6 TV Shows That Really Made Me Want to Live in America 

This is a true story ! Years ago in South Africa there was a ghastly husband and wife who were kidnapping young girls and had in fact murdered some of them. The last girl they kidnapped escaped out of a closet or room ?? when they weren't there by jimmying the lock with a bottle top she had seen this on McGyver. Through her they found the couple, its possible the story may be somewhere online. The actor actually flew out to meet the girl

Growing up in the 1970s in Australia, I was also a bot of a US TV nerd. Most of these (I later discovered) were actually reruns of shows made in the 60s. My favourites: Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart. They didn't necessarily make me want to live in the USA, but rather to become a marooned astronaut/spy with his own genie.

Lol! I'm an American who has always been obsessed with all things British! I've been there six times but never lived there. But, I still love watching British TV and I'm obsessed with the accent!

In 1993 after my second child was born, I got involved in La Leche League's pen pal program. I became pen pals with another new mother in Manchester England. I lived in Birmingham Alabama. We exchanged letters and packages and talked on the phone a few times and one of the things she talked about was how much she loved Quantum Leap.

The character of MacGyver has become part of American lexicon to the extent that finding an uncommon solution to a problem is known as "MacGyvering it"

I wanted to live in Britain. But that started with books first, namely the romance novels of Georgette Heyer and the vet stories James Herriot. But the British shows on PBS just added to it. Masterpiece Theater, Monty Python, All Creatures Great & Small, Mystery, and the sit coms Fawlty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances, Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served?, The Good Life, A Fine Romance. I loved them all. I would still like to spend few years there.

I think MacGyvering is an essential skill! I use it all the time around the house, solving toy problems with my kids; a very human skill.

"The Wonder Years", named after the Wonder Bread TV commercial of the time, was a great show. I would be roughly the same age as the Kevin Arnold character and I thought the show was fairly accurate picture of the way we grew up then. As I remember he was in elementary school and junior high/middle school during the series. The actress playing the female lead is a seriously intelligent mathematician in real life. She was obviously smart in the series which made it even better. I have a soft spot still for this show.

Quantum Leap rocked. I cried at the last episode because it was so bittersweet

I loved watching “Are you being served” and “Absolutely Fabulous” which explains so many of my life choices as an adult.

British historical drama miniseries on Masterpiece Theatre turned me into a huge Anglophile as a little kid (seeing The Six Wives of Henry VIII traumatized me for life-Anne Boleyn imagines her brother being tortured by having his eyes put out, and they showed those bloody sockets, which was seared in my 10-year-old brain). So did Doctor Who, which I was finally able to watch in 1980 when I graduated from 8th grade, since my local PBS station showed it at 11 on Sunday night. Mom told me if I wanted to be tired at school the next day, that was my choice. I still love that show to this day (mostly).

I grew up in America in the 80s, but if I didn't, I think the family sitcoms like Family Ties, Who's the, Boss, and Growing Pains would have made me want to move to the US. Family life as depicted by American sitcoms in the 80s was just so appealing. The fun, the hijinks, the friendships, the relationships, the trials and tribulations, the family bonds. It was all so inviting and relatable.

The Simpsons started out as a 5 minute bumper between commercials of The Tracy Ullman Show. Ullman turned down the roll of Marge and fellow cast member Julie Kavner asked to do it when Ullman turned it down. It was one of the few times the spin-off series did better than the original show. One of the reasons the Simpsons lasted so long was because unlike The Wonder Years, the kids don’t have to grow up.

I was worried when I heard they were doing a new Quantum Leap, reboots are hardly ever, as good as the original and NEVER as good as people want them to be, but then I saw a trailer for it and realized that it's not a reboot so much but a continuation/new series with new characters, I think it would be cool to see Scott Bakula in at least one episode, even if it's just in the background for a few brief seconds!

These were all great, I also loved Moonlighting from 1985 to 1989 with Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepard.

The 80's was a era of TV show history that will never be repeated. What a great decade of television. Saturday morning cartoons were also epic in the 80's.

Lawrence! Every single show you’ve listed made my tween years flash before my eyes. I loved everyone of these shows.

