Best Primetime Dramas/Soap Operas of All Time, Ranked List/Photos

October 19, 2024

Credit: George Rose/Getty Images, Fox/Courtesy of the Everett Collection, Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images (3), Paramount Network screenshot, HBO screenshot

Bonus Entry: Dynasty
Why We Loved It: Early on, it became clear that Elizabeth Gillies’ Fallon Carrington was the one (reason) to watch. We’ll Never Forget: The musical episode in which a gas leak caused Fallon to hallucinate her family and frenemies crooning various pop tunes. Fun Fact: Despite ratings that could best be described as anemic, the CW series lasted an astounding five seasons and 108 episodes!
55. Emerald Point NAS
Why We Loved It: Talk about a killer cast! Dennis Weaver, Richard Dean Anderson, Sela Ward, Andrew Stevens, Susan Dey, Jill St. John and Maud Adams were all featured in this 1983 drama created by the same folks who gave us Dynasty! We’ll Never Forget: Ward’s Hilary Adams dumping her lover by telling him she was going to be late for her wedding. Fun Fact: Nearly half of the episodes were written by the duo of Henry Stern and Steven Black, who would later become headwriters at As The World Turns.
54. Berrenger’s
Why We Loved It: Taped at Barneys in Manhattan, NBC’s 1985 entry into the soap sweepstakes made shopaholics of all of us who thrilled, however briefly, to the exploits of the family that owned the titular upscale department store. We’ll Never Forget: Broadway mainstay Anita Morris as fantabulous Babs Berrenger, the former party girl who just wanted to be taken seriously. (Maybe if she took fewer photos like this?) Fun Fact: The series lasted only a dozen episodes.
53. Dark Shadows
Why We Loved It: If little else, the 1991 primetime reboot of ABC’s supernatural daytime soap nailed the spooktastic atmosphere that had always surrounded the cursed Collins family. We’ll Never Forget: The life’s blood that Lysette Anthony injected into the show when she debuted as witchy Angelique Bouchard. Fun Fact: Despite the series’ failure to hypnotize viewers, two more primetime resurrections of Dark Shadows were planned but, like a smart vampire, never saw the light of day.
52. Savannah
Why We Loved it: Frankly, the show itself wasn’t that good… but we were all about vixenish Peyton Richards, brought to glorious, badly-accented life by Jamie Luner (who would later have the unenviable task of playing a recast Liza Colby on All My Children). We’ll Never Forget: Mourning the death of studly Travis Peterson… only to have portrayer George Eads return in Season 2 as his twin, Nick. Fun Fact: Executive producer Aaron Spelling said the serial was “a little touch of Gone With the Wind if it were done in 1996.”
51. Models, Inc.
Why We Loved It: Late in the game, primetime’s answer to Bold & Beautiful brought in Emma Samms as a glam scheme queen who, given the chance, could have made the Season 2 we never got must-watch TV. We’ll Never Forget: The never-to-be-resolved 1995 cliffhanger involving kidnapping, attempted murder and a wedding. Fun Fact: Farrah Fawcett was originally considered for the part which eventually went to Dallas’ Linda Gray.
50. Paper Dolls
Why We Loved It: The 1984 series about the fashion industry was every bit as superficial and glossy as the Joan Collins TV movie that inspired it. We’ll Never Forget: The first pairing of Morgan Fairchild, who replaced Collins, and daytime legend Roscoe Born; they’d be re-teamed years later on ABC’s Loving spinoff, The City. Fun Fact: The song that accompanied the series’ opening credits was composed by Mark Snow, who’d go on to write the X-Files theme.
49. 90210
Why We Loved It: Existing in the same universe as the original series, the Beverly Hills teens of 2008 skipped those innocent years we saw Brandon and Brenda go through in favor of diving headfirst into drug addiction, pregnancy and mental-health issues. We’ll Never Forget: Raj Kher, newly diagnosed with terminal cancer, reacting to the prom theme being “The Future Is Ours.” Fun Fact: Tori Spelling refused to do the show after finding out fellow OGs Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were receiving far bigger paychecks.
48. Bare Essence
Why We Loved It: A whiff of intrigue never failed to surround General Hospital star Genie Francis’ 1983 NBC series based on her 1982 CBS miniseries about a young widow making “scents” among a fragrance dynasty’s stinkers. We’ll Never Forget: The reveal that mousy Muffin Marshall was the most ruthless conniver of them all. Fun Fact: In 1988, Francis married castmate Jonathan Frakes, who played shifty Marcus Marshall (and with whom she’d appeared in ABC’s North and South).
