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TV Shows & Series: Best "1950s" TV Shows/Series


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65 TV shows/series found (page 1/3):

Call the Midwife(2012-)

52min per episode | Drama, Kids & Family
3.7/5 (with 97 votes)

Drama following the lives of a group of midwives working in the poverty-stricken East End of London during the 1950s, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth.

Masters of Sex(2013-2016)

1h per episode | Drama
3.6/5 (with 167 votes)

William Masters and Virginia Johnson are real-life pioneers of the science of human sexuality. Their research touched off the sexual revolution and took them from a midwestern teaching hospital to the cover of Time magazine and multiple appearances on Johnny Carson's couch. He is a brilliant scientist out of touch with his own feelings, and she is a single working mother ahead of her time. The series chronicles their unusual lives, romance, and unlikely pop culture trajectory.

Perdona nuestros pecados(2017-2018)

48min per episode | Soap / Telenovela, Drama
1.5/5 (with 2 votes)

The story of a powerful family of the Chilean high aristocracy in the decade of the 50's. A clan led by the fearsome Armando Quiroga, where intrigue, suspense and romance build a story of passion in times of hypocrisy.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel(2017-2023)

4.0/5 (with 344 votes)

It’s 1958 Manhattan and Miriam “Midge” Maisel has everything she’s ever wanted - the perfect husband, kids, and Upper West Side apartment. But when her life suddenly takes a turn and Midge must start over, she discovers a previously unknown talent - one that will take her all the way from the comedy clubs of Greenwich Village to a spot on Johnny Carson’s couch.

The Doctor Blake Mysteries(2013-2017)

54min per episode | Mystery, Drama
3.9/5 (with 20 votes)

Dr Lucien Blake left Ballarat as a young man. But now he finds himself returning to take over not only his dead father's medical practice, but also his on-call role as the town's police surgeon, only to find change is afoot, nothing is sacred, and no one is safe.

Happy Days(1974-1984)

22min per episode | Comedy
3.9/5 (with 122 votes)

In 1950s Milwaukee the Cunningham family must contend with Fonzie, a motorcycle riding Casanova.

The Queen's Gambit(2020)

16
| Drama
4.3/5 (with 2,019 votes)

In a 1950s orphanage, a young girl reveals an astonishing talent for chess and begins an unlikely journey to stardom while grappling with addiction.

I'll Fly Away(1991-1993)

1h per episode | Drama
3.8/5 (with 1 vote)

I'll Fly Away is an American drama television series set during the late 1950s and early 1960s, in an unspecified Southern U.S. state. It aired on NBC from 1991 to 1993 and starred Regina Taylor as Lilly Harper, a black housekeeper for the family of district attorney Forrest Bedford, whose name is an ironic reference to Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. As the show progressed, Lilly became increasingly involved in the Civil Rights Movement, with events eventually drawing in Forrest as well. I'll Fly Away won two 1992 Emmy Awards, and 23 nominations in total. It won three Humanitas Prizes, two Golden Globe Awards, two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, and a Peabody Award. However, the series was never a ratings blockbuster, and it was canceled by NBC in 1993, despite widespread protests by critics and viewer organizations. After the program's cancellation, a two-hour movie, I'll Fly Away: Then and Now, was produced, in order to resolve dangling storylines from Season 2, and provide the series with a true finale. The movie aired on October 11, 1993 on PBS. Its major storyline closely paralleled the true story of the 1955 murder of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. Thereafter, PBS began airing repeats of the original episodes, ceasing after one complete showing of the entire series.

Lessons in Chemistry(2023)

16
| Drama
4.2/5 (with 54 votes)

In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere. She accepts a job on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives way more than recipes.

A Place to Call Home(2013-2018)

1h per episode | Drama
3.8/5 (with 18 votes)

A mysterious woman is perched between the harsh legacy of World War II and the hope of a new life in Australia. A sweeping romantic drama set in 1950s rural Australia following the lives of the Blighs, a wealthy and complicated pastoralist family, who lives in Inverness, NSW.

Hi-de-Hi!(1981-1988)

30min per episode | Comedy
3.5/5 (with 8 votes)

- No description / details available yet. -

Lovecraft Country(2020)

3.6/5 (with 307 votes)

The anthology horror series follows 25-year-old Atticus Freeman, who joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America to find his missing father. They must survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the malevolent spirits that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.

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Project Blue Book(2019-2020)

4.1/5 (with 479 votes)

A chronicle of the true top secret U.S. Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO-related phenomena in the 1950s and ’60s, known as “Project Blue Book”.

Laverne & Shirley(1976-1983)

25min per episode | Comedy, Kids & Family
3.6/5 (with 31 votes)

Laverne & Shirley is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from January 27, 1976 to May 10, 1983. It starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, single roommates who worked as bottlecappers in a fictitious Milwaukee brewery called "Shotz Brewery." The show was a spin-off from Happy Days, as the two lead characters were originally introduced on that series as acquaintances of Fonzie. Set in roughly the same time period, the timeline started in approximately 1958, when the series began, through 1967, when the series ended. As with Happy Days, it was made by Paramount Television, created by Garry Marshall, and executive produced by Garry Marshall, Edward K. Milkis, and Thomas L. Miller.

Born and Bred(2002-2005)

1h per episode | Comedy, Drama
4.3/5 (with 1 vote)

Born and Bred is a light-hearted British drama series that aired on BBC One from 2002 to 2005. Created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery, Born and Bred's cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French, who play a father and son who run a cottage hospital in Ormston, a fictional Lancashire village in the 1950s. Bolam and French's characters are later replaced by characters played by Richard Wilson and Oliver Milburn.

