widower and had a daughter, Kimberly. He was also quite wealthy and lived in the penthouse of a luxurious apartment building.
However, the household was shaken up when Drummond’s black housekeeper died and her deathbed wish was that he would take care of her two sons, Arnold and Willis Jackson. So, Drummond took both of them in and they became the sons Drummond never had.
2. The Facts of Life-1979-1988-It was a spin-off TV show to the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes on which Charlotte Rae played Mrs. Garrett, housekeeper to Philip Drummond’s household. In The Facts of Life, Mrs. Garrett has become headmistress to an exclusive girl’s school, Eastland.
3. The Cosby Show– 1984-1992-Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable was an OBGYN (obstetrician/gynecologist), and his wife Clair was a successful attorney. They had five children Sandra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa and Rudy.
4. Family Ties-1982-1989- This TV series blended family comedy with politics and centered on the Keaton family. Steven and his wife Elyse had four children, Alex, Mallory, Jennifer and Andrew, who was born in 1985.
5. Silver Spoon- 1982-1987-Edward Stratton III-the father– likes Pac-Man, pinball machines and electric trains and his son Ricky Stratton is mature, sensible and understands computers. But Edward is in his 30s is really the “child”, while son Ricky only 12. was the “adult” on this funny TV show. The most memorable feature of the show was the indoor, rideable toy train in the living room of the mansion. Afhonso Ribeiro who played Alfonso Spears was Ricky’s best friend.
6. Who’s the Boss-1984-1992-Tony Danza played Tony Micelli widower, father and former baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals who was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. He ended up taking a job in an upscale Connecticut neighborhood as a live-in housekeeper for Angela Bower (Judith Light) a divorced advertising executive who lived with her son Jonathan (Danny Pintauro) and her man-crazy mother Mona.
7. Growing Pains– 1985-1992-Dr. Jason Seaver is a psychiatrist who works at home because his wife, Maggie, has gone back to work as a Journalist. They had three children Mike, Carol, and later Ben. Mike was notorious for getting into and causing trouble in and out of the house. Carol was the brainiac, straight-laced middle child.
8. 227-1985-1990-This popular sitcom that starred Marla Gibbs, who played Florence Johnston for many years on The Jeffersons, got her own show. She played Mary Jenkins, a housewife who lived with her contractor husband, Lester and their 14-year-old daughter Brenda.
9. Head of the Class-1986-1991- its focus was on the over achieving honor students at Manhattan’s Milliard Fillmore High School. They were so brainy, in fact, that most of their former teachers had just read books while they taught themselves. Enter substitute teacher Charlie Moore, who realized that while these kids were long on facts, they were painfully short on maturity, and could use a few lessons from “the Book of Life” before they faced the real world.
10. The Wonder Years – 1988-1993-Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), the main characters a rite of passage on his way to adulthood set in the late 1960’s to early 70’s. Kevin was often physically tormented by his older brother Wayne and emotionally tormented by his secret crush– his neighbor– Winnie. He muscled his way through these trials of adolescents with his braced- mouth friend Paul. Each episode was narrated by Kevin looking back on his life.
