"Even 20 years from now people will remember Murphy Brown's baby _ not because it has become a political issue, but because Murphy Brown has become an exciting show," explained Bill Cox, vice president of TBS programming. "People also will remember particular episodes of Cheers, The Cosby Show, The Simpsons." Cox knows what it takes for a television series to stand the test of time because the superstation he programs depends on old sitcoms and dramas that defy the term outdated. At the cornerstone of TBS' 24-hour-a-day schedule is 49{ hours per week of television shows from the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s. TBS focuses on these programing staples and other favorite series during "The Best of Television," a 10-week festival representing some of the greatest shows of all time. The shows, beginning Sunday, will air from 7:05-9:05 p.m. While TBS currently offers reruns of 18 series, the station actually owns about twice as many. Cox and his fellow executives decided that this summer was the right time to dig out the best of the collection and offer fans a dream smorgasbord of television's funniest and most touching episodes. "We have a library of series that (are among) the most respected, acclaimed and loved of all time. We said, "We need to showcase these,"' Cox recalled. And that's exactly what TBS is doing for the next couple of months. Many television fans may recall Lucy Ricardo spending an afternoon trampling grapes to get in the mood for a role in an Italian movie. Others may remember the day deputy Barney Fife took over as sheriff when top Mayberry lawman Andy Taylor went to Raleigh for a job interview. Who would forget the time a bigoted Archie Bunker set aside his usual feelings toward African-Americans and opened his heart and his house to Sammy Davis Jr.? You can relive all of these moments and others, which are burned in the memory banks of most American adults, beginning Sunday with four episodes of I Love Lucy (which had its original run of 30-minute episodes from 1951-57). Two classic episodes of Bonanza (which ran from 1959-73) fill the festival's second two-hour block July 5. The remainder of the lineup includes favorite episodes of The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) July 12; Happy Days (1974-84) July 19; All in the Family (1971-83) July 26; Gunsmoke (1955-75) Aug. 2; The Honeymooners (1955-71) Aug. 9; Leave It to Beaver (1957-63), The Brady Bunch (1969-74), Happy Days and The Munsters (1964-66) Aug. 16; Little House on the Prairie (1974-83) Aug. 23; and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) Aug. 30. "Some were popular because they were warm and sweet; some were controversial, some outrageously funny, some so well written," Cox said. "When you have a combination of good writing and the right star, masses of people watch you on television. All of these shows down the line have very, very good writing. Each generation will have shows that are like that. Most of them have a heart at the center of them." Ironically, some of the shows spotlighted in this nostalgic festival (many of them black-and-white) are more accessible and even more well known today than they were during their initial run. Cox said The Andy Griffith Show, Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza and The Brady Bunch are among the most popular programs on TBS.