90s Television Retrospective

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network You're listening

to the geek cast radio network unleash the geek

in you. i don't know what happened to steve he's

in between seasons yeah he's in between seasons

or maybe he's waiting to be renewed or come back

after like the futurama 50 millionth time steve

megatron is a tv show that just will not die

he just keeps coming back and coming back and

coming back much like most of our podcasts and

yeah he's kind of like the twin peaks of tv Not

really But yeah, we're here to talk 90s television

in episode 94. This is our 90s kind of spotlight

thing here on GCR We have several different topics

here. I'm just gonna run down those really quickly

TV transitions from the late 80s to the 90s What

were you watching in the 90s TV water cooler

talk favorite 90s TV theme songs and 90s comebacks

90s TV comebacks come So yeah, and in between

that Optimus solo has various year -by -year

things We're gonna go give you five years of

news at a time and it's gonna come in between

a couple of these segments So he'll talk about

stuff year by year from 90 to 94 and then 95

to 99. Oh Boy the 90s and television Good times.

Yeah So the whole thing about TV transitioning

from the late 80s into the 90s like Everyone

associates full house with being a 90s show,

but it started in 87 Yeah, it took up to like

the third or the fourth season for it to really

get its ground So I guess 89 90 you might say

but I mean, you know that show One of the leading

90s catchphrases shows of the night, you know,

you've got it dude all nuts How rude have mercy?

