Image: CW Network/Courtesy The Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> It became clear early on that Elizabeth Gillies' Fallon Carrington was the only (reason) to watch. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The musical episode where a gas leak caused Fallon to hallucinate her family and enemies belting out various pop tunes. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Despite ratings that could best be described as anemic, the CW series lasted an amazing five seasons and 108 episodes!</p>
Image: 20th Century Fox/Courtesy The Everett Collection
2/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Talk about a killer cast! Dennis Weaver, Richard Dean Anderson, Sela Ward, Andrew Stevens, Susan Dey, Jill St. John and Maud Adams all starred in this 1983 drama created by the same people who gave us <em>Dynasty</em> have bestowed! <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Ward's Hilary Adams dumps her lover by telling him she's going to be late for their wedding. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Almost half of the episodes were written by the duo of Henry Stern and Steven Black, who later became head writers at <em>As The World Turns.</em></p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy The Everett Collection
3/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> NBC's 1985 feature of the soap sweepstakes, taped at Barneys in Manhattan, made all of us shopaholics who, albeit briefly, remembered the family's exploits, the owned the title, upscale department store loved it. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Broadway leading lady Anita Morris as the amazing Babs Berrenger, the former party girl who just wanted to be taken seriously. (Maybe if she took fewer photos like this one?) <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series only lasted a dozen episodes.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy The Everett Collection
4/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Last but not least, the 1991 primetime reboot of ABC's supernatural daytime soap encapsulated the spooky atmosphere that had always surrounded the cursed Collins family. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The lifeblood Lysette Anthony injected into the show when she debuted as Witch Queen Angelique Bouchard. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> While the series failed to mesmerize viewers, two more primetime resurrections of <em>Dark Shadows</em> were planned, but like a clever vampire, they never saw the light of the saw the world.</p><p></p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Honestly, the show itself wasn't that good...but we were all about the cowardly Peyton Richards, who went from Jamie Luner (who later became) to glorious, poorly accented life has the unenviable task of playing a recast of Liza Colby in <em>All My Children</em>). <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Mourning the death of handsome Travis Peterson... only to have actor George Eads return in season 2 as his twin Nick. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Executive producer Aaron Spelling said the series was "a little touch of <em>Gone with the Wind</em> if it had been filmed in 1996."</p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
6/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Late in the game, the primetime response to <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> featured Emma Samms as a glamorous queen of schemes who could have done it given the chance that would have made season 2 we must have never seen on tv. <strong>We Will Never Forget:</strong> The inextricable 1995 cliffhanger featuring kidnapping, attempted murder and a wedding. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Farrah Fawcett was originally cast for the role, which ended up going to <em>Dallas</em> resident Linda Gray.</p>
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7/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> The 1984 series about the fashion industry was every bit as shallow and glossy as the Joan Collins TV movie that inspired it. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The first pairing of Morgan Fairchild, who replaced Collins, and day legend Roscoe Born; They were reunited years later in ABC's <em>Loving</em> spinoff, <em>The City</em>. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The song accompanying the series' opening credits was composed by Mark Snow, who later wrote the <em>X-Files</em> theme.</p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy The Everett Collection
8/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The 2008 Beverly Hills teenagers lived in the same universe as the original series and skipped the innocent years we saw Brandon and Brenda go through to spiral headlong into drug addiction falls , pregnancy and mental health problems. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Raj Kher, newly diagnosed with terminal cancer, responded to the prom theme 'The future is ours'. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Tori Spelling refused to do the show after finding out that fellow OGs Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were getting much larger paychecks.</p>
Image: Warner Bros./Courtesy The Everett Collection
9/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> There was never an air of intrigue about <em>General Hospital</em> star Genie Francis' 1983 NBC series, which appeared on her CBS miniseries from 1982 about a young widow, "Fragrances" is based among the stinkers of a fragrance dynasty. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The revelation that Muffin Marshall was the most ruthless conspirator of them all. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 1988, Francis married her castmate Jonathan Frakes, who played the scheming Marcus Marshall (and with whom she had appeared on ABC's <em>North and South</em>).</p>
