1 / 7
1. The Prisoner
Well, here's a mind-bender from '67. Patrick McGoohan, the former Secret Agent, quits and wakes up in 'The Village.' And, boy, what a village. No names, just numbers, and a giant Rover ball chasing you if you try to escape. It was a proper puzzle, week after week, making you think about freedom and identity. Not a typical spy show, not by a long shot. This one really pushed what you could do with a story on the telly, keeping you guessing right to the very end.
2 / 7
2. Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Darren McGavin, now there was a face for television. He played Kolchak, a rumpled newspaper man, always chasing down the impossible. Vampires, werewolves, even a succubus, and nobody ever believed him. It was a fine concept for '74, a new monster every Tuesday night, but with that same weary guy trying to get the scoop. You felt for him, really. And it had that moody, almost black-and-white feel to it, even in color, that made the spooks feel real.
3 / 7
3. Space: 1999
Well, Gerry Anderson, he tried his hand at live-action after all those puppets. And in '75, he gave us 'Space: 1999.' The Moon, it just gets blasted out of orbit, and everyone on Moonbase Alpha is just… adrift. Every week, a new planet, a new threat. It was a grand spectacle, you know, with those big special effects for the time. And it was a proper adventure, never knowing where they'd end up next. Kept you coming back to see the next far-flung star.
4 / 7
4. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Now this one, 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' from '76, it was something else entirely. Norman Lear, he took the daytime soap opera and twisted it. Louise Lasser as Mary, a woman perpetually overwhelmed by her kitchen floor and serial killers. It was so deadpan, so absurd, you didn't know whether to laugh or cry. And they showed it five nights a week! It was a real experiment, poking fun at all the melodrama we were used to, but making you care, too.
5 / 7
5. Police Squad!
You know, 'Police Squad!' in '82, it only lasted six episodes. But what a six episodes! Leslie Nielsen, he was already a veteran, but this show let him shine. It was a rapid-fire gag machine, spoofing every single police procedural cliché you could imagine. The opening credits changed every time, and the ending freeze-frame never quite worked. It was smart, and just plain silly, and it’s a shame it didn't get more time. A proper laugh-out-loud sitcom, that one.
6 / 7
6. Max Headroom
This 'Max Headroom' from '87, it was really something new for the television. A dystopian future where TV ruled everything, and this stuttering, glitchy computer personality, Max, was the star. It felt very modern, almost ahead of its time, with all that talk of digital consciousness and media manipulation. And the look of it, all those neon lights and grim corridors, it just oozed atmosphere. You couldn't quite take your eyes off it, even if it was a bit jarring.
7 / 7
7. Wiseguy
Wiseguy from '87, now that was a show that really dug into its characters. Ken Wahl played Vinnie Terranova, an undercover agent, but he'd stay embedded with a crime family for a whole story arc, not just one episode. So you got to know the bad guys, and you felt the stakes for Vinnie. It wasn't your usual weekly wrap-up. This was proper serialized storytelling, making you tune in every week to see how the whole, complicated thing would unfold.