Like, you know all of that. Oh my lanta like

all of that is attributed to full house Right,

I think it's more not as far as when Full House

began as far as its first air date I think it's

more about what Full House represents because

it's much more in tune with the types of shows

that we got in the 90s Compared to the types

of shows that we got in the 80s at least for

certain at least for that genre. Yeah So it seems

like a 90 show because it fits more in with the

likes of you know family matters and home improvement

and that type of show versus You know the wonder

years and family ties and growing pains and that

type of stuff So it's definitely a representation

of the shift that we see kind of transitioning

from the 80s into the 90s with the with the sitcoms

You know from 87 onwards. I mean most of the

shows that started then were transition shows

They they they kind of really were You know you

take a look at a giant Star Trek the next generation

I had forgotten that that started in 87 I until

I went back and started I started I have not

had a chance to actually watch anymore, but Few

months before I met who was going to be my future

wife and Karen. I had gone on Netflix I'm like,

oh Star Trek the next generation is here. Oh,

I kind of want to go back and see what that was

like from the beginning I think I'm like up to

episode four or five of season one and like Wow

Just yeah I've been wanting to go back through

and re -watch all those, but I wanted to wait

until I could do something in association with

that. I've seen every Next Generation episode

probably at least three times, but it's been

probably, I don't know, at least a decade since

I've seen any of them. go back and go episode

by episode through there. But yeah, that's another

kind of a show that started, yes, in the 80s,

but is way more of a sign of the types of shows

that we're getting in the 90s. Because you didn't

really have much for science fiction and fantasy

pre 1990. So, I mean, you had the original Star

Trek show, but that was a long time before and

it was a very different show. And you had a few

things like the bionic woman, six million dollar

man, and some of the comic book type. Adaptations,

but other than that you get like the Star Trek

the next generation is what kind of Issue or

you know kind of set the stage for a lot of science

fiction that we get in the 90s Whether it's other

Star Trek's whether it's Babylon whether it's

Stargate whether it's all those types of things

are because of the next generation Absolutely,

you know like you said stuff like Stargate SG

-1 Sequest DSV even though it lasted a few seasons

You know all of that stuff Yeah, I got even X

files in a way. I mean, it's more of a little

bit of a supernatural thing But something that

will set the stage from that I mean the only

thing that I can think of even in the 80s That

would be close to that would be something like

a quantum leap Which is also a crossover show

that started in the late 80s and went into the

early 90s But other than that there really wasn't

much prior to that outside of the ones we already

mentioned. So the 90s is interesting because

we do see a shift in the types of shows we're

getting, whether it's sitcoms like we just said

with Full House, whether it's science fiction,

the Star Trek The Next Generation. And another

thing, do you remember the world before Law and

Order? Yes, I do. Because 1990 is when Law and

Order debuted. And we've never had a year since

that hasn't had a Law and Order or a Law and

Order spinoff show. I don't think we've had a

year that hasn't had at least one of those things

have a new episode. Yeah and right now the only

one that's still going is SVU. but it was like

again another sign of things to come because

you know we didn't really have a ton of the the

cops and the and the lawyer type shows and we

got a ton of them in the 90s and then it kind

of really sets the stage for even more of them

in the in the 2000s yeah before law and order

the only one that i could remember and that's

just more 80s than 90s i think i think it did

transition over into the 90s because i think

it went on for a few years but the only like

law show i remember was la law There was no Boston

Legal, there was no this, there was no that,

there was no Ali McBeal, there was no whatever.

And also when it comes to like the more detective

or investigative things like we get with like

Criminal Minds NCIS CSI all that type of stuff

kind of set the stage from law and order because

before that you had like You had action shows

like you had your Miami vice or you had your

you know those types of shows like the more action

oriented but not so much on the investigative

side or the forensic side or the the law side

Yeah, you look at any of them like MacGyver like

Miami Vice Knight Rider air wolf a team They're

all more Hawaii five. Oh, yeah I don't want to

say necessary. Well, Hawaii five. Oh, I wouldn't

really lump in with yes It is an action show,

but I'm talking about like more of like the lone

wolf for the team type of shows where it's all

action like Michael Knight While he does work

for the foundation for law of law and government

like he's not really a he was a cop He's not

a cop anymore. Now that Michael Knight kind of

thing same thing with string fellow Hawk He's

doing super secret government work with with

the firm and and and all of that with airwolf

and whereas, you know Hawaii 5 -0 is it's two

cops in Hawaii. Yeah, you know and yeah, like

law and order like it just oh my god that show

yeah just that show was just it didn't matter

when it's like obviously it doesn't matter when

it started but like all of the varying cast members

in that show and a lot of the ones that stuck

on for as long as they did like the fact that

other than one of the affects movies it was either

affects or affects to i forget which one i think

it was the first one uh... jerry or box start

in that as as a bad guy outside of that movie

the only thing i know jerry or box from is lenny

briscoe in law and order i mean that's a that's

what i know him as and just Wow Just you know

looking at that show and you know, Jesse L Martin

playing Ed Green his partner Jesse's now, you

know Joe West on the flash like when they announced

that like back when the flash started four years

ago or something or whatever it is now I was

like, hey, it's Ed Green from law and order.

What's he doing in the flash? But it was so friggin

cool Yeah, I agree for sure. It's interesting

though when you're looking at the 90s though

because you basically have probably about the

first I don't know 90 91 92 maybe Maybe into

93 those are kind of the transitions years Those

are things that have a lot of ties to still stuff

that was going on in the 80s late 80s And the

kind of the Australian end of new stuff So you

have like the first two three years of of the

90s that are more like that transition period

and then it's not until probably about 93 94

where you start to get stuff that really kind

of is formulating as something you would remember

specifically from the 90s. Like it's a thing

of that time. It's a thing, you know, that's

representing the culture and the lifestyles of

that way. And then it feels like you get even

a little bit of a different thing towards the

late 90s, where we get a whole different breed

of shows. So it's kind of interesting how it

lays down because it's almost like in three chunks,

like the earlys, the mids and the lates have

very distinct shows that are that are happening,

debuting, etc. But it's interesting, though,

you're talking about. Oh, go ahead. Good. Well,

you look at. late to very powerhouse shows from

the eighties say what you will about the man

now whatever i still don't care and if you want

to take my opinion outside of the overall gcr

network opinion because the show is still a show

that taught me as i grew up yes bill cosby is

eight monster whatever it doesn't take away from

the character that he portrayed in a television

show over one dozen years ago now impact of that

show you exactly that's that's my whole point

about the cosby show just because he did completely

fucked up in stupid shit his personal life does

not erase the fact of what that show taught us

as kids but that show ran from eighty four ninety

two sort of cheers to the biggest powerhouses

of the eighties and you know out of all the characters

in cheers folks Who would you have thought that

they would give a spin -off series to? What character

would you have thought that they would have done

that? That started in the 90s with Fleischer.