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10/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> To be honest, because we really, really wanted to go back to the most complicated apartment complex on the small screen. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The way Laura Leighton's Sydney Andrews, who was killed long ago on the mothership, was resurrected only to be wiped out once more. Rude!<strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Uh, maybe not fun. But even adding Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward didn't save the reboot from being canceled after a single season.</p>
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11/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> ABC poured buckets of money into its doomed 1985-87 <em>Dynasty</em> spin-off, hiring movie stars and stocking closets with designer clothes , but really everything Our attention had to be drawn to Stephanie Beacham as the sultry Sable Colby. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The Season 2 cliffhanger where Fallon Carrington was abducted by aliens. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Legend has it that Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn turned down the roles, which went to Charlton Heston and Barbara Stanwyck.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy The Everett Collection
12/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on a Joan Crawford film based on a Robert Wilder novel, the 1980-82 series was as hot as a summer night in Truro, which is deceptive sleepy Florida town where scandals ran as deep as the pockets of the wealthy Weldon family. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Morgan Fairchild, who pimps up as supervixen Constance Weldon, #16 on E!'s 2016 list of the baddest women in prime time. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> A daytime version of the show was planned for 1982 but never materialized.</p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy The Everett Collection
13/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> <em>The O.C.</em> vet Rachel Bilson starred in the fish-out-of-water story of aspiring cardiologist Zoe Hart moving from New York to Podunk, Ala., overall adorable in The CW's 2011-15 romantic dramedy. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> How torn we ended up being between the fate of the doctor, Wade Kinsella, and his antithesis, George Tucker. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nancy Travis would have continued to play the role of secretary Mrs. H. beyond her first two episodes if she wasn't cast for the lead role on Fox sitcom <em>Last Man Standing</em> < had been hired /p>
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See Also
Putin's former speechwriter says a military coup is possible in RussiaWagner: The cornerstone of Russian strategy in Africa.War in Ukraine will last 'much longer', former Royal Navy chief warnsStella confronts Jordan about Trina's genealogy test - and Nina tries to help Willow<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> If there's one thing Tyler Perry's primetime soaps can do, it's shock and scandal. Wait, that's two things. But both were true when it came to this show, a more varied, less comedic <em>Desperate Housewives</em>. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The breathtaking finale in which villains Randall Holmes and Eddie Willis were each murdered by their ex-wives. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The show's 2014 premiere was the highest-rated in OWN history, beating previous record-holder <em>The Haves and the Have Nots</em>, another Perry production. </p>
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<p><strong>Why we love it:</strong> Is there anything better than a group of friends leaning on each other in tough times? As the upcoming fifth season is expected to be the last, we are already preparing for the difficult task of saying goodbye to the gang. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The opening episode shocker that set everything in motion when Jon Dixon, whose life seemed perfect from the outside, died by suicide. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Grace Park, who plays Katherine Saville, was reportedly once a member of the infamous NXIVM cult, but left before the arrests that would later rock the group.</p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy The Everett Collection
16/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> A drug called Jingle Jangle? A group of shirtless teen vigilantes? A <em>Chilling Adventures of Sabrina</em> crossover? A monstrous gargoyle king? No, nothing was too wacky or silly for The CW's revamped 2017-23 adaptation of the <em>Archie</em> comics. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The true star of the series, KJ Apa's abs. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Down Under, <em>Riverdale</em> has the edge. In 2018 it was the #1 show in Australia (where it streams as a Netflix original series).</p>
Image: Hulu/Courtesy The Everett Collection
17/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The Hulu/Disney+ high school dramedy inspired by the movie <em>Love, Simon</em>, written with teen angst and heart pounding on it remember that love is love. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The aww-inducing scene from Season 1 where Benji Campbell plays Carly Rae Jepson's "Call Me Maybe" for <span style="text-decoration: line-through"> sang us a Victor Salazar in love. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nick Robinson - the Simon from <em>Love, Simon</em> - narrated the series, which is set in the same world as the 2018 film.</p>
Image: Netflix/Courtesy The Everett Collection
18/56
