The 40 most popular 1970s comedy TV shows, ranked. Click any show for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Saturday Night Live
1975
country: United States
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.


The Love Boat
1977
country: United States
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.


The Facts of Life
1979
country: United States
Mrs. Edna Garrett, housemother and dietitian at the Eastland School, teaches a group of girls in her charge how to solve those problems that every teenager has to face.


Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
1976
country: United States
In the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio, suburban housewife Mary Hartman seeks the kind of domestic perfection promised by Reader’s Digest and TV commercials. Instead she finds herself suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune: mass murders, low-flying airplanes and waxy yellow buildup on her kitchen floor.


Doraemon
1979
country: Japan
Doraemon is an anime TV series created by Fujiko F. Fujio and based on the manga series of the same name. This anime is the much more successful successor of the 1973 anime.


Number 96
1972
country: Australia
Number 96 was a popular Australian soap opera set in a Sydney apartment block. Don Cash and Bill Harmon of the Cash Harmon Television production company, produced the series for Network Ten, which requested a Coronation Street-type serial, and specifically one that explored adult subjects. The premise, original story outlines, and the original characters were devised by David Sale who also wrote the scripts for the first episodes and continued as script editor for much of the show's run. The series proved to be a huge success, running from 1972 until 1977. Number 96 was so popular it spawned a feature film version, filmed in December 1973. Number 96 was known for its sex scenes and nudity, somewhat risque at the time, and for its comedy characters. The series was the first Australian soap opera to feature an openly gay character.


Great Performances
1971
country: United States
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.


The Jeffersons
1975
country: United States
Sitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as they “move on up” from working-class Queens to a ritzy Manhattan apartment. A spin-off of All in the Family.


M*A*S*H
1972
country: United States
The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable.


The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970
country: United States
30-year-old single Mary Richards moves to Minneapolis to start a new life after a romantic break-up. There she reacquaints with Phyllis who rents her a room, and meets her upstairs neighbor and new best friend Rhoda. Mary unexpectedly lands a job as associate producer at the TV station WJM, where she works alongside her bristly boss, Lou; the comical newswriter, Murray; and the newscast's often-incompetent anchor, Ted.


Alice
1976
country: United States
Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to March 19, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner.


Minder
1979
country: United Kingdom
Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.


The Odd Couple
1970
country: United States
Felix and Oscar are two divorced men. Felix is neat and tidy while Oscar is sloppy and casual. They share a Manhattan apartment, and their different lifestyles inevitably lead to conflicts.


The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978
country: United Kingdom
The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.


Last of the Summer Wine
1973
country: United Kingdom
Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.


Barney Miller
1975
country: United States
Barney Miller is the kind of cop we'd all like to run into. Always sensible, he maintains order over a band of detectives who gamble, hit on anything in skirts, go to renaissance philosophy conventions for fun, and would really prefer to be writing. Nearly all of the action takes place in the squad room where citizens and criminals are brought in to complicate the mix.


Happy Days
1974
country: United States
In 1950s Milwaukee the Cunningham family must contend with Fonzie, a motorcycle riding Casanova.


Taxi
1978
country: United States
Louie De Palma is a cantankerous, acerbic taxi dispatcher in New York City. He tries to maintain order over a collection of varied and strange characters who drive for him. As he bullies and insults them from the safety of his “cage,” they form a special bond among themselves, becoming friends and supporting each other through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life.


The Partridge Family
1970
country: United States
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom series about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career.


Sítio do Picapau Amarelo
1977
country: Brazil
The stories created by Monteiro Lobato take place at the "Sítio do Picapau Amarelo" (Yellow Woodpecker Farm), where various characters experience magical tales and star in unforgettable adventures.


The Electric Company
1971
country: United States
The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977. After it ceased production that year, the program continued in reruns from 1977 to 1985, the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. CTW produced the show at Teletape Studios Second Stage in Manhattan, the first home of Sesame Street. The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. It was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street. Appropriately, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.


One Day at a Time
1975
country: United States
The misadventures of a divorced mother, two teenage daughters, and their new building superintendent in Indianapolis.


