Brandon Call, The Cunninghams were not so far removed from the Nelsons of Ozzie and Harriet or the Cleavers of Leave It to Beaver; they were white, wholesome, and pretty traditional, except for the leather-jacketed ladies man (that would be the Fonz) who eventually wound up living in their garage. Lani O'Grady, But to a greater degree than its predecessors, Black-ish regularly and bluntly engages with issues related to race and social justice, offering a mini history lesson as often as it makes us laugh at Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross), Dre (Anthony Anderson), and their confusion over who their children (especially, in Dres case,Junior) are becoming. Montgomery's classic novels. Drama, Family, Fantasy. The production and distribution of motion pictures and television programs is a nation's most valuable economic and cultural resource. But unlike Richie Cunningham, who lived fully in his present, Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) was gazing backward, via Daniel Sterns narration, at who he, his friends, and family once were. 45 min A reboot of The Wonder Years showcases a Black family in the same era as Kevin, with the show taking place in Alabama. 60 min Taking full advantage of the cable network's free rein with violence and nudity, Tales from the Crypt was a celebration of horror's pulpy past; the fact that it attracted stars from Demi Moore . Stars: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker reveal sex of baby on the way Brett Gray, Mallory James Mahoney, But mostly, this was feel-good retro entertainment, with some shark-jumping thrown in for good measure. Jerry Trainor, Leon Thomas III, | Transparent, 2014presentTransparent is a groundbreaking show for Jeffrey Tambors role as Maura, whose male-to-female transition over the course of the first season inspires its title and premise. Fuller is a mother of three young boys and is a recent widow. Comedy, Drama, Family. From gang boss Tony Sopranos opening statement that he worries he came in at the end and that the best was over, through the final seasons obsessions with decline, death, loss of memory, and climate change, The Sopranos depicts a family unit angling to grab as much as it can for itself before the shrinking ice floe theyre clinging to finally disappears. Kevin Arnold recalls growing up during the late 60s and early 70s; the turbulent social times make the transition from child to adult unusually interesting. 60 min The weekly sitcoms signature was breaking down the fourth wall where Bernie would talk to America about what he was really thinking during certain moments of the show. Louis Hynes. Comedy, Family, Fantasy. | The O.G.! Even in its most unwieldy, melodramatic moments, Big Love told stories about family: how a womans birth family followed her into her marriage, how the religion of ones childhood informs how you parent your children, what loyalty looks like, and how families change. Best TV Shows of All Time - Rolling Stone The full spectrum of emotional response is depicted here in every episode, and its portrait of the developing teenage brain is spot-on accurate, too. 24. Bradley Steven Perry, Michael Gross, But they were elevated to another level by the young Gen-Xers who spent their afternoons after school watching reruns about the lovely lady, a man named Brady, and their brood of six. | | Yasmeen Fletcher, TV-PG Michael J. Page 1 of 1 1 Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet 2 Leave It to Beaver 3 My Three Sons 4 The Flintstones (1994) ADVERTISEMENT 5 This comedy drama focused on a family with eight very independent children. | 31. Now, there's a question! When the McKellan family moves from Seattle to small-town Georgia, life down South and traditional grandparents challenge their big-city ways. Debby Ryan, Patrick Troughton, Dressed in black with a penchant for all things morbid, rotten, and creepy, the Addams family members don't always mix so well with the neighbors despite their best efforts. Kayden Muller-Janssen. | This being the 70s, Happy Days did get, to use Cunningham parlance, a little more frisky than 50s TV sitcoms did, particularly in its first two seasons when episodes dealt with underage drinking, racism, and quiz-show scandals. Paul Butcher, Stars: Jane Seymour, Beth Broderick, The Addams Family stands apart from the rest for its beatnik haunted house music; its elegant costuming, makeup and set design; the quality of its ensemble acting by Carolyn Jones, John Astin, Jackie Coogan, Ted Cassidy, Blossom Rock, Ken Weatherwax; the array of hands that played Thing T. Thing; and all the shows memorable guest stars, including Felix Silla as Cousin It and Margaret Hamilton as Grandma Hester Franny Frump. Barbara Niven, | This past season its 52nd! Roseanne, 19881997Among the very best family shows ever on TV, the original nine seasons of Roseanne were an astonishing feat. We considered and quickly set aside appropriate for a family to watch as a defining element; if wed gone with that, wed have to exclude shows like The Sopranos and most family dramas. The adventures of a Wild West rancher, wielding a customized rapid-fire Winchester rifle, and his son. Its very title hints at the way that ones identity can become muddled when a person grows up, starts their own family, and does what most parents want: have things better than they did. John Stamos, Mayim Bialik, Are Cam and Mitch responsible for greater real-life acceptance of gay marriage? The 50 Best TV Shows Of All Time, Ranked - Screen Rant Ken Berry, And he doesnt want to be like his parents. Adventure, Drama, Family. 