<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Mindy Kaling's Netflix dramedy gives us the kind of intense emotions we haven't experienced since... well... since we were as young as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's Devi Vishwakumar and her friends. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Our realization in Season 1 that we had equal support from both of Devi's love interests, high school hottie Paxton Hall-Yoshida and academic rival Ben Gross. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Yes, it really is the petulant tennis great John McEnroe narrating most of the episodes.</p>
Image: PBS/Courtesy The Everett Collection
19/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Over the course of its 52 episodes, Masterpiece Classic has exponentially upgraded the silver screen with its saga of early 20th-century aristocrats and their servants. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The Season 1 shocker in which Miss O'Brien, who was snappy, armed a bar of soap to ensure Lady Grantham would miscarry. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2013, <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> called Julian Fellowes' historical piece "the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street".</p>
Image: Netflix/Courtesy The Everett Collection
20/56
<p><strong>Why we love it:</strong> There's nothing subtle about Netflix's wildly over-the-top Spanish drama. The antics of Las Encinas' gorgeous, oversexed teens would make the wildest student at West Beverly Hills High blush. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Season 1's stunning reveal about who really killed Marina Osuna. Fun Fact: Original actress Danna Paola (Lucrecia) almost missed her chance to audition when the emailed information ended up in her spam folder!</p>
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21/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Two years after her last appearance as <em>All My Children</em> icon Erica Kane, Susan Lucci showed primetime audiences what she could do -married, emotionally unstable Genevieve Delatour. <strong>We will never forget</strong> Evelyn and Adrian Powell's scathing, borderline perverted marriage that was alternately heartbreaking, hilarious and slightly tragic. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Despite ABC's success with creator Mark Cherry's <em>Desperate Housewives</em>, the network bypassed <em>Devious Maids</em>, which ended up airing on Lifetime. </p>
Image: OWN/Courtesy The Everett Collection
22/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Much like the great daytime soaps of yore, the Oprah Winfrey-backed Louisiana drama delved into issues others hadn't dared to tackle, including racial profiling and transgender people -rights. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The series-ending twist that allowed the Bordelons to reign victorious over Sam Landry. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Bianca Lawson, who played Darla, is Beyoncé's stepsister thanks to her father's marriage to the singer's mother.</p>
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23/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> What started out as a simple misunderstanding story about our heroine being accidentally artificially inseminated (hey, that happens!) soon evolved into a comedic telenovela that's ready to go anywhere and do anything to entertain ourselves. <strong>We Will Never Forget:</strong> The death of Jane Villanueva's true love, good guy Michael Cordero, in Season 3. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In the final episode, it was revealed that the all-knowing Narrator was actually Jane and babydaddy Rafael Solano's son, Mateo.</p>
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24/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Decades before NBC gave us the Big Three of <em>This Is Us</em>, it featured the four Reeds siblings. Well, five if you count the later introduction of Sheila Kelley's Charlotte. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> A Frankie armed with a shotgun rushes in to try to stop her ex-husband from marrying her sister Frankie. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> During the first two seasons, each episode began with the women talking in a sauna.</p>
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25/56
<p><strong>Why we love it:</strong> Alice Oseman's Netflix dramedy about English schoolchildren understanding their own and each other's sexuality is sweet, powerless and heaping doses of love in a world that too often has everything is but. <strong>We will never forget</strong> Future boyfriends Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring's first kiss in Season 1. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series marks their first television role, let alone their first - a <em>star</em> role each on television for Charlie's cast member, newcomer Joe Locke, who was 17 when season 1 was filmed.</p>
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26/56
<p><strong>Why we love it:</strong> By season 3, the <em>Grey's Anatomy</em> spin-off had, um, caught fire and started serving up twists and turns that were just as hot were like those on the mothership. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The Season 5 episode that took the life of Dean Miller and his unrequited crush on fellow first responder Vic Hughes. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> To date, two <em>Grey's Anatomy</em> actors - Jason George (aka Ben Warren) and Stefania Spampinato (aka Carina DeLuca) - have been made <em>Station 19< /em> Regulars of the series.</p>
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27/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Launching in 2004, this Showtime drama transformed the lesbian and bisexual women it was about into living, breathing characters, while previously they were in the most shows had been portrayed as ratings oddities. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> We're still not done, let alone ready, to forgive the writers for the death of Dana Fairbanks. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Sandra Bernhard's guest appearance as writing teacher Charlotte Birch was loosely based on Susan Sontag.</p>