47. Melrose Place
Why We Loved It: To be honest, because we really, really wanted to go back to the small screen’s most complicated apartment complex. We’ll Never Forget: The way Laura Leighton’s Sydney Andrews, killed off on the mothership way back when, was resurrected, only to be rubbed out yet again. Rude! Fun Fact: Eh, maybe not fun. But even adding Heather Locklear to the mix as Amanda Woodward didn’t save the reboot from cancellation after a single season.
46. The Colbys
Why We Loved It: ABC poured buckets of money into its doomed 1985-87 Dynasty spinoff to hire movie stars and fill closets with designer clothes, but all it really needed to hold our attention was Stephanie Beacham as slinky Sable Colby. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 2 cliffhanger that found Fallon Carrington being abducted by aliens. Fun Fact: Legend has it that Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn turned down the roles that went to Charlton Heston and Barbara Stanwyck.
45. Flamingo Road
Why We Loved It: Based on a Joan Crawford movie that was based on a Robert Wilder novel, the 1980-82 serial was as steamy as a summer night in Truro, the deceptively sleepy Florida town where the scandals ran as deep as the wealthy Weldon family’s pockets. We’ll Never Forget: Morgan Fairchild vamping it up as supervixen Constance Weldon, No. 16 on E!’s 2016 list of primetime’s wickedest women. Fun Fact: A daytime version of the show was planned for 1982 but never came to pass.
44. Hart of Dixie
Why We Loved It: The O.C. vet Rachel Bilson played the fish-out-of-water story of would-be cardiologist Zoe Hart’s relocation from New York to Podunk, Ala., altogether enchantingly in The CW’s 2011-15 romantic dramedy. We’ll Never Forget: How torn we wound up being between the doc’s destiny, Wade Kinsella, and his antithesis, George Tucker. Fun Fact: Nancy Travis would’ve kept playing secretary Mrs. H beyond her first two episodes, had she not been contracted to star in the Fox sitcom Last Man Standing.
43. If Loving You Is Wrong
Why We Loved It: If there’s one thing Tyler Perry’s primetime soaps know how to do, it’s shock and scandalize. Wait, that’s two things. But both were true when it came to this show, a more-diverse, less-comedic Desperate Housewives. We’ll Never Forget: The stunning finale in which bad guys Randall Holmes and Eddie Willis each were murdered by their former wives. Fun Fact: The show’s 2014 premiere was the highest-rated in OWN’s history, beating previous record holder The Haves and the Have Nots, another of Perry’s productions.
42. A Million Little Things
Why We Love It: Is there anything more relatable than a group of friends who lean on one another during hard times? With the upcoming fifth season set to be its last, we’re already bracing for the tough task of saying farewell to the gang. We’ll Never Forget: The opening-episode shocker which set everything in motion as Jon Dixon, whose life seemed perfect from the outside, died by suicide. Fun Fact: Grace Park, who plays Katherine Saville, was reportedly once a member of the infamous NXIVM cult but left before the arrests which would later rock the group.
41. Riverdale
Why We Loved It: A drug called Jingle Jangle? A group of shirtless teenage vigilantes? A Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossover? A monstrous Gargoyle King? Nope, nothing was too nuts or nonsensical for The CW’s sexed-up 2017-23 adaptation of the Archie Comics. We’ll Never Forget: The series’ real star, KJ Apa’s abs. Fun Fact: Down Under, Riverdale came out on top. In 2018, it was the No. 1 show in Australia (where it streams as a Netflix Original Series).
40. Love, Victor
Why We Loved It: Hulu/Disney+’s high-school dramedy, inspired by the movie Love, Simon, lettered in teen angst and palpitation-inducing reminders that love is love. We’ll Never Forget: The “aww”-inducing Season 1 scene in which Benji Campbell sang Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” to us a lovestruck Victor Salazar. Fun Fact: Nick Robinson — the Simon of Love, Simon fame — narrated the series, which was set in the same world as the 2018 flick.
39. Never Have I Ever
Why We Love It: Mindy Kaling’s Netflix dramedy gives us the kind of intense feels that we haven’t experienced since… well… since we were as young as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s Devi Vishwakumar and her friends. We’ll Never Forget: Our realization in Season 1 that we were rooting equally for both of Devi’s love interests, high-school hottie Paxton Hall-Yoshida and academic rival Ben Gross. Fun Fact: Yes, that’s really testy tennis great John McEnroe narrating most episodes.
