My Top 13 90s TV Shows

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (97-03)

Buffy – a hot teen – leads a bunch of misfits – the scooby gang – who battle supernatural forces while dealing with the pressure of high school (and then college). Joss Whedon’s smart, funny series led to a spin-off (Angel). Buffy is a Slayer, one in a long line of young women chosen for a specific mission: to seek out and destroy vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy establishes a group of supportive friends who aids her in her battles with evil, including Willow, Xander and Cordelia. Her battles with evil are frequent, since Sunnydale, where Buffy and friends live, sits atop a gateway to the realm of the demons.
Joss Whedon’s smart, funny series had me hooked from the start and I bought the last four series and binge regularly. For me, there's no contest in the Spike vs Angel debate.

2. Frasier (93-04)

A contender for best sitcom of all-time, this series saw Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammer) vacate his Cheers Boston bar stool in favor of a Seattle radio station. At the Primetime Emmys, Frasier emerged with five wins in the Outstanding Comedy Series category, more than any other series in the '90s. Dr. Frasier Crane, a successful Boston therapist, moves to Seattle to get a new start on life; using his a radio talk show to relay his wit and wisdom to others, but at times he struggles with his own problems with his salt-of-the-earth father, his pretentious brother and his friends and co-workers.
This one gets second place because when we're in the caravan, we watch two or three epidodes every morning with a coffee and croissant to start the day.

3. Charmed (98-06)

Three Halliwell sisters discover they're descendants of a line of good female witches and are destined to fight against the forces of evil. Each has a special ability (stopping time, moving objects, seeing the future), and they can also combine their abilities into the "Power of Three" to fight demons, warlocks, and other evils. Their unique magical powers grow and evolve while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern-day San Francisco. Keeping their supernatural identities separate and secret from their ordinary lives often becomes a challenge, with the exposure of magic having far-reaching consequences on their various relationships.
One of the few series I own the entire boxset on DVD. At 179 episodes, it takes a while to binge the lot.

4. Babylon 5 (94-98)

Creator J. Michael Straczynski's ambitious and complex futuristic space opera charts five years in the lives of those aboard the titular 5-mile-long space station, where personal drama plays out against a tense political backdrop of looming war between bitter enemies the Centauri and the Narn. Starting with a straight-to-TV movie in 1993, "Babylon 5" carried on officially as a series from 1994 to 1998. Creator, showrunner, and future controversial "Spider-Man" writer J. Michael Straczynski mapped out his entire vision for what became the five-season story before he sold a studio or network on the concept. This was a highly unique approach, especially considering that long-term serialized TV drama was not as common as it is today.
This was the very first complete boxset I ever bought and it’s a substantial package. Comparisons between this and Star Trek’s DS9 are inevitable, but for me, Bab 5 did it better and I still have fond memories of the cracking feud between G’Kar and Londo. But my stand-out character was Garibaldi – anyone else get hints of Bruce Wilis’ John McClane?

5. The Vicar of Dibley (94-20)

The 100-something vicar of the small English village of Dibley has passed on. A new vicar has been requested for a replacement. What they get is Geraldine Granger, a non-traditional, chocolate loving, rock n' roll playing vicar. That is not what gets the citizens of Dibley in a uproar though. It's because she is a woman. Still, that doesn't stop Geraldine from proving her worthiness to the village. After time, the villagers (with the exception of influential David Horton) accept Geraldine as The Vicar of Dibley.
There's something warm, funny and very English about this series - I loved the gentle, wry humour. Memorable episodes include the one where she has several Christmas dinners - those Brussel sprouts! And the ones where Richard Armitage plays her love interest.

6. Absolutely Fabulous (92-12)

Brilliant in its uncensored bad behaviour and satirical humour, this series features Edina and Patsy, two hard-drinking, drug-taking, completely and outrageously selfish middle-aged women. Their cruel humour focuses on the hypocrisy of today's society, much to the chagrin of Edina's more moral and conservative daughter, Saffron. Perhaps the Baby Boomer's narcissism has panned out as a net negative for humanity, but at least the Boomers will always have "Absolutely Fabulous" to make their self-involvement and inability to move on from the 1960s look harmless and charming. Patsy and Edina – played by Joanna Lumley and show creator Jennifer Saunders — are influential members of the London fashion and media industries. However, they mostly drink too much and get themselves into predicaments. Edina continually disappoints her already traumatized daughter Saffron — a studious Gen Xer futilely hoping for a quiet life of intellectual rigor and emotional substance to contrast her mother's vacuous ignorance and frequent shouting.
The female answer to Men Behaving Badly - Saunders and Lumley are phenomenal - what's not to like?

7. Cracker (92-06)

This mystery series features the adventures of a psychologist employed by the police to aid them in profiling and questioning suspects. "Fitz" (Robbie Coltrane), an avowed drunkard and gambler, has an uncanny knack for boring directly into the hearts and minds of his subjects, many of whom might actually be saner than he is. The whole thing reeks class: the cast are uniformly superb, Jimmy Mc Govern's writing is by times disturbing and violent, by times deeply compassionate, and the overall tone of the piece is dark and moody, but with just enough acerbic humour to lighten the weight. Robert Carlyle's Albie in "To Be Somebody" is one of the standout characters of the entire series – the portrayal of a supposedly mindless football hooligan still haunts me to this day. And it’s fun that both Robbie Coltrane and his sidekick Geraldine Somerville turned up in the Harry Potter franchise as Harry’s mentor & mother.

