Television exploded in a huge way in the 1980s with cable going mainstream, and as a result, the TV shows that we got in the 1990s on the heels of that success shaped culture in major ways as boundaries continued to be pushed. Not only did creators start to have longer leashes than ever before, but the bar for what was acceptable to do on TV got pushed even lower and lower. Though puritanical interests balked at this every chance they got, every ’90s kid knows that in the end it made for great television and largely shaped who we are even now.
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Pop culture in the 1990s was a pretty singular experience. Even as the net got wider and more TV channels made their way to the air, new genres of music got released, and even more movie franchises got started, it was easy to stay on top of almost everything. The good news for elder millennials is that everything old is new again, and pop culture has finally gotten to a point where the things of our youth are officially old enough that the value of their nostalgia has a high price tag. As a result, many of these projects have returned in some form or another, but everyone knows you can’t mess with the original.
7) Are You Afraid of the Dark?
A mainstay of Nickelodeon programming in the 1990s, the anthology horror series Are You Afraid of the Dark? was a gateway experience for young fans that allowed them entry into the genre itself. Even though the imagery and stories that appeared throughout the series were catered toward a younger crowd, it seldom pulled its punches with the terrifying tales it spun (“The Tale of the Crimson Clown” and “The Tale of Dead Man’s Float” remain all-timers for a reason). Even if the episodes themselves didn’t leave a mark on the viewer, the opening credits remain one of the scariest things ever produced for children’s television.
6) Beavis and Butt-Head
Mike Judge’s original cartoon hit on MTV, defined the era in more ways than one. At its core, Beavis and Butthead was a satire that worked on two levels. The first was the societal niche that it managed to carve out for itself, becoming a generational screed that spoke to the audience in a way they felt in their core: “Yes, your parents are stupid. Yes, great music can make you feel better. Yes, nothing is above ridicule.” The second of course, is how it confirmed that sometimes all it takes to really make someone laugh is a kick to the groin or saying the word “bunghole” with your shirt pulled up over your head.
5) Rocko’s Modern Life
On paper, Rocko’s Modern Life is a series that fits well into the larger cartoon pantheon as its anthropomorphic animal cast feels primed for animated shenanigans. In execution, Rocko was one of the best examples of subtly stepping over the line of what you were allowed to put in a kid’s cartoon. Though its fellow Nickelodeon series Ren & Stimpy was far more overt in pushing boundaries, Rocko put many of its filthy jokes on full display in a way that the kid audiences seldom noticed. That’s not to say this element was the defining feature of the entire series, in fact, it was equally as funny to the kids watching it as any slightly older audience members who caught on to its sly wordplay.
4) The Secret World of Alex Mack
In true superhero fashion, the series follows the titular Alex Mack after she gains a variety of superpowers following an encounter with a mysterious chemical. Not only one of the first live-action superhero shows that was made especially for a younger audience, but one that featured a girl character in the lead role, The Secret World of Alex Mack remains an underrated ’90s show on the whole, but also one that fans couldn’t forget.
One of the main reasons that the series is such a defining series of the time is how it gew up with the audience. Though early episodes were lighter in tone and followed Alex Mac as she used her powers in slightly more personal ways and to comedic effect, the show matured with its audience. In later seasons, the tone got darker and Mac herself got involved in plot lines that were distinctly more skewed at a teen audience than a kid one.
Unlike most of the shows on this list, which were cancelled for budgetary or pearl-clutching reasons, The Secret World of Alex Mack had to end for a surprising reason: lead actress Larisa Oleynik decided she was just done with it.
3) The Tom Green Show
To pivot to an incredibly different side of 1990s TV, comedian Tom Green capped off the decade with perhaps the most boundary-pushing show of the era, and one that would have ramifications still being felt in culture today. In the era of TikTok, it seems trite to try and explain the appeal of Green’s “The Bum Bum Song,” or real-life pranks like Tiger-Zebra or Undercutters Pizza, but the argument can be made that without these cult comedy moments airing on television for the world to see that the current landscape of YouTubers doesn’t exist. Green’s series may have been niche at the time, but it planted a seed that allowed even bigger shows like Jackass to take center stage.
2) What a Cartoon!
Before Cartoon Network had a stable of its original programming that would define the 1990s, they had an animated anthology that would become the launch pad for all of these. Created by Fred Seibert, What A Cartoon! was populated with short pilot episodes of ideas from a slew of creators that would eventually give birth to The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow & Chicken, and Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Among one of its other produced pilots that failed to fully launch a series at the time was “Larry and Steve” by none other than Seth MacFarlane, a cartoon filled with funny banter and a talking dog that would become the precursor to none other than Family Guy (MacFarlane even voiced the dog in that one, and it sounds eerily familiar. All that in mind, What A Cartoon! has a claim to make as one of the most influential animated shows of all time.
1) X-Men: The Animated Series
Superhero cartoons defined the 1990s in a way unlike any other decade, and it’s tough to really say which one has had the most lasting impact out of all of them. That said, X-Men: The Animated Series offered something that Batman and Spider-Man didn’t: a robust ensemble cast with a diverse crew of characters so that every kid could find someone to root for. Not only did the series have one of the best rosters of characters at its disposal that made it a staple of the time but it came equipped with the most iconic opening theme song of the entire decade, one that is still being used today in the MCU.
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