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


Columbo
1971 · US
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.


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.


Kamen Rider
1971 · JP
Takeshi Hongo is a promising young man with a passion for motorcycle racing. However, his dreams are suddenly ruined when he gets kidnapped by Shocker, the evil secret organization planning to dominate the world. After being remodeled into a cyborg, Takeshi escapes and swears to protect the world from the inhuman monsters.


Scene of the Crime
1970 · DE
Tatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.


The Old Fox
1977 · DE
A police department, lead by an older, experienced detective solve crimes together.


New Japan Pro Wrestling
1972 · JP
New Japan Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese promotion founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it is the largest wrestling promotion in Japan and one of the largest in the world.


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.


Dallas
1978 · US
The world's first mega-soap, and one of the most popular ever produced, Dallas had it all. Beautiful women, expensive cars, and men playing Monopoly with real buildings. Famous for one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, as the world asked "Who shot J.R.?" A slow-burner to begin with, Dallas hit its stride in the 2nd season, with long storylines and expert character development. Dallas ruled the airwaves in the 1980's.


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.


Emmerdale
1972 · UK
The lives of several families in the Yorkshire Dales revolve around a farm and the nearby village. With murders, affairs, lies, deceit, laughter and tears, it's all there in the village.


The Sullivans
1976 · AU
The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives. It was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Gibraltar and New Zealand.


Knots Landing
1979 · US
The domestic adventures, misdeeds and everyday interactions of five families living on a cul-de-sac in a small California community.


Play for Today
1970 · UK
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.


Little House on the Prairie
1974 · US
When the big woods of Wisconsin becomes a difficult spot for hunting, Charles Ingalls reluctantly decides to move his family, pioneering west. Their life on the farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s is full of adventure, tragedy, and triumph. Based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.


Crown Court
1972 · UK
Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.


The Waltons
1972 · US
The Waltons live their life in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II.


Grange Hill
1978 · UK
Children's drama series following the lives of students and teachers at Grange Hill comprehensive school.


Quincy, M.E.
1976 · US
Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations.


The Rockford Files
1974 · US
Cranky but likable L.A. PI Jim Rockford pulls no punches (but takes plenty of them). An ex-con sent to the slammer for a crime he didn't commit, Rockford takes on cases others don't want, aided by his tough old man, his lawyer girlfriend and some shady associates from his past.


Derrick
1974 · DE
Derrick was a German TV series produced by Telenova Film und Fernsehproduktion in association with ZDF, ORF and SRG between 1974 and 1998 about Detective Chief Inspector Stephan Derrick and his loyal assistant Inspector Harry Klein, who solve murder cases in Munich and surroundings.


Prisoner
1979 · AU
Prisoner is an Australian soap opera that is set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison.


Emergency!
1972 · US
The crew of Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51, particularly the paramedic team, and Rampart Hospital respond to emergencies in their operating area.


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.


The Six Million Dollar Man
1974 · US
Follow the adventures of Steve Austin, cybernetically enhanced astronaut turned secret agent, employed by the OSI, under the command of Oscar Goldman and supervised by the scientist who created his cybernetics, Rudy Wells. Steve uses the superior strength and speed provided by his bionic arm and legs, and the enhanced vision provided by his artificial eye, to fight enemy agents, aliens, mad scientists, and a wide variety of other villains.


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.


Cannon
1971 · US
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones. Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.


Irmãos Coragem
1970 · BR
The fight for freedom and against oppression is the central theme of this soap opera that tells the story of the Coragem brothers: João, Jerônimo and Duda, in the city of Coroado.


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.


Mundo de Juguete
1974 · MX
Mundo de Juguete is a telenovela produced in Mexico by Televisa in 1974. It is a remake of telenovela Papá Corazón. This telenovela holds the record for having the second longest run ever for a Latin American telenovela, with a total of 605 episodes. Most telenovelas run for an average of six to eight months; the shortest ones run about four months, and the longest up to a year. Many "Mundo de Juguete" fans believe that either all or some of the tapes and film from the telenovela were lost when Televisa collapsed during the 1985 earthquake. Televisa has been secretive regarding which tapes were lost during that earthquake, so there is no way of confirming this. However, such claims can be disputed, considering that the Telenovela has been repeated on television several times after 1985. During the nineties, it was repeated on Mexico City Canal 9. For a period of time, it was also shown on Unicable or on Telenovelas Televisa remade the telenovela in 2000, and called it "Carita de Angel".


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.


USWA Championship Wrestling
1977 · US
Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Assocation (CWA) Wrestling show on WMC-TV, later renamed to "Championship Wrestling Association" and keeping the same CWA name around the time Jerry Lawler joined Jerry Jarrett in running the show. After Jarrett and Lawler purchased the rights to World Class Wrestling Association's "World Class Championship Wrestling" shows in the Dallas area, both the Dallas shows and the CWA show were rebranded under the "United States Wrestling Association" name. This show was rebranded to "USWA Championship Wrestling." The show ended in 1997.


The Incredible Hulk
1977 · US
During an experiment gone bad, radiation turns a scientist into a raging green behemoth whenever he becomes agitated. Unable to control his transformations, David Banner searches for a cure as he crosses the country, fugitive-style, with a dogged tabloid reporter on his trail.


Starsky & Hutch
1975 · US
Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City.


Tomorrow's Joe
1970 · JP
A young drifter named Joe Yabuki wanders through the slums of Tokyo, but when the local ruffians try to give him a hard time he teaches them a rough lesson with his fists. The spectacle sparks a gleam in the eye of an old drunk who happens to be watching—Danpei Tange, a failed boxer and former coach who sees something special in the boy. He pleads with Joe to train with him off, but the cocky young fighter brushes him. Later, though, when Joe is arrested and put in a juvenile detention facility, he realizes that he’s going to need to hone his raw fighting skills if he wants to survive. Thus is born a partnership that might just take Joe all the way to the top…


Barnaby Jones
1973 · US
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. The show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement. William Conrad guest starred as Frank Cannon of Cannon on the first episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" and the two series had a two-part crossover episode in 1975, "The Deadly Conspiracy".


The Young and the Restless
1973 · US
The rivalries, romances, hopes and fears of the residents of the fictional Midwestern metropolis, Genoa City. The lives and loves of a wide variety of characters mingle through the generations, dominated by the Newman, Abbott, Baldwin and Winters families.
1970s television grew markedly more socially engaged, with sitcoms and dramas taking on subject matter the previous decade wouldn't touch.
Television drama is where the medium made its case as film's equal, from the cable era's antihero epics to the current streaming wave. Long-form gives character change room to actually happen.