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28/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> TNT's 2012-14 revival wasn't just about J.R. and Bobby Ewing 100 percent right, but also nailed the casting of J.R.'s son John Ross (with Josh Henderson) and Cliff Barnes' daughter Pamela (with Julie Gonzalo). <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Judith Light's Deliciously Evil Judith Ryland tasted a batch of Cokes in Season 3 and exclaimed, "Damn! Mom like." <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> After the death of Larry Hagman in 2012, J.R.'s "master plan" to frame Cliff for his murder went ahead.</p>
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29/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> From illicit affairs to demonic possessions, the ABC sitcom affectionately satirized our favorite genre while creating such an uproar that religious organizations protested its launch in 1977 was made without being seen. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Robert Urich's hilarious introduction of Peter to his extended family...of which he had already seduced several! <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> ABC wanted the writers to change Burt Campbell's last name to avoid negative associations with potential sponsor Campbell's Soup.</p>
Image: Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy The Everett Collection
30/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> When Showtime picked up the original British hit in 2005, it marked the first time many American LGBTQ+ viewers had seen their lives - warts and all - in one big, dramatic, serialized Path. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The final picture of BFFs Brian Kinney and Michael Novotny dancing in the bombed out remains of the club where much of the action took place. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Although the show is set in Pittsburgh, most of it was filmed in Toronto.</p>
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<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Yes, yes, the vampires and fairies, werewolves and witches were cool and all. But what made Alan Ball's 2008-14 supernatural series so hot was the sex. So much. Sex. (And so many <em>kinds</em> too. Damn!) <strong>We'll never forget:</strong> The season 4 episode where the Bill/Sookie/Eric triangle was "dissolved" by throwing they got together in a lusty threesome. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Series leads Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, who played Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, married in 2010.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> It's kind of appropriate that the WB series only lasted four seasons, given how perfectly it captured the college experience. We all wanted Keri Russell's alter ego to be our best friend... if only so we could talk sense into her. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The haircut. Enough said.<strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Due to copyright issues, the music you hear on DVDs or when watching syndicated reruns is very different from the original titles.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> From 2016 to 2020, the OWN drama had us singing its praises by revealing the sinful side of its highly powerful titular family and the Memphis megachurch from which its fortune was made . <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The exciting sermon that Lady Mae instituted as the successor to her late husband. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Well, maybe less funny than factual. When the show ended in 2020, plans were afoot for a spin-off ... which we're still praying for. (<a href="https://tvline.com/2020/08/11/greenleaf-last-episode-spinoff-spoilers-craig-wright-interview/" target="_blank">Read all about it here.< /a>)</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> <em>Scream</em> writer Kevin Williamson's 1998-2003 WB drama treated teens not only as living, breathing, and lustful, but also as thinking, fighting and persevering teenagers. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Soap vet Kerr Smith stars as Jack McPhee, who got television's first on-screen gay kiss. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> James Van Der Beek won the role of Dawson against competitors including Charlie Hunnam from <em>Sons of Anarchy</em> and Scott Speedman from <em>Felicity</em> .< /p>
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35/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> We fell in love with Kate Walsh's Dr. Addison Montgomery pretty much at the moment she strutted on <em>Grey's Anatomy</em>, so how could we not be obsessed with a spinoff built around the character? <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The time a patient got fed up with stealing a baby from Addison's colleague's womb. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Just a few months before she became Dr. April Kepner joined <em>Grey's</em>, Sarah Drew guest starred as a pregnant law student in <em>private practice</em> giving up her baby for adoption.</p>
Image: Warner Bros./Courtesy The Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> What started out as a fairly typical CW show about basketball-playing half-siblings eventually morphed into something much bigger, especially after a time warp in Season 5, where the gang with post-college life. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Lucas Scott went into complete cardiac arrest just moments after Ms Haley was hit by a car, leaving us breathless. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The title was explained by a line from Season 1 where Lucas' mother said to him, "There's only one hill of trees, and this is your home."</p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy The Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> While the title character's scathing narrative — mischievously voiced by Kristen Bell — lured us in, it was Leighton Meester's Blair Waldorf (and her doomed romance with bad boy Chuck Bass ), which led us to return to the original CW teen drama. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Wait... <em>Dan Humphries</em> was Gossip Girl? <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Each episode's title is a nod to a famous movie like "The Blair Bitch Project."</p>
