By 
The nostalgia surrounding the 80s is such that, if you’re looking for something set in that time period, you’d be spoiled for choice. A lot of tropes and media stylings were born and spread in that time, and the nostalgia from people that were kids then remains a great source of revenue. The 80s are here to stay.
The best shows set in the 1980s make the era feel essential rather than decorative, using its distinctive culture and history as part of the storytelling. These few series offer very different ways to return to the decade, from multiple seasons to short-form shows.
IMDb
Freaks and Geeks
Set during the 1980–81 school year, Freaks and Geeks follows Lindsay Weir and her younger brother Sam as they navigate high school in Michigan. Its period-specific music and cultural details make the early 1980s essential to its setting.
IMDb
The Americans
The Americans follows Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, undercover KGB spies posing as an ordinary married couple in suburban Washington, D.C. Their family life and espionage missions unfold against the tense backdrop of the Reagan-era Cold War.
IMDb
Halt and Catch Fire
Halt and Catch Fire follows ambitious engineers and entrepreneurs navigating the personal-computer revolution. Beginning in the early 1980s, the drama explores competition, innovation, and the personalities who helped shape an increasingly important technology industry.
IMDb
The Goldbergs
Inspired by creator Adam F. Goldberg’s childhood, The Goldbergs follows a suburban Pennsylvania family through the 1980s. The sitcom enthusiastically embraces the decade’s toys, movies, music, fashions, and pop-culture obsessions while telling nostalgic family stories.
IMDb
GLOW
GLOW follows a group of women recruited to perform in a fictional television wrestling promotion during the 1980s. Mixing comedy and drama, the series uses the decade’s outrageous entertainment culture while exploring friendship, ambition, and gender expectations.
IMDb
It’s a Sin
Set during the 1980s, It’s a Sin follows young friends who move to London just as the AIDS epidemic begins devastating their community. The acclaimed drama balances friendship, romance, humor, freedom, fear, and an increasingly heartbreaking public-health crisis.
IMDb
Deutschland 83
Deutschland 83 follows an East German soldier sent undercover to West Germany during the Cold War. Set in 1983, the espionage drama uses real political tensions and the decade’s distinctive culture to create an unusually stylish spy thriller.
IMDb
Ashes to Ashes
This Life on Mars sequel sends Detective Alex Drake back to 1981 after she is shot in 2008. Working alongside Gene Hunt, she investigates crimes while struggling to understand whether her apparently impossible 1980s existence is real.
IMDb
Red Oaks
Set at a New Jersey country club during the 1980s, Red Oaks follows college student David Myers as he spends his summer working as an assistant tennis professional. The comedy affectionately embraces the decade’s movies, music, and youthful anxieties.
IMDb
Chernobyl
HBO’s Chernobyl dramatizes the 1986 nuclear disaster and its immediate aftermath in Soviet Ukraine. The miniseries recreates late-Soviet life while following plant workers, firefighters, scientists, and officials confronting one of history’s worst nuclear accidents.
IMDb
Snowfall
Snowfall begins in Los Angeles in 1983 and follows multiple characters as the crack cocaine epidemic transforms communities and criminal organizations. The crime drama uses its 1980s setting to examine one of the decade’s most consequential American crises.
IMDb
Black Monday
Set in the year preceding the October 19, 1987 stock market crash, Black Monday follows ambitious and deeply dysfunctional Wall Street employees. The dark comedy uses Reagan-era excess, greed, and finance culture to create an exaggerated portrait of the decade.
IMDb
Narcos: Mexico
Narcos: Mexico traces the rise of Mexico’s modern drug trade, beginning in the late 1970s and moving through the 1980s. The series follows cartel leaders and DEA agents as political corruption and organized crime reshape the country.
IMDb
Rivals
Set in 1986 England, Rivals explores the ruthless world of independent television through wealthy, ambitious, and frequently scandalous social elites. Based on Jilly Cooper’s novel, the series enthusiastically embraces the excess and competitive culture of the decade.
IMDb
The Bombing of Pan Am 103
Set in 1988 and based on real events, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 dramatizes the Lockerbie disaster and the subsequent investigation. Scottish police and the FBI pursue answers after a devastating terrorist attack destroys the transatlantic flight.
The post 15 of the Best Shows Set In The 1980s appeared first on Den of Geek.