Less than two minutes in and I'm laughing to myself because my husband and I were just explaining The A-Team to my 11-year-old on Saturday. Your description of the team was pretty much the same as ours, except when talking about Hannibal, I told her that there was nothing he loved more than when a plan came together.

Laurence, you’re just a couple years younger than my son. He grew up in California with McGyver, Knight Rider, and before that, the Smurfs, He-Man. I grew up in Germany. The shows that made me want to move to the US were Father knows best, Sea Hunt, Bonanza, Big Valley, Lassie, Fury, Mr Ed, Columbo, 77 Sunset Strip, The Fugitive. Little did I know then that I would actually move to the US in 1970. Since then I‘ve watched many of the shows I’d originally watched dubbed into German. I was amazed to hear how very different the original American voices are sounding!

I love it when a video comes together. ~ Hannibal of the A-Team :)

Ironic, because I have a Top 10 of shows that made/make me want to move to England. 1. Fawlty Towers 2. Monty Python's Flying Circus 3. Bean 4. Keeping Up Appearances 5. Are You Being Served? 6. Benny Hill 7. Father Ted and then later in life 7. Doc Martin 8. Alan Partridge 9. The Office 10. The IT Crowd And the #1 movie, American Werewolf in London

I never knew that about Ringo singing lead vocals on "Little Help From My Friends"! Thank you for educating me! 😁

As an American kid growing up in the 1960s, my favorite British TV shows - that made me want to go to the UK - were _The Prisoner_ (starring Patrick McGoohan) and _The Avengers_ (starring Patrick Macnee and Dianna Rigg).

I’m quite a bit older than you and watched all the shows you mentioned except the wonder years. Great classic shows.

I remember watching many of the shows you listed especially Wonder Years. However, there were a number of British shows that made me want to move to Britain: Keeping up Appearances, All Creatures Great and Small, Are you Being Served?, Doctor Who, Monarch of the Glen, Vicar of Dibley, Doc Martin and the many, many historical dramas that aired here. Time Team was another one that made me more curious about Britain from a historical perspective.

The prolific tv theme composer, Mike Post, composed the themes for most of the shows you mentioned. His most famous that transitioned from tv to radio was the theme for The Rockford Files and The Greatest American Hero's "Believe It Or Not".

Loved Quantum Leap Can't watch the new one without Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. (RIP)

All great shows I grew up loving. I also wanted to be MacGyver. And I love the fact that "to MacGyver" is actually a verb now because of this show. And these were so good that they've all been rebooted in series or film form except for the Simpsons, which never ended. Haven't seen all the reboots yet. Just caught a few reruns of classic MacGyver on cable a couple of days ago, though! Edit - you can even see from my account picture icon that I love MacGyver. It's a picture of a swiss army knife with the words: "Necessity is the mother of invention. MacGyver is the father."

Quantum Leap was such a great show. My dad and I watched it every week when I was a kid.

Ugh I feel so old now lol. I used to watch all these shows when I was younger. 🥰

I feel like we're lost siblings- I'm about 10 yrs older, and grew up (in the US) watching Monty Python, Are You Being Served, Benny Hill, the first few installments of BlackAdder, and The Young Ones ***And the first few Red Dwarf series***. And I always felt that British humor spoke to me much more than what I was surrounded with in American TV especially, but also loads of American movies (we didn't get a lot of import movies back in the early-mid 1980s, so I can't speak to most of that).

Your delivery is excellent. Brilliant comedy.

Classic Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, The Avengers, The Prisoner, and Monty Python got me interested in British tv! Still love those along with Tommy Cooper and Benny Hill!

I watch all of these shows. Definitely some of the best from the late 80's early 90's American TV.

We watched McGyver in Portugal in original version with subtitles!!! ❤ Nightrider too! The car was amazing!

The A-Team, say no more. My oldest son, 2 at the time , and I spent some great times sitting on the couch watching this uplifting show and eating Oreos and drinking milk...well, we did a ton of dunking. Awesome show.

Being a huge fan of such shows as Open All Hours, Dad's Army, The Prisoner, Are You Being Served? and (of course) Doctor Who, along with "any travel show in the UK", I just wanted to have an Irish, Scottish or English accent. It just sounded way cooler. When I was stationed in Australia with the US Navy, everyone I was stationed with who had children often wondered if the relatives back home would think they had traded their kids in for the Aussie variety, because all the American kids cultivated an Australian accent while living there because they knew all their future dates back home would instantly find them more attractive. Ah, well. What we have here sounds like "The grass is always greener on the other side of the Great Pond."

