The 1980s were a unique time for sitcoms. With barriers broken by shows like All in the Family and The Jeffersons, TV audiences were ready for more enticing TV shows in the multi-camera format. It wasn’t only wholesome families gracing the screen, but employee ensembles, clever teenagers, elderly friends, and even puppets.
While the sitcoms were varied and distinct, it can be a challenge to find the best ones that encapsulate the era. You can halt your filtered search here and start filling up your watch list. These are the most classic sitcoms of the 1980s you need to stream to get your fix of cunning kids, cat-eating aliens, and enduring elders.
10
ALF
Release Year
1986-1990
Seasons
4
Episodes
100
Status
Ended
ALF is easily one of the most iconic 1980s sitcoms, featuring a sci-fi premise that has stuck. The show centers around the alien Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. Hiding from humans, he befriends the Tanner family of a California suburb while constantly getting into trouble, especially since his favorite snack is cats.
With a puppet as the main character, ALF was an expensive show for the use of puppetry and a full-body ALF costume. But the show turned out to be a hit, with Paul Fusco’s natural voice performance making the furry alien so memorable. ALF’s alien antics were brilliant enough to warrant four seasons, hour-long specials, and an animated spin-off. While other puppet sitcoms followed, none left a more lasting impact than the quirky extra-terrestrial with a hankering for felines.
9
Full House
Release Year
1987-1995
Seasons
8
Episodes
192
Status
Ended
One of the most wholesome sitcoms of the 1980s is undoubtedly Full House. San Francisco sportscaster Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) struggles to raise his three young daughters after the death of his wife. Offering support is partying brother-in-law Jesse (John Stamos) and his comedian companion Joey (Dave Coulier).
Even before the TV parental guidelines were in place, Full House screamed TV-G. The plots mostly revolved around the three girls, ranging from the eldest D.J. (Candace Cameron) to middle-child Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), to the adorable toddler Michelle (played in tandem by twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). While the show would occasionally address issues such as alcoholism and smoking, it was mainly wholesome comedy that kids could grasp and that wouldn’t have parents hovering over the channel changer.
If you’re looking to watch a classic sitcom with the kids, Full House holds up best for family viewing.
8
The Wonder Years
Release Year
1988-1993
Seasons
6
Episodes
115
Status
Ended
In the vein of Happy Days, with a touch of A Christmas Story, the nostalgia of the 1960s and 1970s became the setting for the sitcom The Wonder Years. The era is experienced by young Kevin Arnold, portrayed by Fred Savage, with grown-up narration by Daniel Stern. The middle-class lifestyle of Kevin finds him learning about the ways of the world through his suburban family, his nerdy friend Paul (Josh Saviano), and his crush, Winnie (Danica McKellar).
Aside from being the breakout role of the youthful Savage, The Wonder Years created a new framework for nostalgic, single-camera sitcoms that could be more personal and dramatic. The show wasn’t afraid to address issues of the era, including the Vietnam War and the women’s liberation movement, all while still tackling relatable childhood feelings of first loves, academic struggles, and bullying. The Wonder Years presented a more complete picture of growing up in an ever-shifting American landscape, forever associating those old feelings with Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help from My Friends,” which was the show’s earworm of a theme song.
7
Punky Brewster
Release Year
1984-1988
Seasons
4
Episodes
88
Status
Canceled
The 1980s featured numerous sitcoms about adopted children, but Punky Brewster featured one of the most clever kids of the lot. Played by Soleil Moon Frye, Penelope “Punky” Brewster finds herself without a family and only her trusty dog by her side. She’s eventually taken in by the kindly old landlord Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes), giving Punky a chance to connect with the adult tenants as well as make friends at school, like the rich snob Margaux (Ami Foster) and the geeky Allen (Casey Ellison).
Punky felt like a more feisty kid character, considering how she dealt with the turmoil of being abandoned and being put through the ringer of social workers. Despite her many issues with adoption and adjusting to new places, Punky had her style and determination that made her a three-dimensional character, rather than a cute mascot. The plucky nature of the character made her iconic enough to garner a Saturday morning cartoon spin-off, making Punky an empowering sitcom character for the younger crowd.
Related
10 1980s Cartoon Classics Available for Streaming
An era of the coolest fantasy and toys.
6
Night Court
Release Year
1984-1992
Seasons
9
Episodes
193
Status
Ended
Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson) is a young man hoping to make a difference in the world, even if it’s through the small world of Night Court. Working the night shift at Manhattan Criminal Court, he tackles the strangest of cases with hilarious results. He also makes friends with his quirky co-workers, including assistant district attorney Dan (John Larroquette), bailiff Bull (Richard Moll), and public defender Christine (Markie Post).
