Video: The Best of 1984: Video

THE BURNING BED (NBC). Farrah Fawcett proved she could act, and television proved it could do an “issue drama” without preaching, simplifying or sentimentalizing, in this gripping TV movie about a woman who takes incendiary revenge on her brutal husband.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (Showtime). Jessica Lange was a sizzling Maggie and Rip Torn an offbeat Big Daddy in this lively and well-directed (by Jack Hofsiss) classic. TV’s finest posthumous tribute to Tennessee Williams.

CONCEALED ENEMIES (PBS). Alger Hiss, the alleged spy; Whittaker Chambers, his accuser; and Congressman Richard Nixon, the investigator. These were the true- life protagonists of the year’s most intriguing mystery story, deftly dramatized in an American Playhouse miniseries.

DOMESTIC LIFE (CBS). Before Bill Cosby revived the sitcom genre in the fall, Martin Mull poked juicy fun at it last January, playing the father of a slightly loony family in a very funny, undeservedly short-lived series.

THE GLITTER DOME (HBO). James Garner and John Lithgow were two burned-out detectives in this taut, cynical adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh’s novel about murder in movieland. Possibly the best movie yet made for pay TV.

JEWEL IN THE CROWN (PBS). With understated urgency, this 14-week series (which runs until March) sketched a sovereign vision of the long, sad twilight of the British raj in India.

KING LEAR (syndicated). In what may prove to be his last great role, Laurence Olivier acts up a storm–and, in the heath scene, outacts one–scaling the majesty of Shakespeare’s mad monarch. Will this Lear be surpassed on TV? Never, never, never, never, never.

MIAMI VICE (NBC). Unlike most of the season’s new shows, this hard-nosed police series has actually improved since its pilot. The first network series since Hill Street Blues to establish a unique look and tone: an alluring mix of cinema verite grit and rock-video glitz.

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE NO. 1. Walter Mondale’s unexpected humor; President Reagan’s awkward pauses; Moderator Barbara Walters’ lecturing of the audience: between two dull conventions and a runaway election, this face-off to chart the course of the Free World was the political year’s most interesting TV news event.

LOS ANGELES SUMMER OLYMPICS (ABC). With half the globe watching, the extensive and authoritative coverage of the XXIII Olympiad was breathtaking to behold.