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<p><strong>Why we love it:</strong> The younger, hipper brother of Brits Sudsers <em>EastEnders</em> and <em>Coronation Street</em> regularly picks up on themes from those shows - let alone American soaps - wouldn't come close. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Slut goddess Mercedes McQueen gets shot by not one but two of her enemies while dancing in an empty nightclub. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nick Pickard has played Tony Hutchinson since the first episode in 1995!</p>
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39/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Set in Orange County, California, Josh Schwartz's teen drama convinced us that we, like Ben McKenzie's Ryan Atwood, could be adopted by the Cohens , a family with more love than money. And they had <em>a lot</em> of money. <strong>We'll never forget:</strong> Five words - "Welcome to the O.C., bitch." <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Chrismukkah, the holiday invented by Adam Brody's Seth Cohen, to celebrate the religions of both his parents became so popular that it was even mentioned in <em>Grey's Anatomy</em>< /p>
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40/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> Two words: Jane Wyman. The sour grapes she served up as viper winemaker Angela Channing had us coming back for refills on the CBS soap from 1981-1990 no matter<em>how</em>(hiccup) she left us intoxicated. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The who's who of screen stars who walked the show, including Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson and Kim Novak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Robert Foxworth, who played the halo-clad Chase Gioberti, turned down the role of the evil J.R. Ewing in <em>Dallas</em>.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The snotty Roy family proves that the rich are only truly different when their dysfunctions play out in mansions and exotic locations. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Dejected husband Tom Wamsbgans told his wife Shiv, "I wonder if the sadness I would be without you would be less than the sadness I get from having with you to be with you.” Ouch. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The HBO hit's bombastic patriarch Logan Roy (played by the inimitable Brian Cox) was originally scheduled to die in the pilot episode, setting in motion a battle for control of Waystar Royco.</p >
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<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> In 1990, Supernova, which was ABC's short-lived David Lynch series, was something entirely new, a traditional soap opera on an alternately dreamy and nightmarish LSD trip. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode that revealed Laura Palmer was killed by her possessed father. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> At the 2017 Showtime revival, lynch muse Laura Dern finally gave a face to Diane Evans, the FBI secretary who used to dictate messages to Special Agent Dale Cooper.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Taylor Sheridan's Paramount Network westerns don't slam, and neither do the members of the gruff Dutton family. Well, maybe Jamie. (But he's adopted.) <strong>We'll never forget:</strong> The runaway season 4 finale that gunned down John, took aim at Kayce, and blew up Beth. Or <em>tried</em> anyway. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> As of Season 5, Sheridan has written or co-written every episode of the series that has spawned two prequels to date, <em>1883</em> and <em>1932</em>.</ p>
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44/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> As much as we hate actually going to the doctor, we can't get enough of medical dramas set in hospitals. This long-running NBC series also starred George Clooney, whose Dr. Doug Ross was the original McDreamy. <strong>We Will Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode of Ross rescuing a child trapped in a manhole took our breath away and helped make Clooney a superstar. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series was created by Michael Crichton. Yes, the same man who gave us <em>Jurassic Park.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> There was no "there" where Tyler Perry's OWN soap wouldn't go. But neither Jeffrey Harrington stabbing his homophobic mom sweetheart in the breast implant nor Veronica Harrington setting her estranged husband on fire is <strong>What we will never forget</strong>: that would be Crystal R. Fox's acrimonious portrayal the long-suffering Hanna Jung. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2022, Tika Sumpter, who played Candace Young, married her co-star Nicholas James, aka Officer Justin Lewis.</p>
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46/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Throughout 2016-22, the creators of the NBC series have proven to be master manipulators when it comes to our emotional well-being. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The unbreakable bond between the Big Three - the Pearson siblings. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Fans were so upset when they learned that a slow cooker was the cause of Jack Pearson's death that the makers of the device responsible posted a Facebook message detailing the incident concerned. "We love [Jack] and we love you too. Don't add to our heartbreak by stopping using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers.” </p>
