Some of the best shows of all time came out of the 1980s when sitcoms pretty much dominated TV ratings. The growth of cable television and additional broadcast networks created a type of fracturing of the television industry. Instead of blasting shows out to a general audience programs could now be targeted demographically, and this included sitcoms.
One of the most popular sitcoms of the eighties was my personal all time favorite Cheers – the little bar where everybody knows your name. The show premiered on September 30, 1982, with a solid thud. Literally nobody watched the premier and the show was almost canceled its first season because the pilot ranked dead last in the ratings (77th out of 77 shows).
Looking back, it would be hard to imagine the 1980s without Cheers, it was some of the best time I spent in front of the television. Fortunately Cheers eventually became one of the highest rated shows in the United States, earning a #1 position for one season and stayed in the top-ten rating eight of its eleven seasons on NBC. It was the headliner for NBC’s “Must See TV” list.
There were several other 1980 sitcom hit shows such as comedienne Roseanne Barr starring in her big hit show Roseanne. But perhaps the biggest sitcom of the decade was stand-up comic Bill Cosby and The Cosby Show. The Cosby Show is one of only three other American Televisions series that kept the #1 spot in the Nielsen Ratings for five consecutive seasons. According to TV Guide, The Cosby Show was TV’s biggest hit in all the 1980s.
These three shows can be considered icons in the annals of American TV history yet they were just the cream on top because the 1980s were full of lot of quality TV programs.
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