38. Downton Abbey
Why We Loved It: Over the course of its 52 episodes, the Masterpiece Classic exponentially classed up the screen with its saga of early-20th-century aristocrats and their servants. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 1 shocker that found viperish Miss O’Brien weaponizing a bar of soap to ensure that Lady Grantham would miscarry. Fun Fact: In 2013, Entertainment Weekly called Julian Fellowes’ period piece “the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.”
37. Elite
Why We Love It: There’s nothing subtle about Netflix’s wildly over-the-top Spanish drama. The antics of the gorgeous, oversexed teens of Las Encinas would make the wildest West Beverly Hills High student blush. We’ll Never Forget: Season 1’s jaw-dropping reveal of who really killed Marina Osuna. Fun Fact: Original cast member Danna Paola (Lucrecia) nearly missed out on the chance to audition when the e-mailed info went to her spam folder!
36. Devious Maids
Why We Loved It: Two years after her final appearance as All My Children’s iconic Erica Kane, Susan Lucci showed primetime audiences what she could do as the much-married, emotionally unstable Genevieve Delatour. We’ll Never Forget: The acidic, borderline perverse marriage of Evelyn and Adrian Powell, which was at turns heartbreaking, hilarious and somewhat tragic. Fun Fact: Despite ABC’s success with creator Mark Cherry’s Desperate Housewives, the network passed on Devious Maids, which ultimately wound up airing on Lifetime.
35. Queen Sugar
Why We Loved It: Much like the great daytime soaps of yore, the Louisiana-set, Oprah Winfrey-backed drama dealt with issues others dared not, including racial profiling and transgender rights. We’ll Never Forget: The series-capping twist which allowed the Bordelons to reign victorious over Sam Landry. Fun Fact: Bianca Lawson, who played Darla, is the stepsister of Beyoncé thanks to her dad’s marriage to the singer’s mom.
34. Jane the Virgin
Why We Loved it: What started as a simple misconception story in which our heroine accidentally became artificially inseminated (hey, it happens!) soon blossomed into a comedic telenovela willing to go anywhere and do anything to keep us entertained. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 3 death of Jane Villanueva’s true love, good guy Michael Cordero. Fun Fact: In the final episode, it was revealed that the omniscient narrator was, in fact, Jane and babydaddy Rafael Solano’s son, Mateo.
33. Sisters
Why We Loved It: Decades before NBC gave us This Is Us’ Big Three, it introduced the four Reeds siblings. Well, five if you count the eventual introduction of Sheila Kelley’s Charlotte. We’ll Never Forget: A shotgun-toting Frankie bursting in to try and stop her ex-husband from marrying her sis, Frankie. Fun Fact: During the first two seasons, each episode began with the women chatting in a sauna.
32. Heartstopper
Why We Love It: Alice Oseman’s Netflix dramedy about English schoolkids figuring their, and one another’s, sexuality is sweet, swoon-worthy and a heaping helping of lovely in a world that too often is anything but. We’ll Never Forget: Future boyfriends Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring’s first kiss in Season 1. Fun Fact: The series marks the first-ever television role, never mind the first-ever television lead role, for Charlie’s portrayer, newcomer Joe Locke, who was 17 during Season 1’s filming.
31. Station 19
Why We Love It: By Season 3, the Grey’s Anatomy offshoot had, ahem, caught fire and begun serving up twists and turns that were as hot as those on the mothership. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 5 episode that killed off Dean Miller as well as his unrequited crush on fellow first-responder Vic Hughes. Fun Fact: To date, two Grey’s Anatomy actors — Jason George (aka Ben Warren) and Stefania Spampinato (aka Carina DeLuca) — have been made Station 19 series regulars.
30. The L Word
Why We Loved It: Upon its launch in 2004, this Showtime drama turned the lesbian and bisexual women around whom it revolved into living, breathing characters, whereas they’d previously been portrayed by most shows as ratings-grabbing curiosities. We’ll Never Forget: We’re still not over, let alone willing to forgive the writers for, Dana Fairbanks’ death. Fun Fact: Sandra Bernhard’s guest stint as writing teacher Charlotte Birch was loosely based on Susan Sontag.
