With the nominees announced and just two months until the 2020 Emmy Awards are set to take place, it’s easy to forget that both the film and television industries have been virtually shuttered due to COVID-19.
While you’re reliving or even rewatching some of your favorite shows while you wait for the awards, you may want to go back a bit further. After all, there’s more than 70 years worth of winners and nominees to appreciate, as television programming goes.
We’ve put together a list of 23 Emmy Award-winning television shows throughout the decades that are available to stream right now.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
1. I Love Lucy
Air dates: 1951-1957
Seasons: 6 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Winning “Best Situation Comedy” in 1953 and 1954, this sitcom is set in New York City where middle-class housewife Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) does everything in her power to enter show business with her band-leading, nightclub-owning husband, Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz). Check out this show to see all of the tricks and schemes Lucy plays with her friends Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) and Fred Mertz (William Frawley) in order to make her dreams of fame come true.
Image Credit: CBS Television / WikiMedia Commons.
2. Make Room for Daddy
Air dates: 1953-1964
Seaons: 11 seasons
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Winning “Best Situation Comedy Series” in 1955, this show follows protagonist Danny Williams (Danny Thomas) and his job as a comedian at a New York City nightclub called the Copa Club. He often neglected his wife Margaret (Jean Hagen) and their two kids to work, leaving Margaret to take care of the kids on her own and contemplate leaving him half the time.
Image Credit: ABC Television / WikiMedia Commons.
3. Gunsmoke
Air dates: 1955-1975
Seasons: 20 seasons
Where to watch: CBS All Access
Description: Winning “Best Dramatic Series with Continuing Charaters” in 1959, this show takes place in Dodge City in the wild west. U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) is in charge of keeping the city in line, the problem is, no one wants to listen to or follow the rules. Explore 20 years of Marshall Matt engaging in brawls, gunfights, cattle rustling, threats to his power and fraud cases that’ll be sure to keep you on your feet.
Image Credit: CBS Television / WikiMedia Commons.
4. Get Smart
Air dates: 1965-1970
Seasons: 5 seasons
Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video
This 1969 “Outstanding Comedy Series” winner features Maxwell Smart also known as Agent 86 (Don Adams) and his female accomplice Agent 89 (Barbara Feldon) as they fight crime as secret agents for CONTROL — a government counterintelligence agency out of Washington, D.C. Maxwell Smart is ironically named so, and you’ll have to watch it to see what I mean.
Image Credit: NBC Television / WikiMedia Commons.
5. The Waltons
Air dates: 1972-1981
Seasons: 9 seasons
Where to watch: Philo
Winner of “Outstanding Drama Series Continuing” in 1973, this show is set in the historic era of the Great Depression. The Waltons own a sawmill in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and live on namesake Walton’s Mountain. The show is portrayed through the eyes of the Waltons’ oldest son, John-Boy (Richard Thomas), who wants to break free of the economic hardship his family is going through and eventually become a novelist. Watch as John-Boy and the rest of the family navigate through the struggles of the Great Depression in this show for the ages.
Image Credit: CBS Television / WikiMedia Commons.
6. All in the Family
Air dates: 1971-1979
Seasons: 9 seasons
Where to stream: Crackle
Description: Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 1978, this series follows a working-class family in Queens, New York and their strange dynamic. Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) is a stubborn and crude person that also takes out his frustration towards the world on his naïve wife Edith (Jean Stapleton). But the pot get stirred when they have their daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) who is kind-willed like her mother, but tempermental like her father and doesn’t share their views or beliefs.
Image Credit: CBS Television / WikiMedia Commons.
7. Hill Street Blues
Run dates: 1981-1987
Seasons: 7 seasons
Where to stream: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 1985, this police drama follows the adventures of a solo police station on Hill Street in an anonymous town. Starring Daniel J. Travanti as Captain Frank Furillo and Michael Warren as Officer Bobby Hill, check out the drama that comes along with an overly-crime ridden city and an understaffed police department.
Image Credit: Hill Street Blues / NBC Universal.
8. The Golden Girls
Air dates: 1985-1992
Seasons: 7 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Winner of “Outstanding comedy Series” in 1987, this show revolves around four eccentric old women who are roommates in Miami after either being widowed or divorced. All four of them have diverse personalities that make people eager to return to get a good laugh as they share their stories and common digs. Check out this classic now streaming on Hulu.
Image Credit: Golden Girls / ABC Television.
9. Seinfeld (1989-1998)
Run time: 1989-1998
Length: 9 seasons
Where to stream: Hulu
Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 1992, Seinfeld follows Jerry Seinfeld and his diverse and eccentric friends as they navigate life in New York City. Be prepared to laugh your head off at all of the unique and crazy characters that come along for the ride every episode — demonstrating that there is no limit to who you can meet and what can happen in the big apple.
Image Credit: Seinfeld / Sony Pictures.
10. ER
Air dates: 1994-2009
Seasons: 15 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 1996, this long-standing medical drama show documents life for ER staff in the fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The experiences range from truly heart wrenching to warm-hearted for patients and the people who work there, but one thing is for sure, the events that take place in the hospital will always keep you on your feet. Check out the 5th longest-running medical drama in the world on Hulu.
Image Credit: ER / NBC Universal.
