It may have been the Me Decade.

But in TV land, the sisters were doin' it for themselves and finally getting respect as cops, war nurses and working moms; iconic shows like 'Hill Street Blues,' 'St. Elsewhere' and 'L.A. Law' would forever change (for the better) cop, medical and legal dramas; and no idea was too high concept to fill a primetime spot (time-travelling physicist? check; housewife-turned-CIA op? check; New York City beauty in love with a subterranean monster? check).

The bottom line: They all add up to 10 years of fine channel surfing -- and our awesome list of the 40 best series of the 1980s.

If you're a fan of '70s and '80s TV, you've probably been having a bunch of a "wha the?" moments over the last year or so. When this particular little white-haired older lady shows up on a show, she doesn't look familiar, but then you hear the matronly but deep voice, and you realize who you've just seen on your screen.

It's Mrs. Garrett! Only by the time you realize it, she's gone, leaving you to wonder if you were imagining things.

Don't worry; you're not going insane. We've been seeing a lot of Charlotte Rae, who played Edna Garrett on Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, on TV lately, mostly playing tiny roles that involve maybe a few lines at the most. In fact, just last night, she played a suspect's mother on an episode of Life.

(S05E06) The story for this week's episode was more involved, which is a good thing. A little plot goes a long way. When the plot gets too thin everything rides on the gags, and it is hard to pull off an episode with just gags. While the sex-ed story has been told many times, I liked the Family Guy take on it.

It gave them a good reason to bring out slutty Lois, and slutty Lois is usually pretty funny, like when she was trying to explain the wonders of sex to Meg. Or showing up for role-playing night dressed as Grimace? Good stuff.

Cast members of the sitcom The Facts of Life will be reuniting on Today tomorrow morning to talk about, I assume, how much fun it was to work on the Diff'rent Strokes spinoff. I'm sure the DVD release of the first two seasons will be mentioned, as well. Cast members to appear include Nancy McKeon, Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, and Mindy Cohn. What? No George Clooney or Cloris Leachman? And what about Mackenzie Astin, brother of Sean? Is he really that busy these days? Well, actually I did see him on an episode of House recently, so  I guess he's still getting work. The segment will air during the second half of the program. Charlotte Rae, who played Mrs. Garrett, won't be making an appearance, either.