29. Dallas
Why We Loved It: TNT’s 2012-14 revival not only got J.R. and Bobby Ewing 100-percent right, it nailed the casting of J.R.’s son John Ross (with Josh Henderson) and Cliff Barnes’ daughter Pamela (with Julie Gonzalo). We’ll Never Forget: Judith Light’s deliciously wicked Judith Ryland sampling a line of coke in Season 3 and exclaiming, “Hot damn! Mama like.” Fun Fact: Following Larry Hagman’s 2012 passing, J.R.’s “master plan” to frame Cliff for his murder was brought to fruition.
28. Soap
Why We Loved It: From illicit affairs to demonic possessions, the ABC sitcom lovingly mocked our favorite genre while creating such an uproar that its 1977 launch was protested by religious organizations, sight unseen. We’ll Never Forget: The hilarious introduction of Robert Urich’s Peter to his extended family… several members of which he’d already seduced! Fun Fact: ABC wanted the writers to change the last name of Burt Campbell to avoid any negative association with potential sponsor Campbell’s Soup.
27. Queer as Folk
Why We Loved It: When Showtime’s take on the British original hit in 2005, it was the first time many American LGBTQ+ viewers saw their lives — warts and all — presented in a big, dramatic, serialized way. We’ll Never Forget: The final image of BFFs Brian Kinney and Michael Novotny dancing in the bombed-out remains of the club in which much of the action took place. Fun Fact: Although set in Pittsburgh, the show was largely filmed in Toronto.
26. True Blood
Why We Loved It: Yeah, yeah, the vampires and fairies, werewolves and witches were cool and all. But what made Alan Ball’s 2008-14 supernatural serial hot was the sex. So. Much. Sex. (And so many kinds, too. Damn!) We’ll Never Forget: The Season 4 episode in which the Bill/Sookie/Eric triangle was “resolved” by throwing them together in a lusty threesome. Fun Fact: Series leads Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, who played Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, wed in 2010.
25. Felicity
Why We Loved It: It’s somehow appropriate that the WB series lasted only four seasons, given that it so perfectly captured the college experience. We all wanted Keri Russell’s alter ego to be our best friend… if only so we could talk some sense into her. We’ll Never Forget: The haircut. Enough said. Fun Fact: Thanks to copyright issues, the music you’ll hear on DVDs or when watching syndicated reruns is largely different from the original tracks.
24. Greenleaf
Why We Loved It: From 2016-20, the OWN drama kept us singing its praises by revealing the sinful side of its high-and-mighty titular family and the Memphis megachurch from which its fortune was made. We’ll Never Forget: The thrilling sermon that installed Lady Mae as her late husband’s successor. Fun Fact: Well, maybe less fun than factual. When the show wrapped in 2020, plans were underway for a spinoff… for which we’re still praying. (Read all about it here.)
23. Dawson’s Creek
Why We Loved It: Scream writer Kevin Williamson’s 1998-2003 WB drama treated teenagers not only as living, breathing and lusting but as thinking, struggling and persevering. We’ll Never Forget: Soap vet Kerr Smith’s coming-out as Jack McPhee, who went on to have TV’s first gay-male kiss on screen. Fun Fact: James Van Der Beek won the role of Dawson over competition that included Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam and Felicity’s Scott Speedman.
22. Private Practice
Why We Loved It: We fell in love with Kate Walsh’s Dr. Addison Montgomery pretty much the moment she strutted onto Grey’s Anatomy, so how could we not be obsessed with a spinoff built around the character? We’ll Never Forget: The time a patient tired to steal a baby out of the womb of Addison’s co-worker. Fun Fact: Only a few months before joining Grey’s as Dr. April Kepner, Sarah Drew guested on Private Practice as a pregnant law student looking to give her baby up for adoption.
21. One Tree Hill
Why We Loved It: What started as a pretty typical CW show about basketball-playing half siblings eventually morphed into something much bigger, especially after a Season 5 time jump saw the gang dealing with post-college life. We’ll Never Forget: Lucas Scott going into full cardiac arrest only moments after wife Haley was run down by a car left us breathless. Fun Fact: The title was explained via a Season 1 line of dialogue in which Lucas’ mom told him, “There is only one Tree Hill, and it’s your home.”
20. Gossip Girl
Why We Loved It: While the snarky narration of the titular character — archly voiced by Kristen Bell — lured us in, it was Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf (and her doomed romance with bad boy Chuck Bass) which kept us coming back to the original CW teen drama. We’ll Never Forget: Wait… Dan Humphries was Gossip Girl? Fun Fact: Every episode’s title is a play on a famous movie, such as “The Blair Bitch Project.”
