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


The Love Boat
1977 · US
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.


Supertrain
1979 · US
In a similar vein to The Love Boat, a mix of adventure, comedy, and mystery with a new set of guest stars each week, onboard a futuristic, nuclear-powered luxury train traveling across America.


Hello, Larry
1979 · US
Radio host Larry Alder has to cope with being a single father to his two daughters, Diane and Ruthie.


Saturday Night Live
1975 · US
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.


Doraemon
1979 · JP
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 · AU
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 · US
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.


M*A*S*H
1972 · US
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.


Sítio do Picapau Amarelo
1977 · BR
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 Trapalhões
1977 · BR
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.


Happy Days
1974 · US
In 1950s Milwaukee the Cunningham family must contend with Fonzie, a motorcycle riding Casanova.


Barney Miller
1975 · US
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.


Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
1976 · US
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.


Last of the Summer Wine
1973 · UK
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.


Rainbow
1972 · UK
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 Facts of Life
1979 · US
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.


El Chavo del Ocho
1973 · MX
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.


Alice
1976 · US
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.


Taxi
1978 · US
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.


Minder
1979 · UK
Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
O Machão
O Machão
1974 · BR
No overview available


The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970 · US
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.


Three's Company
1977 · US
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.


Die Sendung mit der Maus
1971 · DE
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".


Fantasy Island
1978 · US
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 · US
The trials of a former television station manager turned newspaper city editor, and his journalist staff.


The Bob Newhart Show
1972 · US
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.


The Dukes of Hazzard
1979 · US
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.


Yeralash
1974 · 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.


Laverne & Shirley
1976 · US
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.


The Jeffersons
1975 · US
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.


All in the Family
1971 · US
Archie Bunker, a working class bigot, constantly squabbles with his family over the important issues of the day.


El Chapulín Colorado
1973 · MX
No overview available


Ikkyū-san
1975 · JP
The mischievous adventures of a young Ikkyū during his stay at Ankoku Temple. He relies on his intelligence and wit to solve all types of problems, from distraught farmers to greedy merchants.


One Day at a Time
1975 · US
The misadventures of a divorced mother, two teenage daughters, and their new building superintendent in Indianapolis.


Bakaláři
1972 · XC
No overview available


The Odd Couple
1970 · US
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 Electric Company
1971 · US
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.


All Creatures Great and Small
1978 · UK
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.


Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
1979 · US
Everyone’s favorite mystery-solving Great Dane is here to find clues, along with a little help from his energetic nephew and four human companions.
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.