There are plenty of shows that ran for only a handful of episodes that people don't remember, like Manimal and Blue Thunder. That's not what this list is about. This one is about shows that were successful, if not hits, and ran for at least a season, and some many more, that don't get talked about anymore. Some of them still have cult followings, sure, but hopefully, this list of 32 shows Gen X seems to have forgotten will jog your memories!
Kate And Allie
For six seasons, Kate and Allie ran on CBS. A show about two divorcee women and best friends who move in together with their children and together raise what amounts to a blended family. It was one of the few sitcoms that showed an unconventional family structure, and two strong, independent women. And yet it's rarely talked about, despite being as groundbreaking and funny as it was.
227
227 wasn't the first show to show a middle-class Black family, but it was one of the best. The cast, led by Marla Gibbs and featuring a slew of soon-to-be stars like Regina King and Jackée Harry, was excellent and the show was really funny. It gets talked about some, but not enough.
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
For four seasons Scarecrow and Mrs. King cooked up some wild spy adventures between the two main characters, played by Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner. The premise was pretty outlandish, an "ordinary" woman getting caught up in a spy caper and then becoming a spy herself after she started dating her partner... it's wild. It's surprising there hasn't been a reboot if we're honest.
Get A Life
Perhaps the most surreal network sitcom of all time, one that could only come from the mind of Chris Elliott, Get A Life, never found a mainstream audience, but it had a strong cult following. Fans of Elliott's work on Late Night With David Letterman found the surrealistic comedy a treat, but not enough people were interested and it only lasted 35 episodes.
A Different World
For as popular as The Cosby Show was, it's odd that there was only one spinoff. A Different World followed Huxtable daughter Denise (Lisa Bonet) to college and was itself a pretty big hit. It has always been overshadowed by its parent show, but for a show that ran for six seasons on NBC, it's hardly remembered.
Dear John
NBC's Thursday night lineup in the 1980s is the stuff of legends. The network dominated the rates for the decade with shows like The Cosby Show, Night Court, Cheers, and LA Law. In that time, it launched quite a few shows that became hits before moving to other nights. One of the more forgotten ones was Dear John starring Judd Hirsch as a jilted husband, which ran for four seasons.
The John Larroquette Show
After the success of Night Court, NBC was all too willing to give John Larroquette his own show, even naming it after him. The show, which lasted 3 seasons and change (it was canceled during Season 4), followed Larroquette, a heavy drinker working in the newsstand of a run-down bus station in St. Louis was pretty funny... for a time.
Out of This World
1980s produced some wild ideas. Out of This World is one of them. A show about a teenager who was half human, half alien, being raised by her mother but in contact with her father on a different planet through a weird crystal-looking device that sat on the family coffee table. If all that's not weird enough, her alien father, who audiences never saw, was voiced by the great Burt Reynolds.
Sledge Hammer!
Though it only ran for two seasons, for a time Sledge Hammer! had an outsized impact on kids of the '80s. It was a wild show about a wild detective (the titular Inspector Sledge Hammer played by David Rasche and his giant gun). That's it. That's all that is really remembered by anyone.
Spencer
Most of the shows on this list ran for at least one season, but I had to include Spencer because, for a brief time (13 episodes), it was one of my favorite shows. It featured a young Chad Lowe as the titular character, a high school slacker who exemplified the Gen X stereotype years before it was defined.
Hunter
In the '80s, football stars were making the transition to acting all over the place. The late OJ Simpson wasn't alone. Take former LA Ram Fred Dryer, who played Detective Hunter on Hunter, a cop who broke all the rules but always got his man. His character became a steorotype, but we hardly remember the show.
The Amazing Spider-Man
It's really surprising that in a world inundated with comic book franchises, no one talks about the short-lived The Amazing Spider-Man live-action TV show in the late '70s. Along with The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman, it was one of the seminal shows for kids of a certain age getting introduced to the comic book world. The others are far better remembered though.
Spenser: For Hire
Author Robert B. Parker created one of the best fictional detectives in 20th-century literature and that character made the transition to TV in the 1980s with Spenser: For Hire. The show, starring Robert Urich as Spenser, was a hit for three seasons on ABC and despite the books selling well until Parker's death in 2010, the show was relegated to the scrap bin fairly quickly in the public's mind.
Gimme A Break!
Gimme A Break! was a huge hit for NBC in the 1980s, on the same level as Night Court and others, yet it's hardly ever spoken of like those others often are. Starring the great Nell Carter as the housekeeper and de-facto mother to three kids (four after Season 3), the movie hit all the notes you expect from an '80s sitcom and should be better remembered.
My Sister Sam
When was the last time you even thought about My Sister Sam, much less talked about it? It was a pretty big deal at the time, as it was Mork & Mindy star Pam Dawber's return to TV, but the show got a little lost in its trope-y nature and that's probably why it isn't talked about anymore, despite two somewhat successful seasons.