I loved Quantum Leap also and have watched the new one. I think they have done a great job with this new version. I'm glad they dedicated the first show to Dean Stockwell. I hope they have Scott Bakula on one of their episodes.

Quantum Leap actually influenced my choice of university, as I discovered the book in the uni bookshop when I went to an open day and devoured the story on the long train journey home.

man the Wonder Years was so good So smart and since it took place exactly at the same age frame as I was, very sentimental

My favorite of the shows you mentioned was Quantium Leap . I remember being greatly disappointed as well.

If you love Quantum Leap (the original) then you’re okay with me.

I watched a lot of British television growing up and wished I could at least visit, if I couldn't live there. One program that stood out to me and impressed child me was Good Neighbors. I wanted to live like the Goods and farm on my own property way before it was a thing here. I don't have any animals, but I do like the simple life. Love your channel! EDIT: The show was actually called The Good Life; they changed it for some reason when it crossed the pond.

Agreed I cried about Quantum Leap been canceled for about three weeks myself

Another great show from this era was The Adventures of Brisco County Jr starring the legendary Bruce Campbell .I loved the mix of cowboy/science fiction in this show 's plot .There never was nor will ever be a horse as cool as Comet .It was such an original and as always Bruce Campbell absolutely nailed the lead character as only he can . Where are the Miami Vice fans in the comment section ? If any show would make me want to move to America it would be this one .If for no other reasons the clothes , cars ,music ,boats and just plain excitement going on everywhere and all the time with Crockett and Tubbs .

The ending of Quantum Leap was probably the biggest gut punch in television history. I'm still not over it

You are my long lost brother. You literally named off every single one of my favorite shois my favorite shows growing up. Too funny. Another favorite of mine was Airwolf.

There are very few US shows I could watch over & over but for some reason I look forward to repeat viewings of Brideshead, I, Claudius, Jewel in the Crown, Miss Marples, even Gavin & Stacy.

One of my all time favorite British tv shows was/is Red Dwarf, even though it's in outer space and not actually in England. Crazy huh?

Yay to all of those! And yay to the new QL! They redid MacGyver as well (was good for the first few seasons). Can we relive Remington Steele now?

I remember most of those shows. Good stuff 👍

I'm an American girl and I was obsessed with all those shows! I too had an A-team van, a K.I.T.T. Car and bought myself a Swiss army knife. Quantum Leap and MacGyver were my absolute favorite shows. I taped all the episodes on VHS to watch over and over. If you add in Remington Steele you'd also have all my childhood crushes 😊

I really like MacGyver... when he was on Stargate SG-1. 🤣

Growing up in the states, I never watched any of these shows as a child - because I had already passed over into adulthood before any of these shows came out. With the exception of The Wonder Years, which I liked a lot, I was quite indifferent to all the rest. By the time these shows hit the screen, I had already been to England twice and the bulk of American television made me wistfully wish that our television could be half as good as yours. By the way, you DO know the connection between between The Wonder Years and Knight Rider, don't you? That the the actor who played the teacher on The Wonder Years was the voice of KITT?

As a young girl I watched the original Agatha Christie’s “Miss Marple” with Margaret Rutherford - I fell in love with all things UK. Have always wanted to live there. Instead, I actually live in the hometown of The Simpsons - about sums up my life 😂

It's amazing to think that the cover of a Beatles song sung by a mad but brilliant Yorkshireman in 1969 would become the theme tune of an American TV show set in that era that meant so much to us '90s kids.

Loved all those shows too. Also was a huge fan of Star Trek the Next Generation and Thirty Something and Family Ties. And my all time favourites are The X-Files, Stargate SG1 and Supernatural. Love the BritComs and Dramas as well.

I love the wonder years. Also quantum leap is in my need to watch list.

Macguyver and Quantum Leap were my favorites at about 10-13 years old.

I literally watched a Quantum Leap marathon today , and it's by far the best of all these shows !

