these shows may not make every critic's
top 10 list for 90s tv
but that doesn't mean they aren't
deserving of praise for whatever reason
they're rarely part of the conversation
today but these forgotten 90s shows are
definitely worth a revisit airing from
1996 to 1997
nbc's dark skies was a sci-fi drama that
delved into the world of aliens
government conspiracies and 1960s pop
culture icons
starring eric close as congressional
aide turned alien hunter john lowengard
dark skies jumped on the sci-fi
bandwagon that fox's x-files had built
and wrote it for everything it could it
never quite caught on
and nbc canceled the show in its first
season in spite of series creators bryce
zabal and brent friedman having much
more story to tell
the show had at least one really good
thing going for it the hive
the invading alien race at the center of
the series conflict
comprised of parasitic creatures called
ganglions the hive would infiltrate by
means of attaching to a host's brain and
taking control of its body
some usual mass never seen it before
it's entrenched itself right in the
brain god
they began their invasion of earth in
the 40s when they hitched a ride with
the greys
those roswell aliens famous for human
abduction and experimentation
in the world of dark skies the greys are
just as much victims of the hive as
humans are
and everything we think we know about
them is a lie
dark skies takes this alien conspiracy
and partners it with historical
characters and events
everything from the beatles first
appearance on the ed sullivan show to
the jfk assassination now has ties to
the hive and the secret government
organization majestic 12.
one thing's for sure you'll never look
at cows the same way
erie indiana arrived at the onset of the
teen supernatural craze that took hold
in the mid to late 90s but unlike more
popular successors like 1995's
goosebumps or 1997's buffy the vampire
slayer
it was relegated to a one season run
between 1991 and 1992
the show centered on marshall teller who
moves with his family to erie indiana
population 16 661
and quickly discovers that things are
not as idyllic as they appear
if harley's in the mummy movie then
where's the
along with his best friend simon
marshall takes stock of all the
weirdness he runs into preserving
evidence in a locker that only he holds
the key to
the show may have been marketed to kids
but its appeal stretched much further
the show's stories vacillated between
quirky and genuinely dark
often finding space between gremlins joe
dante directed several of the series
best episodes including the premiere and
his signature comedic style set the tone
for the entire season
fox made an attempt to recreate the
series in 1998 with eerie indiana the
other dimension
but it like most copies couldn't
recapture the magic of the original
submitted for the approval of the
midnight society
i call this story
those were words that many a young
horror fan looked forward to hearing
saturday nights on
are you afraid of the dark following a
group of teens who meet in the woods
every week to share scary stories the
show was a part of nickelodeon's snick
lineup for four years between 1992 and
1997
although the series itself ran for a
total of seven seasons between 1990 and
2000 beginning first on the canadian
network
ytv are you afraid of the dark was a
well-written
jaunt through the greatest of childhood
horrors episodes like the tale of
laughing in the dark in which a funhouse
clown named
zebo comes after a kid who steals his
nose are to this day remembered as some
of the most terrifying
small screen stories of the decade three
years after its initial run ended in
1996 nickelodeon renewed the series for
two more seasons bringing in a mostly
new core cast of characters and set of
horror stories about life or death board
games cannibal neighbors and killer
digital pets
are you afraid of the dark got an
overhaul in 2019
its format changed to a three episode
mini-series that focused more on the
midnight society itself
and on a central villain that haunts its
members
when northern exposure premiered on cbs
in the summer of 1990 scripted dramas
had taken a back seat to 30-minute
comedies
shows like cheers and roseanne ruled the
airwaves while murder she wrote the top
drama at the time ranked 12th overall
just behind designing women
northern exposure was like none of these
the hour-long drama centered on joel
fleishman
a young new york physician bound by the
terms of a student loan agreement to
spend the first four years of his
professional life practicing medicine
in sicily alaska population 215.
the proverbial fish out of water joel
struggles to find his place among
sicily's residents but
over the course of several seasons he
eventually warms up to his new home and
its quirky
inhabitants created by joshua brand and
john falsey
the pair behind the critically acclaimed
80s medical drama saint elsewhere
northern exposure would go on to become
one of the most celebrated shows of its
time
garnering over 50 award nominations and
nearly 30 wins
including best drama series at both the
golden globes and the emmys
it managed to strike a balance between
its eccentricity and some
genuinely progressive storylines and it
introduced tv audiences to john corbett
an entire decade before he romanced
carrie bradshaw on sex in the city
in 1993 living single took the concept
of a group of friends living and working
together in new york and created a show
that wasn't just successful
it would set the stage for what much of
the television sitcom landscape would
look like in the following years
the show centered on a group of friends
who shared space in a brooklyn
brownstone
for five seasons living single tackled
everything from jealous co-workers to
married boyfriends
girl i can't believe brad is married you
think after god created dogs she'd know
creating men was redundant
the cast had incredible chemistry and it
showcased stories that hadn't been seen
on screen before
series creator yvette lee bowser had
experience in tv prior to living single
she'd worked on hanging with mr cooper
and the cosby show spin-off a different
world
but living single gave bowser the
opportunity to tell the stories she
really wanted to
she told the atlantic in 2018 it began
with the realization that if this
industry was really only going to cater
to
and embrace white people i wasn't going
to be here for long
so that was my impetus for getting into
the world of development and creation of
shows about us
today living singles influence is still
felt on shows like how i met your mother
or insecure
and bowser who produced more recent
series blackish and dear white people
continues to prove she's a force in the
industry
a year before the west wing and a decade
before the newsroom
aaron sorkin waded into the tv waters
with sports night a half-hour dramedy
that ran on abc for two seasons from
1998 to 2000.