29. But the way the show performs all of those moves, and the essence of its long arc toward warmth, is in Frasiers relationship with his father and his brother. | Stars: Fred Savage, Happy Days, 19741984 Norman Lear set the tone for much of TV comedy in the 1970s, but so did Garry Marshall. Lets try. | Adventure, Drama, Family. As tainted as our image of Cosby is in light of his alleged sexual abuse of dozens of women, the Huxtables still stand as one of the most significant families in TV history, and the many good people aside from Cosby who brought them to life on NBC still deserve credit for that. Reed Horstmann, Stars: Michael Rosenbaum, Matthew Sato, Set during the 1980s, Everybody Hates Chris chronicled Rock's painful and often awkward fight for respect, a battle that was rooted in his own home. 45 min But J.J.s extreme popularity (he was even on a lunch box) overwhelmed the shows raucous discussions of race, poverty, cultural bias, and other touchy subjects, driving John Amos, who thought J.J. bordered on minstrelsy, to leave the cast. Comedy, Drama, Family. He retires from the spotlight and has to find a new rhythm balancing business, romance and family. Stars: Comedy, Drama, Family. The more John Stamos, the merrier. It was family as a warfront, as an ever-shifting, unreliable snarl. The shows merciless eye for hypocrisy was always balanced out by compassion for the characters inability or unwillingness to change for the better. TV-PG As we mentioned in our article 15 Most Watched TV Shows of . Amybeth McNulty, In retrospect, the shows skeptical-to-pessimistic attitude about turn-of-the-millennium America feels prophetic. But mostly, Soap created by creator Susan Harris, who later created The Golden Girls pushed the boundaries of propriety by pulling out every wacko plot development it could cram into a half hour: affairs galore, murders, prison escapes, amnesia, abduction of both the regular and alien variety, just to name a few. When parents Amy and Bob return to work they put their latest addition in the care of her three older siblings. Molly Parker, | Max Baer Jr. TV-PG Stars: Charlie McDermott, Bob Saget, The other was Little House on the Prairie, which followed the pioneering Ingalls family in the late 1800s and also aired for nine seasons on NBC. Comedy, Drama, Family. Jon Walmsley, There are gay characters. Mary Beth McDonough, 23 min John Stamos, Jewel Staite, Stars: 40. David Henrie, 68 Shows to Binge-Watch: "Sister, Sister". Andy Cohen Threw Kamala Harris Her First Padam at Stonewall. | 48. | The adventures in time and space of the Doctor, a Time Lord who changes appearance and personality by regenerating when near death, and is joined by companions in battles against aliens and other megalomaniacs. It doesn't help that she's now going to school with that guy. But it did. 30 min | The life and adventures of the Ingalls family in the nineteenth century American Midwest. | We Vulture list-makers debated over whether to include both and ultimately decided to go with Little House, because the time period it depicted was so distant from the 1970s, yet the issues its episodes confronted from the rivalry between Laura (Melissa Gilbert) and the original mean girl Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) to serious illnesses and addiction still felt relevant to the present. Related: Logan Marmino on Best Foot Forward and Rising to Life's Challenges. Dorothy is Sophias daughter, and the continuing tension in their maternal relationship is a rare TV model for what parenthood looks like when a parent is elderly. Everybody Loves Raymond, 19962005There is a model of TV marriages, of TV fatherhood, and of TV masculinity that feels specific to a mid-to-late -90s moment, and that is both defined and encapsulated by Everybody Loves Raymond. 23 min 29. Amybeth McNulty, Related: Everything to Know About Bel-Air. For better or worse (probably worse), this is one of the most influential shows ever made. Zach Smadu, This version only has one season, but it's a good watch for the whole family, if the kids are a bit older. The youngest child Adam (Sean Giambrone) documents his family life with his video camera. Jewel Staite, Seven of the most formidable heroes form arguably the most powerful team ever. 60 min Mae Whitman, Top 10 Best Family TV Shows of All Time - TheTopTens | A witch married to an ordinary man cannot resist using her magic powers to solve the problems her family faces. All in the Family, 19711979 Lear and Bud Yorkins Americanized version of the popular British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part swept aside a 20-year tradition of avoiding controversy and became one of the most popular series on television and the initial building block in a cluster of Lear-produced sitcoms that dominated prime time in the 70s. For the five seasons that followed, Alan Balls masterpiece not only revealed how the members of the Fisher family pressed on emotionally in Nathaniels absence answer: by carrying him around with them, like a ghost but also how they continued to operate a family business that serves as a minute-to-minute reminder of what theyve lost and the fact that, at any moment, another one of them could be taken.