Benson
Of all the shows on this list Benson might be best remembered, but it still isn't talked about enough. It was a genuinely hilarious show, with a cast led by the great Robert Guillaume. Guillaume even won an Emmy during the show's seven-season run.
Day By Day
Lots of people like to talk about Julia Louis-Dreyfus' run as a cast member of SNL, but no one talks about her role in the sitcom Day By Day, which ran for two seasons in the '80s. Courtney Throne-Smith also got her big break on the same show, yet few remember it.
Our House
If for no other reason, the NBC show Our House starring Wilford Brimley should at least be talked about for being Shannon Doherty's first co-starring role on TV (after playing a supporting character in Little House On The Prairie). It's mostly forgotten though.
Bustin' Loose
Let's just say that Jimmie Walker's second major TV role (and Good Times) was not "dy-no-mite." But it was a pretty creative show that aired A LOT in first-run syndication for a show with only one season. Walker's character in Bustin' Loose, a conman, was like an older version of his character on Good Times but more kid-friendly. It was a way to get Walker on TV, but it didn't last and it's never talked about as part of his legacy.
Midnight Caller
Before Frazier Crane moved to Seattle and started a talk show, NBC jumped on the popular talk-show trend of the late '80s with Midnight Caller starring Gary Cole. In a fun twist on a typical police procedural, Cole played a former detective who hosted a late-night talk show where callers asked him to solve crimes that affected them. It was better than it sounds, I promise.
Amen
Anyway to get the great Sherman Helmsley on TV is a good idea. That idea after The Jeffersons was Amen. Ernest is the perfect character for Helmsley too. A deacon at his church who is constantly getting into hot water for his wild schemes and scams. It ran for five seasons and was a big hit for NBC, but these days, it's completely overshadowed by The Jeffersons, which, while understandable, is too bad.
Wings
If you had asked me in high school if Wings would be mostly forgotten in 30 years, I'd have said no way. But here we are, almost 35 years after its debut and it's hardly ever mentioned in the pantheon of great shows, despite airing for eight seasons on NBC and launching the careers of Tim Daly, Thomas Haden Church, and Tony Shalhoub.
Herman's Head
In its early days, the Fox network had some wild ideas, like Herman's Head about a group of characters that served as the psyche for Herman (William Ragsdale). Despite running for three seasons and starring a couple of Simpsons cast members in Hank Azaria and Yardley Smith, it's not on the top of anyone's mind these days.
It's Garry Shandling's Show
There is one part of It's Garry Shandling's Show that people remember, the theme song. It was the opening theme to Garry's show and now you're probably whistling it. Everything else about it was forgotten, like what it was actually about.
Mr. Belvedere
While mostly the show is forgotten, Mr. Belvedere did introduce the great Bob Uecker to a wider audience. Uecker played the head of a typical American family who ended up with a butler, the titular Mr. Belvedere (Christopher Hewett). Hilarity ensues, of course, it just doesn't last for long.
Martin
Martin Lawrence is still killing it, including in 2024's Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and it all pretty much started for him in a big way on Martin. It ran on Fox for five seasons and was hit for all of its run. Yet today, even when we talk about Lawrence, we often overlook it and that's too bad.
Empty Nest
Empty Nest is a rare example of a spinoff that in its day, was thought of as being as good as its parent show, Golden Girls. The show ran for seven successful seasons, starring Richard Mulligan as an "empty nester" struggling to deal with it. As good as it was, its hardly remembered or talked about like Golden Girls still is.
Remington Steele
If you were around in the 1980s, you might remember that there were rumors that the actor who would replace Roger Moore as James Bond was going to be Remington Steele star Pierce Brosnan. He didn't get the gig because the show's schedule got in the way (The Timothy Dalton Bond era came after Moore). Weirdly, the show was so popular then, but never mentioned today.
My Two Dads
The only thing that My Two Dads is really remembered for is the ridiculous premise that two men could be awarded joint custody of a child after it can't be determined who is the father. Yeah, it's ridiculous, and honestly, maybe better forgotten. It did give a good look at how good Paul Reiser can be though.
BJ And The Bear
Of all the ridiculous ideas for a show, one about a truck driver (BJ) and his primate (The Bear) might be the most insane. Somehow, the show was a hit for three seasons and while the premise is remembered, the show hardly is. For good reason.
Head of the Class
Howard Hesseman will always be best remembered for his role as Johnny Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati. What is less remembered, but what he was just as good in, is Head of the Class. It's also notable for launching the careers of Robin Givens and Dan Schneider, though we probably don't need to remember the latter, given all his scandals lately.
Major Dad
If you grew up in the late '80s, Major Dad with Gerald McRaney was probably a big part of your childhood. It's probably not a show you still reminisce about, however. Despite being a hit that ran for four seasons on CBS, no one seems to remember much about it, besides the name.