sports night focused on the inner
workings of a nightly tv series that
looked a lot like espn's sportscenter
the show paved the way for the kind of
tv that sorkin would become famous for
in later years
the rapid fire dialogue moral speeches
and the hero versus the villain in
charge theme are
all there an apology you suggest you
take a moment tonight during your
broadcast he wants an on-air apology
he's suggesting to whom to you it's like
sorkin light
in that there are shades of work he
would go on to do but it isn't quite
there
blame it on abc sorkin apparently fought
with the network the entire time sports
knight was on the air and he certainly
didn't approve of the show's laugh track
which is often cited as one of its
greatest faults
sports night may not have been quite a
success in 1998 but it continues to have
something of a cult following today
maybe in the age of tv reboots this is
one we'll someday see again
just not on abc by the late 90s
story set in far-off universes where
human beings intermingled with alien
races of all shapes and sizes had become
a familiar thing
the star trek resurgence had already
produced three series warner brothers
had babylon 5 and showtime had launched
stargate sg1
it was only a matter of time before the
sci-fi channel would try to make its
mark on science fiction fantasy
television
in 1999 it did with farscape a bizarre
gem of a show produced by the jim henson
company
[Music]
i have no idea farscape told the story
of john crichton
an american astronaut who gets shot
through a wormhole and winds up taking
refuge aboard a living ship
populated by all manner of beings many
of those beings were portrayed by
puppets and the show as such
had a little bit of a dark crystal vibe
today farscape's impact on science
fiction television continues to be felt
following its cancellation the series
was given a three-hour mini-series in
2004 called the peacekeeper wars
and it has gone on to inspire books
comics and a video game
in 2014 there were rumblings of a movie
that never quite reached production
although series creators have never
given up hope that it will come to pass
following brothers big pete and little
pete the adventures of pete and pete
explored the trials and tribulations of
the average suburban upbringing in a way
that was anything but
the brothers confronted villains like
open face and paper cut
they were joined by friends like artie
the strongest man
in the world to take on solving
childhood mysteries that involved love
struck bus drivers and lonely ice cream
vendors
all while big pete served as our
relatable narrator giving us insight
into the weird world that was wellsville
the adventures of pete and pete was one
of those truly original totally bizarre
series that really managed to capture
the weirdness of the early 90s
both petunia little pete's forearm
tattoo and mom's plate
the metal plate in their mother's head
that could pick up and broadcast radio
stations
had their own opening credits but it was
weird in a way that felt absolutely
normal
series creator will mcrobb told huffpost
in 2013 that much of the show's success
came from its quote
love of misfits oddballs and the
semi-surreal nature of
everyday life and said there was such
intense emotional connection because
someone was speaking for them
and to them and experiencing all that
emotion and confusion
and happiness and sadness premiering at
the onset of the 90s was fox's parker
lewis can't lose a 30-minute comedy
about a high schooler his best friends
mikey and jerry and their never-ending
war with their principal
for three years fox managed to have one
of the most original totally out their
shows as part of its lineup
parker lewis can't lose was meta in the
same way as ferris bueller's day off but
it also boasted a surreal quality that
was completely unlike
anything else on the air the show might
not have been as popular as saved by the
bell at the time but it continues to
have a cult
following to this day and if the success
of later sitcoms like scrubs is any
indication
parker lewis was definitely doing
something right
luke busson's 1990 film nikita spawned
an entire franchise of movies and tv
series
including two film remakes the series
spin-off le femme nikita was a us-canada
collaboration that starred newcomer peta
wilson as the titular character
a woman falsely imprisoned for the
killing of a police officer who gets
recruited into section 1
a top-secret counter-terrorism
organization that forces her to bend to
its will
they own you now tonight's for sale
lefem nikita built a strong and fierce
fan base which kept the show on the air
for a total of five seasons between 1997
and 2001. even two decades later much of
the series holds up
its writing and editing don't feel
altogether tied to the 90s and the
show's performances are realistic
grounded and often moving wilson is
exceptional and lefem nikita was one of
the few series at the time that
portrayed a female character as a lead
action star in a way that was neither
cheesy
nor overtly sexual in 2010 the concept
was again retooled as nikita
this time for the cw and with maggie q
as its lead
although that version stayed on the air
for four seasons it never quite
recaptured the magic of the usa
production
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