8 Classic '70s Shows That Are Officially Relevant Again

Image via NBC Published Aug 20, 2026, 6:53 AM EDT Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV. Sign in to your Collider account If you're a Gen-Xer, you might have fond memories of watching shows in the 1970s as a young adult or sitting with your parents during the primetime hours as a child. If you're younger than that, you might still catch some classic '70s shows via streaming or have seen clips on social sites like TikTok. Whatever the case, it's important to appreciate that so many shows from the 1970s helped frame the series we have today. From sitcoms to procedurals, family shows to sketch comedy, the decade was a fun one for the small screen. While there are many shows from the 1970s that wouldn't fly today, many absolutely would. In fact, some have returned with new versions for modern times. There's even one that's still going strong, approaching its 52nd season! 1 'Columbo' (1968–1978) Image via NBC Columbo popularized the inverted detective formula whereby we, as the viewers, know who committed the crime from the beginning, then watch the title character work his magic to solve it. Columbo, played by Peter Falk, had a signature style about him — a gruff, cigar-smoking walking stereotype who quietly did his work while no one truly understood what he was doing. But when he said, "one more thing," you knew it was all over for the perpetrator, and everything he figured out would be revealed. The Peacock series Poker Face was famously inspired by Columbo, its protagonist a woman with a special ability to tell when someone is lying. She used that skill to solve cases with the same howcatchem format. With the murder mystery genre on the rise in general for both TV shows and movies, Columbo is more relevant than ever. 2 'Laverne & Shirley' (1976–1983) Image via ABC With a growing focus on female empowerment and female-led shows, Laverne & Shirley was clearly before its time. The sitcom, which serves as a spin-off of Happy Days, centers around two women who work as bottle cappers at a local brewery. Despite being released in the '70s, it's set in the '50s, just as many modern-day shows throw back to other decades, such as That '70s Show and Young Sheldon. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams are Laverne and Shirley, respectively, who wonderfully capture the physical comedy necessary for the roles. Massively successful at its time, Laverne & Shirley proved that women could lead a sitcom and be just as funny as men. The show opened so many doors for others that have come since. Many shows recently focus on female friendship and single, independent females, from Sex and the City to The Five-Star Weekend, but Laverne & Shirley was among the first. 3 'All in the Family' (1971–1979) Image via CBS Perhaps it's not necessarily a good thing that All in the Family feels relevant again. The sitcom was a sign of its times, centered around Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), a surly, prejudiced man who treats his wife poorly, though it's clear he loves her and is judgmental of others. The attitude is sadly resurfacing, making All in the Family feel like it's a show that could be made today with new actors and still resonate with this generation. That said, a show like All in the Family, which also starred the late Rob Reiner, probably wouldn't be made today anyway. However, the way it pushed the envelope on topics like war, racism, and women's rights does feel relevant outside of Archie's outdated and prejudiced views. Widely considered to be one of the best TV shows of all time, All in the Family is both a glimpse into the past and a wake-up call to how far we still have to go. Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor SheridanShow Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for. 🤠Yellowstone 🛢️Landman 👑Tulsa King ⚖️Mayor of Kingstown FIND YOUR WORLD → 01 Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind. ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly. AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing. NEXT QUESTION → 03 Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed. AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing. NEXT QUESTION → 04 Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people. AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt. AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for. NEXT QUESTION → 06 What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending. AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns. NEXT QUESTION → 07 How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested. ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you. AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me. NEXT QUESTION → 09 What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal. AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall. NEXT QUESTION → 10 When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind. AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it. REVEAL MY SHOW → Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes. 🤠 Yellowstone 🛢️ Landman 👑 Tulsa King ⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it. You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to. You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land. You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 4 'The Brady Bunch' (1969–1974) Image via ABC The idea of a blended family in The Brady Bunch was groundbreaking for its time. Back then, the nuclear family with a mother, father, and two kids was what was considered the norm. Today, of course, blended and all types of other families are the norm, and this sitcom would fit right in. The story follows Carol (Florence Henderson) and Mike (Robert Reed), who meet, fall in love, and get married. Each brings three kids from previous relationships into the marriage, adopting the other set to become a full family. Modern shows like Modern Family and The Fosters may not have existed if it weren't for The Brady Bunch. It depicted an unconventional family long before those were common on the small screen. 5 'The Muppet Show' (1976–1981) Image via ATV The Muppet Show was a huge variety sketch comedy family show back in the late '70s and has become part of pop culture history. The Muppets characters have lived on long since that show ended through movies, other shows, and specials, including the latest 2026 revival event special led by Sabrina Carpenter and streaming on Disney+. Given how the Muppets continue to exist on screen and transcend generations, the original is still as relevant today as it was decades ago. Remaining one of the greatest variety shows of all time, parents love showing their kids the original series. Meanwhile, the new shows, movies, and specials keep the magic alive for a new generation. 6 'Little House on the Prairie' (1974–1983) Image via NBC This American Western historical drama loosely based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder book series is set in the late 1800s and centers around the Ingalls family living on a farm in Minnesota. Famously starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, Little House on the Prairie was one of those series families sat down to watch together after dinner. With an influx of period shows in modern times, from Bridgerton to The Gilded Age, House of Dublin to Downton Abbey, there's no mistaking that shows like Little House on the Prairie paved the way. What's more, the show was revived with a 2025 six-part miniseries and most recently with a Netflix series of the same name. The latter has become a huge hit, already renewed for a second season. 7 'Saturday Night Live' (1975–Present) Image via NBC Not only is Saturday Night Live still relevant today — it's still going. The sketch comedy show, which is gearing up for its 52nd season, has seen rotating casts through the decades. Depending on when you grew up, chances are you believe the cast during your time was the best one. But everyone will agree that the cast from the 1970s and some of their iconic characters are huge inspirations for every cast that followed. From John Belushi and Chevy Chase to Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner, as well as characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna, The Blues Brothers, The Festrunk Brothers, Nick The Lounge Singer, and The Coneheads, many of these iconic sketches were honored, and some recreated, for the show's recent 50th anniversary special. No matter how many times people say SNL is "no longer funny" or has overstayed its welcome, the show keeps on trucking, continuously keeping up with the social and political times. 8 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' (1970–1977) Image via CBS Another show that was ahead of its time, The Mary Tyler Moore Show depicted a strong, independent working woman at a time when that was considered uncommon and even frowned upon. But Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) was comfortable in her own skin, a single 30-year-old woman who takes a job as associate producer of a popular TV station and proves that she can carve her own path. At a time when women are looking to redefine what are considered conventional roles, The Mary Tyler Moore Show would fit right in. Beyond that, it's one of the true masterpieces of '70s TV shows. It's an incredibly written, very funny sitcom that emphasized how well a female comedian could lead a cast and bring in viewers. As part of second-wave feminism, it's a show that could easily be remade today, tackling the topic from a more modern lens. But back then, Moore was already looking at female bosses and shattering the glass ceiling. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Release Date 1970 - 1977-00-00 Network CBS Cast Mary Tyler Moore Mary Richards Showrunner James L. Brooks, Allan Burns