iPlayer? What's an iPlayer? ILX's top 50 TV shows of the 90s!

Never heard of Kids In The Hall, should I check it out?

OMG YES. Not only one of my favorite shows of the '90s, but seriously in my top 5 shows ever.

Canadian sketch comedy, FYI. But don't let the descriptors scare you off.

to Billy: O_O

Yeah, I want to give the benefit of the doubt because maybe Billy isn't somewhere in North America and I really have no idea what the impact of KITH is overseas, but I am kinda taken aback that there are still people who haven't even heard of the show. It's 20 years old now (another O_O for you).

Definitely semi-famous in the UK. I remember people talking about it at school and stuff. But it was shown quite late, so maybe someone a few years younger than me wouldn't know about it.

i had KITH explained to me by a Canadian former ilxor (possible lurker still) a few years ago but i've still only seen one of the films

There's plenty I haven't heard of in this poll. I probably know 90% of the British stuff and maybe 30% of the American / rest of the world stuff.

I'm aware of its existence but have never knowingly seen it (I'm mid-to-late 30s, UK-based, and mostly quite up on popular culture). Was it a late-night Channel 4 thing?

Yeah.

So far only two of my top 10 have placed (Adam & Joe, Knowing Me KY). I included Friends at no. 25 on my list as I have seen every episode multiple times (hard to avoid on E4) and I think there are some truly classic comedy episodes in there. It got better when they started acknowledging some of the characters as slightly twattish (ie Ross).

Re My So-Called Life - it's way more piss-takey of Angela (yet still empathetic) than I remembered, kind of viewed a lot from the parent's POV as well as Angela's. I love it though, despite several crappy filler episodes.

Anyway, holding high hopes for 3 of my top 5 to place.

KitH: Yeah, I definitely watched quite a few episodes. Certain it was on Ch4. Lots of Monty Python style joke cross-dressing, "I'm crushing your head" - something of a catchphrase between me and my mates at the time - Mr. Canoe Head... that's all I seem to remember really. It was good though.

xpost

Yeah, this is exactly what I was saying about My So-Called Life upthread. At the time, I was all, "This show totally gets what my life is like!". Seeing it recently, I was all, "This show totally got how ridiculous me and my life were like back then!". It walks a very fine line and it's super subtle about it. I think, at the core, it's just very honest, so the depth and the absurdity both shine simultaneously.

so maybe someone a few years younger than me wouldn't know about it.

Oh chap, you say the nicest things.

Whats this "the Day Today" thing that everyone's saying it'll top 5 place? Also lol @ Father Ted being #1, not likely. For better or worse my money's on Simpsons or Twin Peaks getting the gold.

Also, nice to see Futurama place, I wasnt expecting it to seeing as only S1 counted.

No Australian show placings though :(

And hurrah for Newsradio too, I voted that pretty high. Suprised it didnt show in the UK, it was primetime comedy in its day in Aus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv-LKUtiOxU

Whats this "the Day Today" thing that everyone's saying it'll top 5 place? Also lol @ Father Ted being #1, not likely. For better or worse my money's on Simpsons or Twin Peaks getting the gold.

for some reason ilx's Brit presence, and its cultural divide with the rest of the board, has seemed much more pronounced on the TV polls than it is with the film and music polls. the way some folks, lj especially, have been predicting things it's almost as if they think there were only UK voters in this thing.

Oh that thing. Bit like CNNNN/Have I got News for You/half a dozen other news satires (maybr it was first tho)

xpost lol, yeah I figured as much

that's because we are shit at film, shit at 00's TV and merely ok at music, but our 90's TV output has 3 or 4 gems which I will noisily back

obv simpsons and twin peaks gonna be all up in this top 5, maybe seinfeld too

No maybe about seinfeld I dont think! (in fact it may win)

you are shit at 00's TV, but still were pretty dominant in that poll

were we? if i'd voted i'd have only voted for like 2 uk shows. america has like the best 5 or 6 until you hit 'the thick of it'

forgot to vote but I really wish I had. was expecting Have I Got News For You to place due to british contingent but I'm not so sure now.

I dont recall seeing the 00's TV poll FWIW, where is the results?

Bit like CNNNN/Have I got News for You/half a dozen other news satires (maybr it was first tho)

Nothing like HIGNFY, except for being news related - it's painstakingly constructed skits rather than freewheeling riffs, and it satires the format and conventions of news programmes rather than topical stuff. Very beloved in this country, rightly so I think.

Trayce:

Unopened Boxsets that I liked the look of from the Pilot: The ILX Television 51 Show Countdown Extravaganza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and it satires

Gah, 'satirises'. 'Satires' isn't a word. I am tipsy.

satires is a word. its the plural for satire.

'Satires' isn't the past simple form of 'satirise' is what I meant, DAMMIT.

Probably time for bed.

3rd person present indicative

UK shit at 00s TV? what, is there no second prize?

'00s poll had 12 Brit shows, 8 of which showed up before the top 20. in this poll so far there's 11, so definitely going to be more in the '90s, but still a pretty significant chunk for the '00s.

i bet like uh france or japan is ahead of us in terms of 00's quality

We're less good at massively impressive multi-stranded dramas, which is what 00s telly has been about. Better at zany comedy, which is what 90s telly was about.

shit forgot to vote in this, the results so far are pretty much guaranteeing there won't be any nickelodeon shows thta place? what the hell guys

i bet like uh france or japan is ahead of us in terms of 00's quality

L. O. L.

Rugrats has to place, right?

poor k3vin k

Don't freak, Kev. Stimpy's right around the corner, I'm sure.

my younger brother was landed with 'pinky' as a nickname for 6 years of secondary education simnply because he sat next to a guy looked exactly like "the brain" on the first day of school. life lessons.

so, i kinda hope that shows up.

yeah Ren & Stimpy'll definitely make it, and I'm still pulling for The Adventures of Pete & Pete. what thread have you been reading, kells? this poll has had so many cartoons and kids' shows so far, if no Nickelodeon per se.

havent been reading it, that's the thing. just gonna be kinda disappointed if there's no classic nick shows, though, but i'm biased cuz that's what i grew up on

Loving the idea that two series as radically different as Friends and Spaced placed so high, where the attraction is purely about the tight writing and Swift-ian puns and not just because they was unfunny bollocks with characters that their respective audiences thought was role models.

yeah sure grandad ross was my role model. did you only get up to use the bathroom?

Dude I never named manes.

Still laugh at that ep where Raymond plays Crash Bandicoot cos he's missing Billie Piper tho.

we've all crashed after a little pipe in our time, right?