Get Some In!(1975-1978)

30min per episode | Comedy
3.1/5 (with 2 votes)

Get Some In! is a British comedy series set in the 1950's that focused on the Royal Air Force National Service. The show was broadcast between 1975 and 1978 by Thames Television. Scripts were by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, the team behind the BBC TV sitcom The Good Life. The programme drew its inspiration from late 1950s/early 1960s National Service situation-comedy The Army Game, and from nostalgic BBC TV sitcom Dad's Army, but the RAF setting gave it enough originality not to seem formulaic. Thirty-four half-hour episodes were made. The series has never been repeated in full on terrestrial TV, although the UKTV Gold cable channel has aired the episodes uncut.

Directed by Michael Mills - With Tony Selby

Grantchester(2014-)

46min per episode | Crime, Drama, Mystery
3.7/5 (with 55 votes)

In 1953 at the hamlet of Grantchester, Sidney Chambers—a charismatic, charming clergyman—turns investigative vicar when one of his parishioners dies in suspicious circumstances.

The Spoils Before Dying(2015)

23min per episode | Comedy, Crime
2.9/5 (with 7 votes)

Fictional author-filmmaker, Eric Jonrosh, adapts his epic tale of a pianist-turned-detective investigating a murder in the 1950s underground jazz scene.

Highway Patrol(1955-1958)

28min per episode | Action & Adventure, Drama
2.9/5 (with 4 votes)

Highway Patrol was a syndicated, fictional police action series produced from 1955 to 1959, concerning the activities of the highway patrol and their leader, Dan Matthews (who held no rank). Although filmed in and around the Los Angeles area, the state setting for the stories was never identified, and city and street names were fictionalized.

The Darling Buds of May(1991-1993)

1h per episode | Comedy, Drama
3.9/5 (with 10 votes)

An idyllic picture of 1950's rural England as seen through the lives of the Larkins, a farm family living in Kent. The show revolves around Pa Larkin, a man of a kind and mischievous nature with a penchant for getting into scrapes and talking his way out of them with equal equanimity; and his daughters, as they deal with growing up and discovering the joys and sorrows of young love.

A Vida Como Ela É...(1996)

2.7/5 (with 2 votes)

Adaptations of 40 short stories of brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues, written between 1951 and 1961. The stories were considered scandalous at the time as Rodrigues used immoral characters and black humor to satirize the hypocrisy and repression in people's daily lives.

Velvet(2014-2016)

1h 30min per episode | Drama
3.0/5 (with 23 votes)

In 1950s Spain, the heir to a fashion house romances a beautiful seamstress who works for the company, despite the objections of his family.

Sun Records(2017)

3.9/5 (with 8 votes)

The untold story of nothing less than the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. Guided by Sam Phillips, young musicians like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis combined the styles of hillbilly country with the 1950s R&B sound created by artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Fats Domino and Ike Turner, and changed the course of music forever.

Directed by Roland Joffé

The Kennedys(2011)

45min per episode | Drama, Documentary
3.3/5 (with 33 votes)

The Kennedys is an Emmy-winning Canadian-American television miniseries chronicling the lives of the Kennedy family, including key triumphs and tragedies it has experienced. It stars Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes, Barry Pepper and Tom Wilkinson among others, and is directed by Jon Cassar. The series premiered in the United States in April 2011 on ReelzChannel and on History Television in Canada.

The Astronaut Wives Club(2015)

42min per episode | Drama, Comedy
3.5/5 (with 16 votes)

As America’s astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, Life Magazine documented the astronauts’ families, capturing the behind-the-scenes lives of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. As their celebrity rose and tragedy began to touch their lives, they rallied together.

Quirke(2014)

1h 30min per episode | Mystery, Drama, Crime
3.0/5 (with 11 votes)

Quirke is the chief pathologist in the Dublin city morgue – a charismatic loner whose job takes him into fascinating places as he investigates sudden deaths in 1950s Dublin. His pleasures in life are raw and deep, a drink, a smoke, good food, a woman: With one woman in particular – his adoptive brother's wife Sarah and the forbidden love that has shaped and dominated Quirke's life.

One by One(1984-1987)

50min per episode | Drama
2.8/5 (with 1 vote)

One By One is a British television series made by the BBC between 1984 and 1987. The series, created by Anthony Read, followed the career of international veterinarian David Taylor and his work caring for exotic animals at zoos in Britain, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Each series was set during a different decade, with exteriors filmed at Dudley Zoo, Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park. Thirty-two episodes were made in total. Rob Heyland starred as Turner, while other major cast members included James Ellis, Sonia Graham, Peter Gilmore, Heather James, Catherine Schell, Peter Jeffrey, Andrew Robertson and Christina Nagy.

With Rob Heyland

Shadow Lines(2019-2021)

45min per episode | Drama, War & Politics
3.8/5 (with 7 votes)

During the 1950s, Helsinki was the focal point of the Cold War, as global powers and their intelligence agencies coalesced in the small neutral country that stood between the East and the West. Shadow Lines is an international spy thriller that follows a secret intelligence team whose mission is to defend the independence of Finland no matter the cost.

Brooklyn Bridge(1991-1993)

30min per episode | Drama, Comedy
4.5/5 (with 1 vote)

Brooklyn Bridge is an American television program which aired on CBS between 1991 and 1993. It is about a Jewish American family living in Brooklyn in the middle 1950s. The premise was partially based on the childhood of executive producer and creator Gary David Goldberg. Brooklyn Bridge won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy Award as for outstanding television series in 1992, after its first season. The cast was led by Marion Ross; Art Garfunkel performed the theme song, which was titled "Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge." In 1997, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was ranked #46 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

Women of the Movement(2022)

45min per episode | Drama
3.8/5 (with 6 votes)

A limited series focusing on Mamie Till Mobley, who devoted her life to seeking justice for her son Emmett Till following his brutal murder in the Jim Crow South.

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