And I'm sure that they'll have all the money

they need while Sandra goes to law school. Honey,

this is gonna work out. Mom? Yes? I'm not going

to law school. What? I decided not to go to law

school. What do you mean, you decided not to

go to law school? Well, this is our dream, and

so I'm going to get a temporary job until the

wilderness store opens, and then I'll be working

side -by -side with my husband. Sandra, what

are you saying? You have always wanted to go

to law school. You've never talked about anything

else. I changed my mind. Change it back! After

all the money we spent sending you to Princeton,

Sandra, you owe us $79 ,648 .22! I want my money

now. I'm not going anywhere until I get my money.

I'll take whatever she's got. Empty her pockets.

I want to know now. No, I'm not having this.

No. Well, really, both of us, we have to be calm.

You calm down. If Elvin thinks that he is going

to come in here... and drag my baby off into

some hair -brained business game and ruin what

is potentially the greatest legal mind of this

century he's gonna have me to deal with and then

he can come to you for treatment I understand

and I agree with what you're saying but you just

said to me why don't we give them a year and

if it doesn't work then they can reapply What

I want to know is, how is it that you get to

rant and rave and I'm the one who has to be calm?

Because that is my baby in there. But that's

my baby too! No, Cliff, you don't understand,

honey. You did not have that child. I had that

child. I was the one who was on that table screaming,

take it out! And if it takes last breaths in

my body, Sandra is going to become a lawyer!

Yeah, okay. What do you want to do? Oh, it's

very simple. She'll divorce him. Sandra is in

love with the boy, dear. Well, then you take

Elvin. I take him? Yes, you take him. What am

I gonna do with him? You take him on a long trip

in the country and drop him off. Listen to yourself,

Bob. You follow her to work, you eavesdrop on

her calls, you open her mail... The minute you

started doing these things, the relationship

was over. Thank you for your call. Roz, I think

we have time for one more. Yes, Dr. Crane. On

line four, we have Russell from Kirkland. Hello,

Russell. This is Dr. Frasier Crane. I'm listening.

Well, I have been feeling sort of, um, you know,

depressed lately. My life's not going... We're

just about at the end of our hour. Let me see

if I can cut to the chase by using myself as

an example. Six months ago, I was living in Boston.

My wife had left me, which was very painful.

Then she came back to me, which was excruciating.

On top of that, my practice had grown stagnant,

and my social life consisted of Well, hanging

around a bar night after night. You see, I was

clinging to a life that wasn't working anymore,

and I knew I had to do something, anything. So

I ended the marriage once and for all, packed

up my things, and moved back here to my hometown

of Seattle. Go Seahawks. I took action, Russell,

and you can too. Move, change, do something.

If it's a mistake, do something else. Will you

do that, Russell? Will you? Russell, I think

we lost it. No, we cut to the news 30 seconds

ago. Oh, for crying out loud. I finally bare

my soul to all of Seattle and they're listening

to Chopper Dave's rush hour roundup. Well, the

rest of the show was pretty good. It was a good

show, wasn't it? Here, your brother called. Roz,

in the trade we call that avoidance. Don't change

the subject. Tell me what you think. Did I ever

tell you what this little button does? I am not

a piece of Lalique. I can handle criticism. How

was I today? Let's see. You dropped two commercials.

You left a total of 28 seconds of dead air. You

scrambled the station's call letters. You spilled

yogurt on the control board and you kept referring

to Jerry with the identity crisis as Jeff. To

say my brother called. So I said to the gardener,

Yoshi, I do not want a zen garden in my backyard.

If I want to rake gravel every ten minutes to

maintain my inner harmony, I'll move to Yokohama.

Well, this offends him, so he starts pulling

up Maris' prized camellias by the handful. Well,

I couldn't stand for that, so I marched right

into the morning room and locked the door until

he cooled down. Tell me you would have handled

it differently, Frasier. Oh, I'm sorry, Niles.

I didn't realize you'd stop talking. You haven't

heard a word I said. Niles, you're a psychiatrist.

You know what it's like to listen to people prattling

on endlessly about their mundane lives. Touche.

And on that subject, I heard your show today.