Funny that the only one that you didn't do the theme song for was the one that pops into my head out of nowhere the most often, the synth-driven theme to Knight Rider. I wasn't the biggest fan of the show, but did watch some, and I haven't even seen a rerun in something like 25 years, but that theme song just creeps in from time to time.

Loved all those shows as a kid, except the Simpsons. Quantum Leap is my all-time favorite!

Wow,that brings me back too!Oh for the good old days when things were simpler and TV showers ruled and were an inspiration,thanx for that. Also,I like the pic of you & Minnie when you were younger,holding your Mickey Mouse at Disney World?So nostalgic ,again thanx for that and the channel.I appreciate the content.

I loved all those shows, too. Quantum Leap was one of my faves. It's on SyFy now, which is fun. And I, too, love the new version. I remember my oldest wanted a Big Wheel (a plastic tricycle for those who don't know) because both his cousins had one and wouldn't share. We took him out and got him the Knight Rider Big Wheel - all black and cool as a 4 year old could be. When the cousins were not sharing, he went into the barn and came out shouting 'Knight Rider Big Wheel!'. That was almost 40 years ago and I can still hear it.

Kinda cool…watching you rave about Quantum Leap while having Quantum Leap on the tv. It’s still around 😁

the original MacGyver was much better than he remake. but the best thing about it was that Richard Dean Anderson went from that to Stargate, and changed from the geek who could fix anything with a paper clip and duct tape to, as Sam said in an outtake, "MacWorthless" and was still a brilliant character. (in the british sense of the word brilliant)

I was about Kevin's age in the actual 1968. Actually, I think Kevin was my brother Kevin's age in 68, And so many of the trials and tribulation were as I remember them. Like hearing a classmate of my older sister had been killed in Vietnam. I never knew him, but it was still a tough thing for a 10 year old country boy to wrap his head around. I really enjoyed the Wonder Years. It lets one take a nostalgic look back and for me it was a "satisfactory" look.

Great list of shows. I watched reruns of Macgyver and Nightrider since I was just a preschooler/young elementary in the 80's. I loved the cool gadgets and such and out of box thinking. Pretty cool!

All of these were great shows and I did not know there was a sequel to Quantum Leap.

It’s so wild to think about people practicing an American accent because growing up in America to me it sounds like we speak with a lack of an accent. 😂 yes I know how funny this sounds

I used to love watching Quantum Leap. I just saw the new version, and it was really good.

Great lineup of shows. Love each and every one of these!!

It's weird how the concept of Quantum Leap... leaping into unfamiliar situations surrounded by unfamiliar people... is anxiety-inducing for me today. I loved it as a kid though.

I'm surprised you didn't watch Magnum PI with short shorts loving Tom Selleck 😂.

Hello, Lawrence. Good to finally get a notification to your video.

Is it safe to say that I remember Night Rider and I also don't remember Night Rider. I do remember watching it. I remember that it was my favorite show. I remember David Hasselhoff being awesome and of course that cool talking car. I remember the semi-truck. But if you ask me if I remember a single episode, I will look at you blank in the face. You actually listed all my favorite shows that I remember, but I don't remember. That's why I like rewatching them when I'm older, if I get the chance. Here are some other ones I thought of. Do you remember The Dukes of Hazzard? How about Simon and Simon? The Great American Hero? Mutual Omaha's Wild Kingdom? I also have to mention Wild America. I loved Wild America. Wild Kingdom and Wild America really got me into nature and animals. Thanks for sharing interesting contents with interesting perspectives. I know it can't be easy. No pressure from me. I appreciate what we have while we still have it. I didn't mean to much into that. I'm happy with the guy I'm with now.

As someone who loves all things time travel, I loved Quantum Leap. The only downside was I felt stressed out for Sam since he could never celebrate his accomplishments for long. As soon as he set things right he was off to another time, another place, another disaster. I’m not sure I saw the later seasons or the last episode so I don’t know if he ever returned to his present time. Actually I’m having a very very vague memory of maybe seeing it and something about the identity of his wife, but I can’t remember anything else for the life of me. This indicates the last episode was probably underwhelming. Nevertheless, I have positive memories of the show overall.

