It's pilot time again and this season the networks have decided to turn back the clock, specifically on old cop and crime shows, to save their sinking ratings.

For instance, NBC is bringing back the mystery series 'The Rockford Files' with Dermot Mulroney in the role that James Garner turned into a classic TV crime fighter. CBS has also ordered a remake of the procedural cop classic 'Hawaii Five-O' with Scott Caan and Jean Smart.

Normally, my gut reacts to a TV remake the same way a person who just washed his car reacts to a line of dark clouds (a lot of cursing and shaking of fists at God or some other celestial being). However, if done right, anything has the chance to be good... unless it's one of the following cop serials, which should never be touched by a TV producer ever again.

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.

It's not easy winnowing more than 50 years of small-screen gems into a list of 50.

But AOL TV's picks of the top TV dramas include the most brilliant doctors and lawyers, the angst-iest teens, sci-fi series that transcend their genre molds, family dramas that both warm and break your heart, terrorist- and mobster-fighting heroes ... and a show that combined the best of family and gangster drama into one unforgettable series.

Click through to see all 50 of the best TV dramas of all time.

Love is in the air, which makes it the perfect time to take a walk down (lovers') memory lane with 20 of TV's all-time best couples.

From the will-they-or-won't-they duos of 'Cheers' and 'Moonlighting' to current faves Jim and Pam and Mer and McDreamy, these tube twosomes all have one thing in common: We love to love them, baby.


-- By Kimberly Potts

Police stories make for some of the best stories either in real life or on television. I've been lucky enough to know cops over the years (not in a criminal sense, mind you) and find that it's sometimes a mutual macabre or jaded sense of humor we share. There are the by-the-book cops, the hot-doggers, the idealists, the cynical, the naive, the jaded, the good, the bad, and the "I want to get through my twenty and retire" kind of cops.

My favorite cop television shows over the years often reflect those characters and it's sometimes a bit surprising how close they come to actual police I know ... or how far they stray from the reality of police work.

Every Tuesday here on TV Squad , we will highlight the week's TV-on-DVD releases. Some noteworthy releases today, May 16, 2006:

• Beat Club - Volume 1; Volume 2
• The Big Valley - Season 1
• Grounded for Life - Season 2
• Here Come the Brides - The Complete 1st Season
• Hill Street Blues - The Complete 2nd Season
• Home Movies - Season 4
• Monarch of the Glen - Series 4
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Collection: Volume 9
• Supernanny - Season 1
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Volume 21: Hun On The Run
• That Girl - Season 1

Every Tuesday here on TV Squad , we will highlight the week's TV-on-DVD releases. Some noteworthy releases today, January 31, 2006:

• All-American Girl - Complete Series
• Archie Bunker's Place - The Complete 1st Season
• The A-Team - Season 3
• The Benny Hill Show - Benny Hill, Complete And Unadulterated: The Hill's Angels Years - Set 4
• Dark Shadows - DVD Collection 22
• Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete 2nd Season
• Gastineau Girls - The Complete 1st Season
• Here Comes the Grump - Here Comes The Grump
• Hetty Wainthropp Investigates - The Complete 3rd Series
• Hill Street Blues - The Complete 1st Season
• Inked - The Best of Season 1
• Knight Rider - Season 3
• Magnum, P.I. - The Complete 3rd Season
• MI-5 - Volume 3
• The Pink Panther Show - Classic Cartoon Collection
• The Rat Patrol - The Complete 1st Season
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Volume 20: Turtles Against H.A.T.E.
• Two's Company - Series 4
• The X-Files - Season 1 (New); Season 2 (New); Season 3 (New)