19. Hollyoaks
Why We Love It: The younger, hipper sibling of Brit sudsers EastEnders and Coronation Street routinely tackles issues those shows — never mind American soaps — wouldn’t go near. We’ll Never Forget: Bitch goddess Mercedes McQueen being shot by not one but two of her enemies while dancing in an empty nightclub. Fun Fact: Nick Pickard has played Tony Hutchinson since the first episode back in 1995!
18. The O.C.
Why We Loved It: Set in Orange County, Calif., Josh Schwartz’s teen drama made us with that, like Ben McKenzie’s Ryan Atwood, we, too, could be adopted by the Cohens, a family with even more love than money. And they had a lot of money. We’ll Never Forget: Five words — “Welcome to the O.C., bitch.” Fun Fact: Chrismukkah, the holiday invented by Adam Brody’s Seth Cohen to merge both of his parents’ religions, became so popular, it even got a mention on Grey’s Anatomy.
17. Falcon Crest
Why We Loved It: Two words: Jane Wyman. The sour grapes that she served as viperish vintner Angela Channing kept us coming back for refills of the CBS soap from 1981-90 no matter how (hic) intoxicated she left us. We’ll Never Forget: The Who’s Who of silver-screen stars that passed through the series, among them Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson and Kim Novak. Fun Fact: Robert Foxworth, who played halo-clad Chase Gioberti, turned down the role of devilish J.R. Ewing on Dallas.
16. Succession
Why We Love It: The foul-mouthed Roy family proves that the only way in which the rich are truly different is that their dysfunctions play out in mansions and exotic locales. We’ll Never Forget: Beaten-down hubby Tom Wamsbgans telling wife Shiv, “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” Ouch. Fun Fact: The HBO hit’s bombastic patriarch, Logan Roy (played by the inimitable Brian Cox) originally was set to die in the pilot episode, setting in motion a battle for control of Waystar Royco.
15. Twin Peaks
Why We Loved It: In 1990, the supernova that was ABC’s short-lived David Lynch series was something altogether new, a traditional soap on an alternately dreamy and nightmarish acid trip. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 2 episode that revealed that Laura Palmer had been killed by her possessed father. Fun Fact: In 2017’s Showtime revival, Lynch muse Laura Dern finally gave a face to Diane Evans, the FBI secretary to whom Special Agent Dale Cooper was always dictating messages.
14. Yellowstone
Why We Love It: Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Network Western pulls no punches, and neither do any of the members of the rough-and-tumble Dutton family. Well, maybe Jamie. (But he’s adopted.) We’ll Never Forget: The outta-control Season 4 finale that gunned down John, took aim at Kayce and blew up Beth. Or tried to, anyway. Fun Fact: As of Season 5, Sheridan has written or co-written every episode of the series, which has thus far spawned two prequels, 1883 and 1932.
13. E.R.
Why We Loved It: As much as we may hate actually going to see the doctor, we can’t get enough of medical dramas set in hospitals. Plus, this long-running NBC series featured George Clooney, whose Dr. Doug Ross was the original McDreamy. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 2 episode in which Ross saved a child trapped in a storm drain left us breathless and helped propel Clooney to superstardom. Fun Fact: The series was created by Michael Crichton. Yes, the same man who gave us Jurassic Park.
12. The Haves and the Have Nots
Why We Loved It: There was no “there” to which Tyler Perry’s OWN soap wouldn’t go. Yet neither Jeffrey Harrington stabbing his homophobic Mommie Dearest in the breast implant nor Veronica Harrington setting her estranged husband on fire is What We’ll Never Forget: That would be Crystal R. Fox’s fierce portrayal of long-suffering Hanna Young. Fun Fact: In 2022, Tika Sumpter, who played Candace Young, tied the knot with co-star Nicholas James, aka off-kilter Officer Justin Lewis.
11. This Is Us
Why We Loved It: Over the course of its 2016-22 run, the creators of the NBC series proved master manipulators where our emotional well-being was concerned. We’ll Never Forget: The unbreakable bond between the Big Three — the Pearson siblings. Fun Fact: So upset were fans upon learning that a slow cooker was the cause of Jack Pearson’s death that the makers of the responsible appliance posted a Facebook message addressing the incident. “We love [Jack], and we love you, too. Don’t further add to our heartbreak by no longer using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers.”
10. EastEnders
Why We Love It: Unlike its American brethren, the British sudser makes a big deal of the “little people.” In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a “have” amongst the “have-nots” who populate Albert Square and hang at its beloved Queen Vic pub. We’ll Never Forget: The 2008 tearjerker in which Dot Cotton recorded an episode-long farewell monologue to former hubby Jim. Fun Fact: For 28 years running, June Brown’s Dot wore the same dress on Christmas Day.