Oh, I’m terrible American, I haven’t watched any of these mentioned. I mean I have seen The Simpsons on in the background while in the living room, but I don’t think I’ve ever set down and watched a full episode. I watch a ton of British television though (both fiction and non-fiction) and it’s heavily influenced my desire to move to the UK one day. I especially obsessed with both British comedy and fantasy! It’s amazing the way entertainment influences out perspectives of a place. ☺️

MacGyver... it became a verb. "We'll MacGyver up something." Quite a thing for Richard Dean Anderson to put on his resume. That and being on one of the funniest Simpsons episodes ever.

Great taste Lawrence! I loved "McGyver" as a kid, whose main character was played by Richard Dean Anderson (in case anyone didn't know this), and I loved even more the show "StarGate SG1", also starring Richard Dean Anderson. I had to add this comment because I don't think his name was mentioned, I adore this actor even though I've only seen him play two roles, which I feel is so sad! 🤦🏽‍♀

How did you get US TV shows on the BBC?

Raise your hand if you finished the song.

I really needed something amusing right now. So perfect time for this upload.

Kevin Arnold was in Junior High School as we called it back then. I was born the same year as the Kevin character. They did a really good job of capturing all the little fads and things we did in those years. Truly a great show.

If these were the shows that led you to want to come to the United States, you must have been seriously disappointed by the lack of good-hearted vigilantes to be found once you arrived on the side of the pond.

American TV & movies are why, when I traveled the World in the 1980's & '90's, my life was like a movie, & I was the star. Since I was American, people thought, that I must be as cool as the ones on TV and in the movies!

I am so glad u mentioned Quantum leap. I loved that show. So much so that when my VCR didn’t record the final episode I called the studio that made it (difficult in days before the internet) and I got them thru much pleading to send me a copy of the finale.

Quantum Leap was one of my favorites as well. I gave up on TV a few years after Seinfeld because all of the other shows I started watching just ended after 2-3 years. You get all invested and then they would not be there.

You're in the exact opposite scenario as me. When I first moved to the UK and had nothing to do for a while, one of the comforts I discovered was that they showed Quantum Leap reruns on tv all the time. It had been a while since I had seen it aired in the US, so I was really excited by that. If you'e an American in the UK and you get homesick, you can always find Quantum Leap, Star Trek the Next Generation and Murder She Wrote at any given time of day.

Quantum Leap was my absolute favorite show of the late 80's/early 90's. Part of the attraction for me, being female, was that Scott Bakula was VERY easy on the eyes. But the writing was SO well done, and the special effects at that time were top drawer for television. I have not been able to watch the reboot, since we don't have Peacock TV on our Roku (we gave up cable TV a couple years ago and just have streaming internet now). Hopefully I'll find a way to see how good it is, because I really loved the original show.

Great job with the theme songs... Love it! 😂😎

I was hesitant about the new Quantum Leap, but I watched the premiere, and I agree with the other commenters. NBC did it right, as a continuation of the original. What would be awesome would be an episode where Ben runs across Sam (played by a much older Scott Bakula), and recognizes him for who he is. A phenomenal series finale would be both of them getting home.

Great list. A lot of MY favorites on there.

You're my favorite lunch buddy!! Any sentence beginning in "oooh" has me laughing! 😆

I love that the font used in the title looks like the “ Lost in Space” font.

I was OBSESSED with the Wonder Years as an '87 kid, glad to know you were too!

As a teen I lived in Springfield Township but there was also a Springfield Delaware County nearby. That got confusing sometimes.

What about 'Little House on the Prairie'? I grew up watching that show. My favorite character was Mrs. Oleson. It didn’t hurt that I grew up in Simi Valley, the place in which it was filmed. And we used to go on hikes up in the hills not far from the set. Of course it had all been blown up by then.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

I loved watching the A-Team, Quantum Leap, and Knight Rider. The grew up in Pasadena/South Pasadena, CA, and a few months after I graduated from high school a couple of blocks from where I lived a guy stole a lady's purse. David Hasselhoff saw it happen and chased the guy down and tried to jump him. The purse snatcher proceeded to show that Hasselhoff was not as tough as his TV character by giving him a black eye and a lot of bruises. Article in our paper the couple of days later read "Where is KITT when you need him" and showed the beat-up Hasselhoff.