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

tbph from what i've seen he's funnier in the parole officer

...but he really came into his own on his own show, a show described by dom passantino late of this manor as the finest 3 hours of television britain or maybe the world has ever aired

it's up there

and i've met him and he's tiny

Fun fact! Partridge is the character who appears in the most top 50 shows in this poll (three).

This is my favourite Partridge moment, how Linehan and Matthews kept a straight face I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRlR0ctjNE

this show deserves to be in the top 10 for COOK PASS PARTRIDGE alone, and the top 7 for the hotel attendant who cannot actually stop laughing at alan

or maybe JURASSIC PARK covers them both

"Not my words, the words of Top Gear Magazine!"

I just love how informal, how low-budget, how improvised IAP S1 feels, even if it was fairly meticulous in its execution. It feels like a dirty and joyous secret you've fallen into, a fly-on-the-wall characterisation of one of the great British losers/heroes. Oh god I've remembered the county fair....

Mysterious Cities of Gold would probably take my no. 1 spot in a hypothetical 80s poll. I was so deep into that.

― Communi-Bear Silo State (chap), Thursday, December 10, 2009 2:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I loved that show when I was 7. Last year I was watching Avatar: The Last Airbender re-runs and I all of the sudden remembered the show. I've been wondering lately if it was as good as I remember it.

The only highlight that sticks in my mind though is that the team runs into these people with torches, and the people tell them that the torches are fueled by llama dung. Then one of the kids has a thought bubble featuring a llama taking a dump. Am I thinking of the right show?

ahhhh ayayiyaaaa someday we will fiiiyyyind the citteeee of gooooold

pretty sure the makers of that had a few other similarly trippy animated series- spartacus and the sun beneath the sea was one iirc

6 - Brass Eye (Channel 4, 1997)
- 3610 points, 19 votes, 5 first place

http://www.comedycouch.com/images/brass_eye_alcohol.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwylBRucU7w

KITH wuz robbed!

brass eye some serious GOAT material

mind you brass eye is still pretty fucking funny (obv the paedophile special was 00's, but there were 3 peerless episodes in the main series. in descending order: crime, decline, drugs)

I've been wondering lately if it was as good as I remember it.

The whole thing was on YouTube a few years ago and I managed to watch about half of the run before it was taken down. It was definitely good, nicely animated with a real sense of atmosphere and a good solid storyline.

pretty sure the makers of that had a few other similarly trippy animated series- spartacus and the sun beneath the sea was one iirc

Oh crap, I totally mixed those up. I think I was thinking of Spartacus, which is French wheras Cities of Gold was Japanese. Anyway, mid-80s Nickelodeon epic shit.

The reason I prefer TDT is that it's completely consistent and zanily inspired from start to finish, whereas the Sex, Science and Animals BE episodes, while they have awesome moments, are also a bit forced and unfunny in stretches. Like I say, though, those three other episodes were *brilliant*

Cities of Gold was a French/Japanese co-production actually.

this is goin too fast

not getting IAP is serious fucking all time olympic challops - i can't believe Father Ted's beaten it either

Sorry for going too fast, gotta go out in about an hour and a half. If people would prefer I could save to the top five for tomorrow?

I'm amazed I'm Alan Partridge only got one number one vote.

no you're alright chap, crack on

one thing you'd notice from Cities Of Gold (and probably more so Ulysses 31) watching them now is the amount of SILENCE in them. wouldn't be allowed nowadays.

for posterity, my top 5 was in order

father ted
the day today
IAP
brass eye
adam and joe

good luck (or hang in there!) father ted, i'm out -

not getting IAP is serious fucking all time olympic challops

this might be a challop, but 'not getting' something can't actually be a challop.

Knock 'em out, chap. This poll was fun and informative.

re: City of Gold, Spartacus, Ulysses 300 (or w/e)

what about those trippy as all shit cartoons set inside the human body? belgian inorigin, i think?

top 5 locks: fr ted, simpsons, seinfeld. i should be able to name the other 2 but can't think right now.

5 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB, 1997-2003)
- 3720 points, 19 votes, 4 first place

http://thekumarexperience.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/buffy-season1.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv1tuYLu-DQ

Didn't vote for South Park this time out because I was sticking with the 'vote for what actually aired in the '90s' thing. The first two seasons were pretty decent, but not great. The movie was off the charts great, and later seasons were spottily spectacular. "Scott Tenorman Must Die" might possibly have my favorite ending to any comedy thing ever.

xp good work all. still it deserved a lot better in the 00 poll

I think I put Brass Eye above The Day Today, though I'm not entirely sure. They were my number one and number three, though, in a top three where each one jostled for position. Also, TOO LOW. Much as I love Buffy, it really shouldn't be beating Chris Morris. And no hope for The Kingdom now - but I think that we should all repoll with it on the list with both names, as I for one had completely forgotten that it was called Riget.

i really have no idea what The Kingdom is

Danish miniseries directed by Lars Von Trier. Twin Peaks in a hospital is the quickie description.

Lars von Trier's drama/soap/strange mystical thing. I was about to attempt to sum it up, but couldn't quite get the right tone, so have a look at the wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_%28TV_miniseries%29

buffy is the worst thing on the entire list

You are so wrong.

xpost

^^^Wrong X 1000.

glad buffy made top 5. i haven't gone back to rewatch it since it ended, i should. sort of afraid of it not holding up, but i expect it does.

Eh. Some of it does and some of it is cringeworthy. But when it's great it's great.

The problem with Buffy is that the premise is so inherently ridiculous that it keeps the nonbelievers away and makes the fans doubt its quality when they've been away from it for a while. But it's all about the execution of that premise, and it's executed beautifully. I've seen the vast majority of it twice through, and it holds up. Also noteworthy for being a show that I've turned a number of people with a "What, that garbage?" attitude onto. Including myself, quite frankly.

4 - Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990-91
- 3850 points, 24 votes, 1 first place

http://criticalmas.smugmug.com/photos/455887214_bKhTX-M.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN7k-KjE8wI

Actually it got 2 first place

wow i was the only 1st place vote? that sorta surprises me.

xpost: aha!

if it had ended after the first 8, i think it would be basically perfect. (i like a lot of the craziness in season 2, but it got pretty scattershot.)

really must sit down and watch twin peaks, was too young for it first time round.

Wow. So low. That one I was expecting to be number one or two. So The Simpsons wins it, with Seinfeld and Father Ted below?

That would seem to be the top three, yes.

4 is so low? I would say too high, but I loathe Lynch.