Classic Iconic Television Shows

Though cinema is the video story-telling medium that we tend to think of as being more historic, television has produced a similar number of iconic works that have become pieces of the cultural consciousness. Unlike movies, television shows benefit from longer running times that can allow for more complicated narratives.

While most shows embrace an episodic nature to convey their week-to-week story, there are still many TV shows that have utilized long-form plot-driven storytelling to great effect. Comedies dominated the early days of television. But as the medium improved, dramas and romances began to get added to certain channels’ lineups. With the continued success of the industry came the higher demand for more and more shows.

This boom in turn dramatically expanded the number of television stations available. In this quiz, we are looking at some of the most famous shows of the past which have stood the test of time. In particular, we will be focusing on shows whose premieres aired before 1980 in order to get a more historic sampling of the television shows which became cultural touchstones.

This quiz will ask you to identify some of these television shows which left a massive impact on the time in which they originally aired. These will need to be narrative series, so no variety shows, late shows, or news programs. What’s more, we couldn’t fit every iconic television program from this time frame into one quiz. Instead, this will be an attempt at gathering a diverse sample of historic television programs.

How much do you know about the television shows that made history? Take our Classic Iconic Television Shows Quiz to find out.

Good luck. See how well you know classic iconic television shows.