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The five best lineups in TV history

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Carol BurnettWelcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Even before "Must-See TV" networks made an attempt to capture a particular demographic with a killer lineup of TV shows. (Bob's done one of these lists in the past.) What follows is a list of the best TV lineups in history.

1. CBS Saturday, 1973: All in the Family, M*A*S*H*, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Carol Burnett Show. All classics. If this lineup were on today, it would still get huge ratings. It's hard for most folks to remember when these shows were originally on and it's even harder to believe that they were once all on in the same night. It makes me wonder what the other networks were showing or why they even bothered.

2. ABC Friday, 1971-72: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, Love American Style. A wholesome evening of comedy that turns into the perfect aphrodisiac for any TV fan. This lineup is amazing because it starts out as a G-rated evening and slowly ends up with what was, at the time, a very hip show.

3. NBC Thursday, 1984-86: The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, Hill Street Blues. Over 100 Emmy nominations combined. I know many of you wonder why I didn't include a lineup with Friends or Seinfeld. It's because those lineups always included ER, which is one of my most despised shows.

4. ABC Tuesday, 1978: Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three's Company, Taxi, Starsky and Hutch. This lineup would still hit the 14-20 demographic. Can you imagine being a teenager and watching this night of TV? The Fonz, Lenny & Squiggy, Mr. Furley and Reverend Jim all in one evening!

5. ABC Saturday, 1982-83: T.J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island. I really don't know what to say here. I can't defend these shows, because they are what they are. One thing that can't be argued is that, for the brief time this lineup existed, it dictated the weekend plans for many a budding TV geek.

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