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<p><strong>Why we love it:</strong> Unlike his American brethren, the British Sudser makes a lot of the 'little people'. In fact, you'll be hard pressed to find a "have" among the "have-nots" who crowd Albert Square and hang out at his beloved pub, Queen Vic. <strong>We Will Never Forget:</strong> The 2008 tearjerker in which Dot Cotton chronicled an episode-long farewell monologue for ex-husband Jim. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> June Brown's Dot wore the same dress on Christmas Day for 28 years in a row. </p>
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<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> In a way, we grew up listening to the characters in Aaron Spelling's 1990-2000 Fox hit, set as a fish-on-water tale of sheltered twins from Minnesota was relocated to West Beverly High. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The heated debates that erupted over the Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle in Season 3. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Since the network wasn't initially as convinced of Luke Perry or the character of Dylan McKay as Spelling was, the EP initially paid the future teen idol's salary itself.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> While we might get poetic about the shocking plot twists as the Lyon family endured their struggle for control of their hip-hop dynasty, the truth is what we <em>really</em> loved was Taraji P. Henson's trash-talking Cookie. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Unfortunately, the show will probably be remembered most for star Jussie Smollett's staged a fake attack on himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Henson nearly got a spinoff centered on her character, but that cookie crumbled before the scheduled show could start.</p>
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50/56
<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Nineteen seasons later, Shonda Rhimes' medical drama never forgets that sometimes it takes it all to treat a <span style="text-decoration: line-through">patient <to get /span> seriesoff Life support is a transfusion of fresh blood. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The season 5 finale where we had to wait until the last second to know if Izzie Stevens or George O'Malley died. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Original actress Ellen Pompeo was the highest-paid TV actress - at $20 million a year - when she stepped down from her role as Meredith Gray in 2022.</p>
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51/56
<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> The series, set in the suburbs from 2004 to 2012, beautifully combined slapstick comedy with dark drama while chronicling the lives of the residents of Wisteria Lane... from a dead neighbor's point of view! <strong>We will never forget:</strong> At the beginning of the first season, Gabrielle Solis was mowing her lawn in a long evening dress to prevent her husband from finding out that their attractive young gardener was too busy taking care of her Needs to take care of the housework by yourself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Said gardener was played by none other than post-<em>Passions</em>, pre-<em>Chesapeake Shores</em> Jesse Metcalfe.</p>
Image: Fox/Courtesy The Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> After Aaron Spelling launched his spin-off <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em> with Heather Locklear, <em>Dynastie</em>'s veterinarian, as Amanda Woodward spiced it up, it went from plain and boring to wild and crazy. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The scene from Season 2 where a resurrected Kimberly Shaw rips off her wig to reveal her scarred head. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Years after the show ended, Locklear dated and even got engaged to former lead actor Jack Wagner, who continued her love-hate relationship with Dr. Peter Burns played.</p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why we loved it:</strong> ABC's answer to <em>Dallas</em> was strong on glitz and glamor and even stronger on catfights and extravaganza. (Moldovan Massacre, anyone?) <strong>We will never forget:</strong> Joan Collins' season 2 debut as Blake Carrington's ex Alexis, which elevated Bitchcraft to an art form and shifted the series from Dullsville. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The role of the queen of intrigue was originally intended to go to Sophia Loren. Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Walter were also stalked, Collins told <em>W</em> in 2018.</p>
Bild: ABC/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on the novel by Grace Metalious, ABC's 1964-69 series about a small town with big secrets was so addicting that at some point three new episodes aired every week. <strong>We will never forget</strong> Lee Grant's stunning role as the sublimely cynical Stella Chernak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The departure of rising star Mia Farrow in 1966 not only ended the popular Allison/Rodney/Betty triangle with the characters of Ryan O'Neal and Barbara Parkins, but also ushered in the descent of the Series towards Primetime a graveyard.</p>
Bild: CBS/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Only one thing went deeper than the oil wells in the CBS conflict of 1978-91, and that was the grudge the Ewing and Barnes families held in a vise. <strong>We will never forget:</strong> The season 9 finale where the "deceased" Bobby Ewing stepped out of former wife Pamela's shower and wiped out season 8. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The Season 4 episode where the "Who got J.R. shot?” was solved. Cliffhanger is the second highest rated primetime show of all time. (FYI, Kristin Shepard did it.)</p>
Bild: CBS/Getty Images
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