Created by Reinhold Weege of Barney Miller fame, Night Court had a charming vibe with its evening setting and an irresistible jazzy opening theme song. The regular cast was remarkable and even garnered award nominations, but the episodes are a real treat for the guest stars in each case. Keep your eyes open for appearances by Robert Englund, Brent Spiner, Dick Butkus, Don Cheadle, and Wile E. Coyote (no, we’re not kidding).
5
Roseanne
Release Year
1988-1997, 2018
Seasons
10
Episodes
231
Status
Ended
If sitcoms seemed too nice and neat, Roseanne was the down-and-dirty show that presented a more accurate depiction of working-class family life. Roseanne Barr plays Roseanne Conner, a sassy woman struggling to keep her chaotic household together while also working a job. Although her husband Dan (John Goodman) chips in, life is tough with multiple kids under one roof and not enough money to support them all.
Roseanne was a show where money and class were at its heart, where the cluttered household was one where love had to be scrounged rather than easily given. The Conners would often clash on everything from maintaining jobs and parenting issues to failed business ventures that threatened the stability of the family unit. While the show might have lost its way in later seasons, its early 80s beginnings presented a home that felt almost tragically real for an American sitcom. The series was even revived in 2018, making it one of the few sitcoms to come back after cancellation.
4
A Different World
Release Year
1987-1993
Seasons
6
Episodes
144
Status
Ended
As a spin-off to The Cosby Show, a predominantly Black college was the setting for A Different World. Denise Huxtable ventures out of the Huxtable household and into the halls of Hillman College. While getting accustomed to the campus, she makes friends with the Southern belle Whitley Gilbert-Wayne (Jasmine Guy) and the cool math master, Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison).
What immediately made A Different World a better sitcom than The Cosby Show was its willingness to address controversial topics. Issues of race, class, and even HIV/AIDS came up in the episodes. The result was a sitcom that felt more grounded in reality and treated college students like real people rather than comical players. If The Cosby Show was the haven for a safe Black family sitcom, A Different World was the bold step into braver territory, making it an ideal show to binge on Netflix.
3
Married… With Children
Release Year
1987-1997
Seasons
11
Episodes
259
Status
Canceled
Sitcoms didn’t come meaner or more provocative than Married… with Children in the 80s and 90s. Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) wasn’t a loving patriarch of his home, but a loudmouthed loser with a dead-end job as a shoe salesman. He received more insults than love from his lazy wife, Peggy (Katey Sagal), his dim-witted daughter, Kelly (Christina Applegate), and his obnoxious son, Bud (David Garrison).
Proudly politically incorrect, Married… With Children railed hard against sitcom conventions. It was the type of show where a Christmas episode would involve a Santa Claus impersonator falling to his death in the Bundy’s backyard. The show remains a fascinating encapsulation of how the American dream had eroded, where Al Bundy’s gesture of shoving his palm down his pants became a salute to the aggravated and undervalued.
2
The Golden Girls
Release Year
1985-1992
Seasons
7
Episodes
180
Status
Ended
For an era that boasted youthful sitcoms, The Golden Girls became the go-to sitcom for older women. The show follows four mature ladies living under the same roof in Miami. All of them have incredible personalities, ranging from the boldly strong Dorothy (Bea Arthur) and the sweet Midwestern Rose (Betty White) to the seductive Southerner Blanche (Rue McClanahan) and the feisty Italian Sophia (Estelle Getty).
The Golden Girls was applauded for having an all-woman cast with a group of empowering characters that weren’t afraid to be more candid about subjects such as relationships and independence. But the Golden Girls’ kitchen was also a cozy place where the women could always have a late-night talk over cheesecake. With a refreshing dose of biting dialogue and relatable characters, the show remains an old comfort that you’ll want to thank for being a friend.
1
Cheers
Release Year
1982-1993
Seasons
11
Episodes
275
Status
Ended
When the world gets tough, sometimes you just want to go where everybody knows your name. Cheers presented the rousing comedy and drama that goes down in the local Boston tavern. There are plenty of unique characters pulling up a stool, but the will-they-won’t-they relationship of ex-Red Sox pitcher and bar owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and intellectual/waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) is at the center of the show.
Cheers was an inviting workplace sitcom with an environment built for colorful conversations. The series created charming regulars like the room-dominating Norm Peterson (the late George Wendt), dopey bartender Woody (Woody Harrelson), know-it-all mailman Cliff Claven (John Ratzenberger), and the quirky psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), later spinning off into one of the best sitcoms of the 1990s. While the series might’ve taken a season to get comfy, it settled into being one of the most popular sitcoms of the decade and the most-widely watched series finale ever.
Sitcoms were forever changed by the 1980s, leaving a lasting impact as significant as that of music videos and toy-advertising cartoons. From the youngest viewer to the eldest audience, there was a sitcom of every flavor. So treat this streaming era like Baskin-Robbins and dig in with the biggest spoon for the shows that made sitcoms like Frasier, The Connors, and Everybody Hates Chris possible.
