The most memorable movies and TV shows set in the 1980s

These days, “Stranger Things” is probably the quintessential ‘80s show. It has been steeped in ‘80s pop culture and aesthetics and nostalgia from the beginning. For older viewers, it’s a trip down memory lane. For younger folks, it’s an introduction to Kate Bush. Either way, it works!

“That ‘70s Show” was a big hit for FOX, so it makes sense they tried to go to that well again. Alas, “That ‘80s Show” flopped. It only lasted for 13 episodes. Notably, though, the star was Glenn Howerton, best known now for playing Dennis on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

Like “That ‘80s Show,” “Freaks and Geeks” was a one-season show. However, instead of being forgotten, “Freaks and Geeks” has become a cult classic. If you want to figure out why the show set in suburban Detroit in the 1980s became so enthusiastically received after the fact, just check out the cast list sometime.

“Red Oaks” is a throwback to ‘80s movies about places like country clubs and golf courses and partying teenagers, but maybe with a little more decorum than, say, “Caddyshack.” The Amazon Prime show focused on a college student working as a tennis instructor at the titular country club. “Red Oaks” had a good turn from Paul Reiser, also a body swap episode, which was wild.

Cheesy 1980s professional wrestling. We’re in. “GLOW” was funny, but it was also dramatically resonant when called upon. If you have any affinity for the olden days of wrestling, when it seemed like every gimmick intimated that the wrestler had a side job, “GLOW” was a fun watch. Unfortunately, the pandemic put the kibosh on the planned fourth and final season.

“Winning Time” is HBO’s chronicling of the rise of the Lakers after Jerry Buss bought the team and after Magic Johnson was drafted. So far, only the first season has been covered, which began in 1979 but ended in 1980. We’ve included it based on the assumption more seasons are coming, and they will all be set in the 1980s now.

More a critical darling than a ratings hit, AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire” followed four main characters involved in the rise of computing, the internet, and technology as a whole. While the show ended in the 1990s, it began in 1983, in Texas of all places, before journeying from there. Definitely worth a watch if you missed it.

“The Goldbergs” made a wise decision in terms of placing the action in a nebulous “1980s” universe. That gave the show more leeway to tell the story of a family in ‘80s America. Based on creator Adam F. Goldberg’s actual childhood in the decade, the show ran for 10 seasons and 229 episodes, even after losing George Segal to death and Jeff Garlin to being unbearable to work with.

Chris Rock did what a lot of standups do, which is turn his own life into a sitcom. However, he tweaked things by making it about his childhood…sort of. While “Everybody Hates Chris” is based on Rock’s teenage life, they did tweak the numbers a bit. Rock was a teenager from 1978 until 1985, but the show was set from 1982 through 1987.

Well, if you are going to make a searing drama about the Cold War, it only makes sense to set it during the 1980s. Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell played two Russian spies who pose as an American couple to get intel for the Soviet Union. Fittingly, the show began with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and went on to become a critical darling.

On to the movies! Is “American Psycho” an accurate depiction of 1980s New York? Um…hopefully not? But also, maybe? The violent, upsetting satire is effectively built on the conceit that ‘80s Yuppies were so preoccupied with looks and money that they don’t even notice that Patrick Bateman is a deranged serial killer among them…or is he?

Time-travel comedy is a staple of film. Generally speaking, you get some low-hanging fruit of the “Hey, remember this?” variety. That being said, in terms of movies about traveling back to the ‘80s, “Hot Tub Time Machine” is sort of the go-to reference. It’s your classic raunchy comedy that is maybe a little facile at times, but honestly, these days, we just miss R-rated comedies in theaters, and “Hot Tub Time Machine” even got a sequel.

“The Last Days of Disco” is probably peak Whit Stillman, and we mean that in the best way possible. It’s a talky, clever film based around a certain kind of striving quasi-intellectual. Set in “the very early 1980s,” this ensemble comedy is built around some people who work at, or frequent, a popular New York City disco.