8. Ballykissangel (96-01)

English priest Peter Clifford cheerfully leaves his inner city parish when assigned as Catholic chaplain to Ballykissangel, a desolate part of curate MacAnally's huge Irish country parish. Peter flippantly claimed a mountain-bike is made for such country but gets scolded you can't work here without a car, as an old man living on a lonely peak actually needs last rites. Clifford's atheist landlady Assumpta Fitzgerald asks his 'lay' marriage advice. Her locally dominant rich father, Brian Quigley, insists on installing a state-of-the-art Italian 'modern comforts' confessional chair, complete with fax, and source of various problems.
Another one of those warm, sunny (when it wasn’t raining) sitcoms I followed avidly after one of my good friends told me about the series her brother had written. Stephen Tompkinson played the priest superbly and there was real chemistry (on and off screen between him and Dervla Kirwan. The series also saw an early role for Colin Farrel as a bit of a bad lad (with the heart of gold).

9. The X Files (93-18)

Once upon a time, the world was not quite as obsessed with conspiracy theories, and grownups behaved more like sceptical FBI agent Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson) rather than her UFO-chasing partner, Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny). In one of the longest-running science fiction series in network TV history, FBI special agents investigate unexplained, mind-bending cases with potentially paranormal attributes known as "X-Files." Though the government is convinced that the outlandish reports are false, for most of the series, the pair stop at nothing to prove that "the truth is out there." Series creator Chris Carter also serves as executive producer of the thrilling pop-culture phenomenon. This assignment brings them into contact with UFOs, deep state conspirators, human-parasite hybrids, ghosts, Satanic cults, and a plethora of other abnormalities.
In my late teens, I became fascinated with strange phenomena such as spontaneous combustion, and couldn’t believe it when the first few episodes of this series tapped right into this stuff. Another one I wouldn’t miss.

10. Soldier, Soldier (91-97)

Drama following the life of the officers and men of the King's Own Fusiliers regiment, during their home lives, training exercises and battles. Whether it was the charisma of Robson Green and Jerome Flynn (who both went on to have stellar careers) as the irrepressible Tucker and Garvey, or the realistic storylines, this one was a winner. I must confess my memories are probably entangled with those of Ultimate Force, which add the advantage of more modern production values and several of the hard hitting storylines stay with me. So I resorted to reading a bunch of reviews for the show and a number of them from people who walked the walk praise it for its attention to detail and portrayal of the life of British soldiers and their families.

11. Star Trek: Voyager (95-01)

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Kathryn Janeway is the captain of the starship Voyager, which must travel across an unexplored region of the galaxy to find its way back home. On its way, the crew encounters different species they must deal with, but find that all their adventures only make them long for home. Filled with awesome characters like Seven of Nine and the Holographic Doctor, this series won me over completely with too many highlights to mention.

12. Friends (94-04)

Despite its advancing age, TV's most-watched show of 2001-2002 (and 2002's Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series) is still snappy. As the theme song says, Monica, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Joey, and Phoebe will always be there for us. Three young men and three young women -- of the BFF kind -- live in the same apartment complex and face life and love in New York. They're not above sticking their noses into one another's business and swapping romantic partners, which always leads to the kind of hilarity average people will never experience -- especially during breakups. Ross has liked Rachel since high school, but even now that they've outgrown their awkwardness and happen to live in the same city, the matter of will they or won't they remains in question throughout much of the series. Meanwhile, Chandler's sarcasm, Joey's traditional version of meat-headed buffoonery, and Phoebe's modern version of meat-headed buffoonery cause frequent dilemmas and misunderstandings.

13. Stars in their Eyes (90-03)

Musical talent show in which amateur lookalikes and soundalikes impersonate their favourite singing stars. Of all the reality/singing shows, this was my favourite - mostly because it never took itself seriously. And nine times out of ten, you would never have guessed which celebrity people would turn into. When the mist cleared, with the voice-over "Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be ..." the transformation was always stunning.

Bubbling under
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (93-99)

In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy. Commander Benjamin Sisko is in charge of a diverse crew including the irrepressible Quark, his nemesis the relentless Odo, the fiery Kira and the serene Dax – the nth reincarnation of an old soul. Sisko and the crew must fight off rival alien species who want control of Deep Space Nine because of its strategic position close to a wormhole, which allows speedy travel to the far reaches of space.

Xena Warrior Process (95-01)

Xena is a reformed warrior princess who travels around fighting evil. Gabrielle -- bard and friend -- keeps her company and grows from a simple farm girl into an Amazon warrior and Xena's soulmate and comrade-in-arms during the series; her initial naïveté helps to balance Xena and assists her in recognizing and pursuing the greater good. Lucy Lawless plays redemption-seeking ex-baddie Xena, who wanders the Earth seeking wrongs to right. Always at her side is trainee warrior Gabrielle, portrayed by Renee O'Connor. 

Quantum Leap (89-93)

Former scientist Sam Beckett finds himself trapped in time due to an experiment gone awry, leaping into the body of a different person each week. Al Calavicci, at first known only as The Observer, is Sam's holographic adviser -- he provides Sam with some details about his new identity and gives him guidance on how to help the people affected by his presence. But with little memory to help guide him, our hero is forced to bluff his way through many a wacky situation.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (93-97)

Pretty much every decade has its own live-action version of Superman and Lois Lane, and the '90s got Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. The four seasons of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" that aired on ABC from 1993 to 1997 have been described as "The Most '90s Show Ever" by Syfy. While we don't totally vouch for that idea, we can immediately see where it has some merit — especially with regards to Superman and his colleagues.

3rd Rock from the Sun (96-01)

John Lithgow won a boat-load of Primetime Emmys (six, to be precise) for heading the cast of this quirky 1996-2001 favourite about space aliens that land in Ohio, and try to pass for a suburban American family. The high commander of an alien expedition lands on Earth -- what he considers to be the least-important planet -- in human form as Dick Solomon. Along for the ride are his alien compatriots Harry, Sally and Tommy -- who is the eldest of the group but is now angrily trapped in a teen's body.