9. Beverly Hills, 90210
Why We Loved It: In a way, we grew up with the characters on Aaron Spelling’s 1990-2000 Fox hit, which originated as the fish-out-of-water story of sheltered Minnesota twins transferred to schmancy West Beverly High. We’ll Never Forget: The heated debates that erupted over Season 3’s Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle. Fun Fact: Since the network wasn’t initially as sold on Luke Perry or the character of Dylan McKay as Spelling was, the EP at first paid the future teen idol’s salary himself.
8. Empire
Why We Loved It: While we could wax poetic about the shocking plot twists which befell the Lyon family as they fought for control of their hip-hop dynasty, the truth is, what we really loved was Taraji P. Henson’s trash-talking Cookie. We’ll Never Forget: Sadly, the show will likely be most remembered for star Jussie Smollett staging a fake attack against himself. Fun Fact: Henson darn near got a spinoff focused on her character, but that Cookie crumbled before the proposed show could launch.
7. Grey’s Anatomy
Why We Love It: Nineteen seasons in, Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama never forgets that sometimes all it takes to get a patient series off life support is a transfusion of fresh blood. We’ll Never Forget: Season 5’s finale, which kept us waiting till the last second to learn whether Izzie Stevens or George O’Malley died. Fun Fact: Original cast member Ellen Pompeo was TV’s highest-paid actress — to the tune of $20M/year — when she stepped away from her role of Meredith Grey in 2022.
6. Desperate Housewives
Why We Loved It: The suburbs-set 2004-12 series beautifully combined slapstick comedy with dark drama while chronicling the lives of Wisteria Lane’s residents… as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor! We’ll Never Forget: Early in Season 1, Gabrielle Solis mowed her lawn in a full-length evening gown to prevent her hubby from finding out their hunky young gardener had been too busy tending to her needs to do the chore himself. Fun Fact: Said gardener was played by none other than a post-Passions, pre-Chesapeake Shores Jesse Metcalfe.
5. Melrose Place
Why We Loved It: After Aaron Spelling spiked his Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff with Dynasty vet Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward, it went from plain and boring to wild and crazy. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 2 scene in which a back-from-the-dead Kimberly Shaw ripped off her wig to reveal her scarred head. Fun Fact: Years after the show ended, Locklear dated and even got engaged to former leading man Jack Wagner, who’d played her love/hate interest, Dr. Peter Burns.
4. Dynasty
Why We Loved It: ABC’s answer to Dallas was heavy on the glitz and glamour and even heavier on the catfights and spectacles. (Moldavian massacre, anyone?) We’ll Never Forget: Joan Collins’ Season 2 debut as Blake Carrington’s ex, Alexis, who elevated bitchcraft to an art form and moved the series out of Dullsville. Fun Fact: The role of the scheme queen was originally supposed to go to Sophia Loren. Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Walter were also pursued, Collins told W in 2018.
3. Peyton Place
Why We Loved It: Based on Grace Metalious’ novel, ABC’s 1964-69 serial about a small town with big secrets was so addictive that at one point, three new episodes aired every week. We’ll Never Forget: Lee Grant’s stunning turn as the sublimely cynical Stella Chernak. Fun Fact: The exit of rising star Mia Farrow in 1966 not only killed the popular Allison/Rodney/Betty triangle with Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Parkins’ characters, it began the series’ slide toward the primetime graveyard.
2. Dallas
Why We Loved It: Only one thing ran deeper than the oil wells on CBS’ 1978-91 smash, and that was the grudges onto which the Ewing and Barnes families held with a viselike grip. We’ll Never Forget: The Season 9 finale, in which the “late” Bobby Ewing stepped out of sometime wife Pamela’s shower and erased Season 8. Fun Fact: The Season 4 episode that resolved the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger is the second-highest-rated primetime telecast ever. (FYI, Kristin Shepard did it.)
1. Knots Landing
Why We Loved It: Even when CBS’ 1979-92 Dallas spinoff indulged in the big hair and bigger shoulder pads of the Decade of Greed, its sharply written drama remained grounded in real emotion. We’ll Never Forget: Karen Fairgate’s epic Season 12 Pollyanna speech, which you can watch here. Fun Fact: Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark pitched the idea of Gary and Valene Ewing’s marriage being torn asunder by Donna Mills’ mantrap, Abby Cunningham.