Classic TV Shows You Can Binge Right Now

Famous for its prolonged slow-motion scenes and male and female eye candy, “Baywatch” made stars out of David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. The nine-season series is about a group of Los Angeles lifeguards who fight crime and cope with daily dramas.

The nine-season family sitcom is remembered for the comically annoying nerdy character Steve Urkel, played by Jaleel White, whose wacky behavior disrupts the neighboring Winslow family.

In “Full House,” Bob Saget is a widowed broadcaster living in San Francisco who raises his three daughters with the help of his hunky rock ‘n’ roll brother-in-law (John Stamos) and goofball best friend (Dave Coulier). Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen launched their career alternately portraying the youngest child in the sitcom.

Fran Drescher stars as “The Nanny,” a grating-voiced, streetwise New Yorker who loses her job as a cosmetics salesperson and becomes the nanny to an English widower’s three children. Drescher created and produced the series along with her then-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson.

“Home Improvement” was a sitcom starring Tim Allen as the goofy host of a do-it-yourself TV show who’s probably better off letting someone else do the task. Patricia Richardson plays his oftentimes exasperated wife and the mother of their three boys, Richard Karn is Allen’s put-upon assistant host and Earl Hindman is the enigmatic neighbor whose face is never seen.

“The Flintstones,” based loosely on the sitcom “The Honeymooners,” was about the madcap adventures of Fred Flintstone, and the zany situations he puts his family and neighbors in during the Stone Age. The six-season series was the first prime-time animated network series.

This long-running drama is about the relationships between nurses, doctors, and emergency personnel at a Chicago hospital. The drama helped launch George Clooney into stardom and the show would go on to win 23 Emmys over its 15 seasons.

This is the comedy series that made Will Smith an A-lister (he also rapped the memorable theme for the show). The sitcom features Smith as a young man from a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia sent by his mother to live with wealthy relatives in California to avoid trouble. The NBC series ran for six seasons.

Four women from various generations live together in Miami, recollecting their life experiences and helping each other cope in this sitcom. The series starred television veterans Bea Arthur (“Maude”) and Betty White (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”). It won 11 Emmys over its seven-year run. All four stars – Arthur, White, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan – won an Emmy at some point.

The caustic sitcom “Married… with Children” pushed the boundaries of good taste in its portrayal of a miserable lower-middle-class family in a Chicago suburb living out the low end of the American Dream. The 11-season series helped boost the career of Christina Applegate, while Ed O’Neill, who played the woman-ogling dad, would go on to more success with another family sitcom, “Modern Family.”

“Frasier,” a sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as a radio psychiatrist who lives in Seattle with his partially disabled father. The show was spun off from the successful long-running series “Cheers” and became one of the most celebrated spin-offs in television history, winning 37 Emmys.

The British import is about a French café owner in occupied France during World War II who deals with German soldiers, a French Resistance leader, and hidden British airmen while concealing an affair with his waitress from his wife.

This irreverent take on the U.S. military mixed in with not-so-subtle antiwar commentary was based on the movie of the same name. The 14-time Emmy-winning television series lasted longer than the Korean War, during which it took place. Its legendary finale on Feb. 28, 1983, was watched by 106 million viewers, setting a record at the time.

The pioneering sitcom “I Love Lucy” became the template for television comedies to come and won four Emmys. Lucille Ball, who plays the wife of a Cuban-American bandleader (Desi Arnaz, Ball’s real husband), frequently gets into zany situations along with her neighbor, played by Vivian Vance.

The journey into the unexplained – whose catchline was “The Truth is Out There” – resonated with conspiracy theorists. The series starred Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny as FBI agents investigating paranormal and alien activity. It spawned two feature films.

This show about four neurotic New Yorkers became one of television’s most successful sitcoms. The series was among the top-rated television shows throughout its run, winning 10 Emmys in nine seasons. Of the four of the main characters on the show, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had the most rewarding career after “Seinfeld” ended. She’s won 11 Emmys and has starred in the hit shows “Veep” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”

This sitcom about six young people seeking love and successful careers in New York City made stars out of all six of its leads – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. “Friends” won six Emmys over its 10-year run. The show’s finale drew 52.5 million viewers in May 2004 and was one of the top-rated television series endings in history.