90s Simpsons were the best.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
I love TNG, but for whatever reason I prefer DS9. I still remember watching the first episode and thinking that being a Star Trek show set on a space station was a bad idea. I think maybe being proven so wrong about that plays some role in it.
I could never get into DS9 because I am a huge Babylon 5 fan. What Paramount did with DS9 was low.
DS9 was my gateway to Babylon 5!
Do you know the story of DS9 and Babylon 5?
No clue, got a link?
X-Files was a blast live… Not sure if it holds up to reality these days
I had never watched it, but I’m on season 5 right now and I’ve had a ton of fun watching it! Of course I’m from the 90s so having beepers and no wikipedia are familiar to me, I’d be curious how it comes off to people who have always had the internet.
Farscape
At the time, it was probably Ren & Stimpy or Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Both were unapologetically weird.
In retrospect, probably Reno 911! Not only was it loaded with funny scenarios and running gags and tons of guest comics, but the physical comedy was really good. They were always tackling somebody or running over Junior with a Hummer or somesuch, and it was usually the main actors doing the stunts.
Honorable mention to Strangers with Candy. It took the Seinfeld formula of a sitcom full of disagreeable people and amped the contempt to 11.
Twin Peaks!
Futurama and That 70’s Show.
That 70s show was a staple! Looking back it was one of very few sitcoms that were meant for teens in that era
It also helped that crazy Jackie and big Donna were hot.
jeez I sorta forgot to think about futurama. that sorta blows everything out of the water I was thinking of.
1999, so it just squeaked in.
Red Dwarf! Smoke me a kipper I’ll be back for breakfast
Forgot about this one!
That’s late 80’s, gramps!
But if it’s allowed, it gets my vote too!
What a guy!
Well, gotta be Buffy. It was at the tail end of the nineties and lasted into the naughties, but it counts imo.
It was just such a fun show for the era, and they managed to not only keep a consistent vibe, but turned out plenty of really intense shows despite the overall vibe being humor/action based
Gargoyles. It aimed incredibly high for its target audience.
If you had released it with a Japanese voice track and baked in low-quality subs as $30-for-two-episodes VHS tapes to a ‘grown up animation enthusiasts’ audience, it would probably have outsold freaking Naruto.
Gargoyles is great
It basically had half the cast of TNG. Plus Keith David.
Batman: The Animated Series
Sliders!
My favorite forgotten 90s show.
Ed, Edd, and Eddy barely squeaks into the category of 90s shows but it’s one of the best. Cosmic horror, undeniable metaphysical nightmares beyond human comprehension, all with a thin coat of anti capitalist veneer just to make it shine out a bit (though the entire cartoon cartoon lineup had that as a central running theme).
YuYu Hakusho.
matt frewer (max headroom!) in doctor, doctor
only a few seasons, they never really gave the show time to find its footings but frewer is fucking hilarious and i lament he has not done more comedy.