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

man those last few seasons tho... i don't think i could watch any of it ever again

I thought it was terrible at the time. Not giving a shit about either of the two main characters didn't help.

Cancer Man was my favourite TV villain until Ben Linus tho - and his final death scene has still probably not been matched for glorious OTT-ness

Quite liked it when they did monster of the week, no patience at all for the overarching alien conspiracy bullshit.

in a TV series at least xp

Quite liked it when they did monster of the week, no patience at all for the overarching alien conspiracy bullshit

other way round for me

i lost track of the show while at college because it was hard to see anything on Sky at that point. the video releases of the last 8 or so alien conspiracy episodes (up to Mulder's own abduction) ended up being the last VHS tapes i ever rented out, watched it all on a tiny TV at home over a weekend and it was strangely awesome.

also seemed like unprecedented production values for a US drama back then - looked and felt like a movie quite often. its success surely paved the way for subsequent big expensive dramas, even the non-sci-fi ones, so its an important TV milestone imo.

Wow! I thought for sure it'd end up in the top ten, but it ended up pretty much where it should have. As everyone says: dated, not as good as was once hyped, etc.

and his final death scene has still probably not been matched for glorious OTT-ness

^^^This. Rarely does filmed entertainment go to such lengths to declare, "Yes, this character is irrevocably deceased!"

Quite liked it when they did monster of the week, no patience at all for the overarching alien conspiracy bullshit.

I was way more into the bullshit at the time because I thought it was going somewhere. But at a certain point it became clear that they were making it up as they went along, and they weren't even doing that good a job of making it up. So upon rewatching the series, the standalone eps most definitely took the cake.

its worth going back and watching seasons 2-4 or 5. there was a really great run that just sort of collapsed under its on weight

Gonna go a bit faster today cos I started late.

19 - King of the Hill (Fox, 1997-2009)
- 2050 points, 15 votes

http://blog.media-freaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/free-online-virtual-worlds1.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kl0qTY1oKI&NR=1

never 'got' it

It's good, but quite gentle. A very odd rhythm for a cartoon, certainly.

never got it either, despite giving it a decent amount of attention. too sympathetic to a demographic i ain't really interested in, sorry regular good ol' american suburban types.

again, as with Daria, was always pleasantly surprised by it when i did bother to watch

Yeah, there was a lot of subtle mockery of that demographic as well. As an inner city European I enjoyed it fine.

xpost

Dale, Boomhauer and Bill - i probably would've watched it more if it had all been based around them.

it went till this year? really?

show is based on the area of dfw my wife is from, sort of a composite of the mid cities. also beavis and butthead's high school is named for the HS her father went to! mike judge totally stalking my wife.

a lot of the elemtnts are pretty spot-on, KOTH works because it straddles subtle mockery and sympathy for it subjects better than almost any other show i can think of imo

except for bill, he was always pretty fucking pitiful

18 - Mr. Show (HBO, 1995-98)
- 2090 points, 11 votes

http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Mr_Show/mr._show_image_david_cross_and_bob_odenkirk.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ZNX1jqbOk

Another one that I'm not sure made it across the pond. That clip is very funny.

that show never really clicked for me, although it showing up now at least assures me that it won't outrank Kids In The Hall, in which event I would've had to set fire to this place

mr show pretty hit or miss for, but it hits hard

*for me

17 - Northern Exposure (CBS, 1990-95)
- 2190 points, 13 votes, 2 first place

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1130536/photo_09_hires.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xgyn18E89s

The woman in this was fit.

Yeah. It was annoying when she got killed off at the start of Cliffhanger as well.

That was a different character.

King of the Hill was my number 2, could have been my number 1 on another day. Absolutely unparalleled in its depth and humanity imo. Sure the Simpsons is more iconic/quotable but King of the Hill is just an endless bathtub of delight and lols. Also Dale Gribble is one of the great villains in any medium, ever. SHIT IS REAL.

was going to say the thing i love about KOTH was that it almost need not be animated. i think of it in the same headspace as roseanne in the sense of "i know ppl like this!"

Yeah, I sometimes wonder what would be lost/gained by it being a live action sitcom. Of course mainly what you'd lose is Judge's beautiful art.

Best theme tune ever as well.

Everything seemed to take place in a warm sunset glow, which would be hard to achieve with live action. It would definitely have had quite a different atmosphere.

the geography of KOTH is rly important because so many of those kinds of suburbs in texas are kind of small town values but not the same degree of isolation or distance from city life/values, so you get lots of great conflict and lols from guest characters like bobby's eco-warrior history teacher (paul giamatti was the voice iirc) or the kind of namby-pamby soccer coach (will ferrell) or various bureacrats. there is kind of a simmering tension between those forces in a lot of episodes that can only come in the kind of suburb they live in.

Watched Northern Exposure almost religiously at the time. Have not been back since (not even for clip above), and not sure what I would make of it but imagine recoiling in horror.

xpost

Yeah and I think the show almost always judges its level of didacticism perfectly - there are very few DO YOU SEE moments of the kind that ruined a lot of South Park (no matter how knowing that show tries to be about them).

16 - Beavis and Butt-head (MTV, 1993-97)
- 2240 points, 18 votes, 1 first place

http://www.collider.com/wp-content/image-base/TV/B/Beavis_and_Butthead/beavis_and_butthead_mtv.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19NRK8i63f0

Northern Exposure almost made my list, it was always fun and cosy when I bothered to watch it. But the 90s was the first decade of my life when I usually had another agenda than sitting in front of the telly so there aren't too many shows on the list where I wd actively make plans to watch them religiously.

I'm just worried that Inspector Morse isn't gonna make the cut.

^^^. Fat chance it'll be in the top 15.

Put KotH above Beavis and Butthead but fair enough, I guess.

If you don't dig B&B you're a buttmunch.

Altho their best work was ripping the piss out of music vids, obv.

heard a lot of songs for the first time thru B&B. not sure if any of them were actually good tho. "I Wish You Were A Beer" maybe...

"oh what's this? a tear, pantera?"

lol too good not to borrow

Daria >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> B&Butthead

Because I love and respect you and enjoy laughing at yr Arsenal stanning I am forcing my hand away from the SB button.

My antipathy to B&B comes from it being the paired nickname of myself and another brother for the same 6 year period as mentioned above.