Three's Company
1977
country: United States
When two single girls, Janet and Chrissy, need a roommate to share their Santa Monica apartment, they decide to offer a room to Jack, a man they find passed out in the bathtub after the going-away party for their last roommate. However, hijinks ensure when Jack must pretend to be gay in order to throw off the scent of the trio's conservative landlady.


All Creatures Great and Small
1978
country: United Kingdom
The trials and misadventures of the staff at a country veterinary office in Yorkshire. James Herriot, a young animal surgeon, moves to a small Yorkshire town to begin his first job.


El Chavo del Ocho
1973
country: Mexico
The mishaps of Chavo, an 8-year-old Mestizo-Latino American orphan boy who lives in a village. Together with Quico, Chilindrina, Ñoño and La Popis, Chavo experiences a series of humorous entanglements.


Fantasy Island
1978
country: United States
A magical island hosted by Mr Roarke and Tattoo where weekly guests learn valuable life lessons in their pursuit of fulfilling their dreams. Not all dreams are fulfilled as expected.


Lou Grant
1977
country: United States
The trials of a former television station manager turned newspaper city editor, and his journalist staff.


Rainbow
1972
country: United Kingdom
Children's puppet programme featuring music and stories. Join George, Bungle, Zippy, and all their friends at the Rainbow House, always an exciting place to be.


The Bob Newhart Show
1972
country: United States
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers. The show was filmed before a live audience.


All in the Family
1971
country: United States
Archie Bunker, a working class bigot, constantly squabbles with his family over the important issues of the day.


The Trapalhões
1977
country: Brazil
Os Trapalhões was a Brazilian comedy group and also a Brazilian television series created by Wilton Franco. Its members were Dedé Santana, Zacarias, Mussum and their leader Didi Mocó, that was played by Renato Aragão. The name Trapalhões is derived from the Portuguese verb atrapalhar, which means the opposite of helping, to do something the wrong way or to Those that confuse. The name is translated "Tramps" in English DVD subtitles. It was aired by Rede Globo from 1977 to 1999. On March 18, 1990, Zacarias died due to respiratory failure, but the group and the series didn't come to an end until July 29, 1994, when Mussum died due to an unsuccessful heart transplant.


Die Sendung mit der Maus
1971
country: Germany
The children's show has been a fixed Sunday morning ritual in German living rooms since 1971. Not only children, but also many adults sit in front of the television every week when the clever orange mouse, his blue elephant buddy and the yellow duck lead the way with short, funny cartoon clips between the "funny and factual stories".


Laverne & Shirley
1976
country: United States
Best friends, roommates, and polar opposites, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney work together at the Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee and keep each other's spirits up at home.


Yeralash
1974
country: SU
The children's humorous film magazine "Yeralash" is a one-of-a-kind work of cinematography that ironically approaches the solution of everyday problems, focusing on the views and needs of modern society, allowing different generations to achieve mutual understanding.


The Dukes of Hazzard
1979
country: United States
Cousins Bo and Luke Duke and their car "General Lee", assisted by Cousin Daisy and Uncle Jesse, have a running battle with the authorities of Hazzard County (Boss Hogg and Sheriff Coltrane), plus a string of ne'er-do-wells often backed by the scheming Hogg.


Mork & Mindy
1978
country: United States
A wacky alien comes to Earth to study its residents and the life of the human woman he boards with is never the same.
O Machão
O Machão
1974
country: Brazil
No overview available


Rhoda
1974
country: United States
No overview available


Maude
1972
country: United States
Well-educated and upper middle class, Maude Findlay is the archetypal feminist of her generation. She lives in suburban Tuckahoe, New York, with her fourth husband, Walter, their divorced daughter, Carol, and grandson Phillip.


Soap
1977
country: United States
The antics of a wealthy family, the Tates, and a working-class family, the Campbells, in the fictional town of Dunn's River, Connecticut.
1970s television grew markedly more socially engaged, with sitcoms and dramas taking on subject matter the previous decade wouldn't touch.
TV comedy has moved from the multi-camera sitcom to the single-camera half-hour to the genre-blurring 'sadcom.' The format's real advantage is time — jokes that depend on years of accumulated character history.