“Weird Al” Yankovic has been around for decades, but he really made his name in the 1980s. While he hasn’t really made much new music for a while, he (and Eric Appel) took a big swing with “Weird” a fake biopic of the parody musician. Daniel Radcliffe is a delight as Yankovic, and Evan Rachel Wood deserves love for her turn as Madonna as well. Not to spoil it, but “Weird” is decidedly, definitively set in the 1980s.

“Wet Hot American Summer” is a parody of camp comedies like “Meatballs” with a cast that in retrospect is incredible. Built off of several members of MTV’s “The State,” “Wet Hot American Summer” is absurd, silly, raunchy, and genius. A true cult classic, the movie inspired not one, but two limited series on Netflix.

The Coen Brothers’ Oscar-winning film is a modern Western, but it’s still a Western, so the fact it’s set in the past can almost wash over you. It’s not an Old West film, like “True Grit,” but instead set in the 1980s. There’s enough payphone use to make that feel right, though Anton Chigurgh is scary in any era.

“Joker” was polarizing to such a degree you start to get annoyed with parties on both sides of the equation. Personally, we find the massive hit a slight misfire, but it was certainly a definitive film of 2019. Of course, it’s also set in 1981 New York, borrowing some of that Martin Scorsese New York grime from clear influences to the movie such as “Taxi Driver.”

Though “Boogie Nights” starts in the 1970s, that’s kind of the point. The film literally turns in tone on New Year’s Eve 1979, when William H. Macy’s character, well, let’s just say he wasn’t enthused to see a new decade. The ‘80s saturates the denouement of “Boogie Nights,” so we had to include it since the decade is so vital to the story arc of Dirk Diggler and company.

At the time, people really enjoyed “Call Me By Your Name.” Now, one of the stars has soared while the other has been pushed to the margins, so watching it now might seem odd. Regardless, “Call Me By Your Name” looks great, thanks partly to being set in northern Italy in 1983.

It’s right in the title! The first “Wonder Woman,” the one people liked, is set during World War I. Diana, though, doesn’t age like us non-Amazonians, so she’s still around in 1984. People largely were lukewarm on “Wonder Woman 1984,” putting an end to the series, and playing a role in the full revamp of the DC movie landscape (though not swiftly enough to save us from “Black Adam.”)

A bear on cocaine? Yeah, sounds like the ‘80s to us. “Cocaine Bear” is the meme movie heir to “Snakes on a Plane,” though this time it actually delivered on the box office. The movie is maybe not as fun as we hoped, but people were interested enough in seeing that bear do cocaine to go to the theaters. If nothing else, they deserve credit for calling a movie “Cocaine Bear.”

“Love & Mercy” is a bifurcated biopic of legendary musician Brian Wilson. In one half (the better half, to be honest), Paul Dano plays Wilson in the 1960s as he works on “Pet Sounds.” Then, there is the 1980s half, where John Cusack plays Wilson as despondent and under the iron fist of his psychologist Eugene Landy. While the ‘80s stuff doesn’t work quite as well, it does help fuel the ‘60s stuff, and vice versa.

This is another reflective look back at the ‘80s from a writer/director, this time Greg Mottola. Jesse Eisenberg plays a recent college graduate who, in the summer of 1987, finds himself working at an amusement park. The film is quite good, and it features a notable cast, including Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and some of the best work from Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds.

We’re going to the Coen Brothers well again for a couple of reasons. One, “Fargo” is great. It probably should have won Best Picture, and Frances McDormand did win Best Actress. Try and tell us you still look at wood chippers the same way. Also, even if you have watched the movie a few times…did you remember it was set in the 1980s? “Fargo” takes place in 1987, and is something of a sneaky ‘80s movie.

“It” doesn’t hide the ‘80s timeline, as it is clearly set in 1987. Casting Finn Wolfhard, of “Stranger Things” fame, probably helped drive that home. Stephen King’s overly long, frankly incomprehensible novel was wisely split into two films. The second deals with the kids of the first one as adults, and it was not received quite as well. In terms of horror movies about a spooky clown monster, “It” delivered better for people.