11. Frasier
Run dates: 1993-2004
Seasons: 11 seasons
Where to stream: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 1998, Frasier follows Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), a Harvard-graduated psychiatrist that recently left his marriage and life in Boston to move back home to Seattle, Washington. Not realizing his bachelor life would be cut short, he ends up taking in his disabled father who’s a retired Seattle Police Department detective. With his younger brother and a live-in female physical therapist in the mix, there is no end to the love triangle in this series.
Image Credit: Frasier / Hulu.
12. The Practice
Air dates: 1997-2004
Seasons: 6 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 1999, this show is set in Boston around law attorneys for the firm Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt. Call it a modern day Perry Mason, every case is worth fighting for, even the ones with 1% chance. While they usually win each case, even if they don’t, they will fight tooth and nail to still make a one last ditch effort in order to say they did their best.
Image Credit: The Practice / Hulu.
13. Sex and the City
Air dates:
Seasons:
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 2001, this show follows four women in their 30’s/40’s in New York City trying to find love. The protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a journalist that writes a column on sex each week in The New York Star, and uses hers and her friends’ experiences to fill her column each week. Bottom line, no matter what happens between each other and men, they always have each other’s backs.
Image Credit: Sex and the City / Hulu.
14. Friends
Air dates: 1994-2004
Seasons: 10 seasons
Where to watch: HBO Max
Description: Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 2002, this story follows six friends in their 20s who live in the heart of New York City. Over the course of 10 seasons, viewers see the ups and downs in each of their individual lives, conflict between the friends themselves, but most importantly, how they still stick together and define what a friendship is truly all about. Check out favorites like Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green and Courtney Cox as Monica Geller in this long-standing sitcom.
Image Credit: Maddox and MachoCarioca / WikiMedia Commons.
15. The Sopranos
Air dates: 1999-2007
Length: 6 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Wnning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 2004 and 2007, this show follows the life of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) an Italian-American mobster out of New Jersey. Being a gangster is hard work, and can take a toll on one’s mental health, so Tony spends a lot of time in counseling. See his life, and the lives of those around him unfold in this drama of the decade.
Image Credit: The Sopranos / HBO.
16. Lost
Air dates: 2004-2010
Seasons: 6 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama series” in 2005, this show follows the members of Oceanic Flight 815 traveling from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles, California, as it crashes on an island in the middle of nowhere — and the survivors have to find a way to stay alive and try to escape the island. The show explores each survivor’s past and future in cutaways, giving the audience clues into who they really are. This one has a truly shocking series finale
Image Credit: Lost / ABC Television.
17. The Office
Air dates: 2005-2013
Length: 9 seasons
Where to watch: Peacock
Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 2006, this show follows the employees of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, a fictional company out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. With their diverse personalities and constant shenanigans, this show will keep you entertained and constantly laughing. Join Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and others for a day at The Office.
Image Credit: The Office / NBC Universal.
18. 24
Air dates: 2001-2010
Seasons: 9 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 2006, this show follows Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) as he fights terrorist plots with the Counter Terrorist Unit, a fictional American government-based organization. To make the show feel as though it is in real-time, they display a clock at the corner of the screen to track the events as they happen each episode. Split-screens with multiple scenes are usually set up as well to make sure everything is fit into the one hour time-limit.
Image Credit: 24 / Hulu.
19. Mad Men
Air dates: 2007-2015
Seasons: 7 seasons
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 2011, Mad Men follows the life of a woman-savvy creative director named Don Draper (Jon Hamm) at his advertising firm Sterling Cooper. Set in the 60s and 70s this show portrays the people in Don’s personal and professional lives as they evolve with the social circumstances in the United States throughout the two decades.
Image Credit: Mad Men / AMC Television.
20. Homeland
Air dates: 2011-2020
Seasons: 8 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 2012, this show follows the life of bi-polar CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis). Carrie is convinced that Nicholas, who was once a prisoner of war of Al-Qaeda, is now converted to the enemy’s side and is plotting against the United States. Watch as Carrie and Nicholas go head to head in this drama for the ages.
Image Credit: Homeland / Hulu.
21. Modern Family
Air dates: 2009-2020
Seasons: 11 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Comedy Series” in 2014, this show revolves around three different unique family dynamics out of Los Angeles, California: one family is considered a “nuclear” family, one family is a step-family and the third family has a same-sex couple. Watch as these three families handle their own internal struggles while also co-mingling with the other families for a series full of both comedy and drama.
Image Credit: Modern Family / Hulu.
22. Breaking Bad
Air dates: 2008-2013
Length: 5 seasons
Where to watch: Netflix
Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 2013 and 2014, this show follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as a dying high-school chemistry teacher out of Alburquerque, New Mexico. Hoping to leave his family with financial security, he develops a meth-making business before his lung cancer kills him. Watch this show that is sure to keep you on your feet.
Image Credit: AMC.com.
23. Game of Thrones
Air dates: 2011-2019
Seasons: 8 seasons
Where to watch: Hulu
Description: Winning “Outstanding Drama Series” in 2018 and 2019, this critically-acclaimed TV series follows mythical characters in the fictional land of Westeros, as a number of powerful families battle to conquer the Seven Kingdoms. But while these families are battling, they have other enemies in their way — an ancient foe that wants to destroy them all, and the previous heirs of the land who are plotting to take it back from the far-away continent Essos, to which they’ve been exiled. Oh, and dragons. And zombies. Watch this action-packed fantasy drama and see who ends up coming out on top.
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This article was produced and syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: Game of Thrones / HBO.
