Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant’s Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones.
You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, “Movie Monsters of the Deep.”
Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant.
The best TV shows of the 1990s were experimental, boundary-pushing, and reflected the fact that the decade was one of the most pivotal times for our culture, as the last decade before smartphones became a part of everyday life. Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer presented teenage girls as powerful rather than punchlines, and Twin Peaks turned genre mixing into an art form. Other TV shows acted as a time capsule to the 1990s, now bringing some nostalgia to both 90s and 80s kids.
People who spent most of their childhood in the 1980s came of age and gained more independence in the 1990s. While there was a long way to go in terms of representation, TV shows were turning societal roles upside down, with characters like Dana Scully inspiring a new generation of scientists. With 1990s TV reflecting an optimistic world with barriers being torn down and a new age of technology around the corner, it is easy to understand why 80s kids still love these shows.
The X-Files
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The X-Files is not just one of the best sci-fi TV series of the 1990s, it sparked a cultural change that few could have seen coming. The show follows the partnership between FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they investigate unsolved paranormal mysteries, with Mulder being the believer and Scully being the skeptic. As a respected and formidably intelligent scientist who was rarely sexualized, “The Scully Effect” saw a dramatic increase in women going into STEM fields, citing Scully as an inspiration.
With many 80s kids starting higher education in the 1990s, The X-Files is most significant to this generation for both the inspiration Scully provided, and the fact that it encouraged its viewers to question the status quo. For people getting their first real taste of independence, The X-Files treated curiosity as an essential part of life, making the unknown feel irresistible. Not all the effects have aged well, but the show itself holds up today, with the upcoming reboot being one of the most highly-anticipated sci-fi shows of the decade.
Batman: The Animated Series
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While the 2020s appear to have finally established that animated TV shows are not just for children, the 1990s were just introducing this idea through some surprisingly dark series. People who had a 1980s childhood were familiar with the decade’s signature brightly colored cartoons, but Batman: The Animated Series had an entirely different aesthetic. The show was sophisticated in a way that felt groundbreaking, exploring psychologically-complex villains like The Joker and Mr. Freeze, while telling nuanced stories like the two-part episode, “Robin’s Reckoning.”
“Robin’s Reckoning” earned Batman: The Animated Series a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less.)
Many episodes of Batman: The Animated Series are considered masterpieces, but the show has an even greater importance to 1980s kids in particular. The show did not patronize children, treating its young audience as capable of understanding more than many other shows gave children credit for, which included episodes centered on grief, obsession, and morality. Through Batman: The Animated Series, a generation learned that animation could be an art form that deserves to be taken seriously.
The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
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For many 80s kids, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air served as the bridge between their childhood and teen years, and there are few 80s kids who cannot quote the iconic theme. The show made Will Smith into a household name, tackled some powerful topics that rarely got attention in other popular 1990s sitcoms, with one Fresh Prince episode even making Will Smith cry, and reflected the cultural trends of the time without ever feeling as though the show was trying too hard.
1990s sitcoms had begun to break away from rigid structures and filming styles, and The Fresh Prince was no exception. The show broke the fourth wall, refused to conform to stereotypes, and many episodes switched between different styles of comedy before delivering an emotional gut punch. Now, the show evokes nostalgia for the 90s, but also highlights the innovation and creative boundary-pushing that many of its viewers still value today.
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ER had the right amount of drama, heartbreak, and wholesome moments to make it a show that most of the family could watch together, and with many 80s kids spending more time outside the home in the 90s, ER is a cozy and bingeable series that will remind many of watching a show with their family. The series gave a window into adult life from the comfort of the couch, with its central characters making mistakes and carrying emotional weight.
ER is far from the only great series set in a hospital, but the show stands out as a medical drama masterpiece from start to finish, and a masterclass in character development. Keeping track of a large ensemble cast is not always an easy task, but ER‘s main characters changed significantly, and the show had a reputation for quality, attracting promising actors who would later become major stars, like George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, and Thandiwe Newton.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
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Buffy Summers was fashionable, upbeat, and popular, and none of these things canceled out her strength, making her one of the most iconic 1990s characters of all time. Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the world through mixing genuinely impactful storylines with fantasy, and the show came at the perfect time for 80s kids, redefining what a teen show could be, and paving the way for later series like Supernatural and Veronica Mars.
With the series celebrating geek culture through characters like Willow, and featuring a prominent same-sex relationship, it is hardly surprising that Buffy is especially significant to 80s kids who may not have seen themselves represented on TV, far less celebrated. While Willow and Tara’s relationship later met the “bury your gays” trope, it broke a barrier, serving as a blueprint for later and better character arcs in shows like Wynonna Earp.
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The Cheers sequel Frasier continues the story of Frasier Crane, a psychiatrist who moves back to his hometown of Seattle to work as a radio host for an advice line. While the show works as a comfort watch, it is also one of the most rewatchable 1990s sitcoms as it evolves with its 80s kid viewers. Frasier‘s humor works on several different levels, so while children enjoyed the physical comedy and Eddie the dog’s mishaps, 80s kids will find something new when revisiting it.
Adults can appreciate Frasier‘s wordplay, many literary references, and layered jokes, while still enjoying the nostalgia it evokes. The show works as familiar background TV for busy and grown 80s kids looking for something easy to watch, while paying attention to the series highlights how clever it really was, setting highbrow references alongside slapstick comedy and showcasing how even the most eccentric people can turn out just fine in the end.
Twin Peaks
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David Lynch’s unapologetically weird, genre-bending mystery Twin Peaks is one of the most memorable classic TV shows that defined the 1990s. Twin Peaks‘ layered mysteries and bizarre twists have been copied since, but never equaled, and the question of “who killed Laura Palmer” is familiar even to people who have not seen the series. That said, for 80s kids watching it, iconic lines like this felt like a code, with the show’s obscure references and quotes setting up a blueprint for meme culture, defined by quotes and references.
Twin Peaks was a series like no other, making it instantly memorable, while inviting viewers to become obsessed with untangling the events and solving the murder. With fewer TV shows taking risks like this in the 1990s, it is easy to understand why Twin Peaks‘ haunting atmosphere and strange characters now live rent-free in the heads of 80s kids.
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Before Aubrey Plaza and, later, Jenna Ortega brought their famously deadpan styles to mainstream TV, Daria was the poster child for dry humor and sarcasm. The animated teen series followed its titular character, Daria Morgendoffer, through everyday high school life as she observed the world around her and found much of it lacking. Standing out for the way it satirized teen life, from popularity contests to forced cheeriness, 80s misfits found a spiritual home in Daria.
Daria is a Beavis and Butt-Head spinoff, featuring the fan favorite recurring character.
For some, the show might be ranked with other forgotten but underrated animated sitcoms, but Daria has remained popular with 80s kids and millennials for representing a personality type that is still rarely celebrated on TV. In an era full of montages and makeovers, Daria remained herself, allowing similarly quiet, awkward, or intellectual, people to feel seen at last, inspiring loyalty among the show’s original fans even today.
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