And? Yep. Well, I mean when you just look at

the types of pre 1990 shows that ended in these

first like three to four years You know whether

it was 80 shows or whether it was shows that

was even longer than I mean the 90s The night

early 90s saw the ends of a lot of iconic shows

I'm just gonna run down a few of them just to

get your your feedback on it But some of them

we've already mentioned, but you have like Miami

Vice Alf my two dads Mr.. Belvedere Charles and

charge in the first year second year you have

the end of China Beach 21 Jump Street and the

long -running Dallas ended in 1991 And then here's

where the real transition transition goes because

92 and 93 is like when all the 80s shows end

Basically, and then you're you have a ton of

shows starting so look at the shows that ended

in either 1992 or 1993 growing pains Who's the

boss the Cosby show Golden Girls? MacGyver, Hee

Haw, Night Court, Doogie Howser, Major Dad, Quantum

Leap, Wonder Years, Knott's Landing, Cheers,

Life Goes On, Designing Women, A Different World,

Perfect Strangers, and Saved by the Bell. That's

all 92 and 93 endings. So like that was kind

of the the end of the 80s. Like 1992, 93 is when

all of those shows left the airwaves, at least

in new, you know, as far as new episodes. Yeah,

absolutely. So I mean that's crazy and that's

what kind of sets the stage for the types of

shows we get like because the same ones same

types of shows that are starting those years

we have stuff like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman,

Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Walker Texas Ranger,

The Axe Files, Lois and Clark, Frasier you just

mentioned, NYPD Blue, Boy Meets World, Grace

Under Fire, The Nanny, Diagnosis Murder, Mad

About You, Picket Fences, Melrose Place, and

Mashed Bridges. Yeah, so that's the types of

stuff that's starting and taking the place of

all of those other shows that just kind of went

out. Well, Nash Bridges was a little bit later.

No, it was 96. Yeah, 96. I was talking about

92, 93. Oh, 92, 94. OK, yeah. Yeah, like when

all those 80 shows go and then all these new

shows come in. So it's kind of crazy. Yeah, the

fact that Matt, about you and that I love that

show, like I quite literally love that show.

Me too. I was in the garment district, and I

got run down by one of those loopy bike messengers.

Again? She came out of nowhere. I jumped in the

street to avoid getting hit by a rack of summer

casuals, and the next thing you know, bro, I'm

lying in a dumpster with last year's irregulars.

Calm down. You're okay now. Oh, no, I'm not.

I mean, I could have died. It was a brush with

death. I literally, I saw my life flash before

my eyes. What was I wearing? I'm sorry? Well,

you weren't there. What do you mean, I wasn't

there? Well, it happens very fast, you know?

And then, truthfully, I only got as far as high

school. Obviously, I must not be that important

to you. Well, excuse me for not thinking of you

as I hurdle to my death. If I were about to die,

I'd think about you. Well, we're about to find

out. If I was to ever do a separate TV podcast

outside of remote control or telecast, somehow

I would find a way to do a mad about podcasting

or something. Yeah, there's there's a couple

shows I would do and that's one of them. Yeah.

But like that show, the relationship that Paul

and Jane just just I can't like there's one episode

I kind of consistently reference to everyone,

even my wife. It's the episode where it's it's

them in bed. And Murray, the dog, is chasing

this fake mouse. All that you see is Paul and

Jamie's bed, them in bed, Murray coming in, jumping

up over the bed, running into the bathroom, and

you hear a crash against the wall. Because it's

letting you believe that the dog has crashed

into the wall from chasing this invisible mouse.

It's just so funny. Yeah, that's good stuff for

sure. And some other interesting things here

that we also got with the 90s transition here

was in the realm of some of the non scripted

shows Well, I guess they are still somewhat scripted

but take Saturday Night Live for example You

can kind of look at that as a transition from

the 80s to the 90s because 1990 saw a brand new

cast 1990 is the beginning of Chris Farley Tim

Meadows Adam Sandler Robbie Schneider All those

guys begin in 1990 Chris Rock Chris Rock, that

was a brand new cast in 1990. So it's really

a transition from the old school Saturday Night

Live to what we had growing up in our generation.

So interesting stuff there for sure. Yeah, absolutely.

All right, where to next? I mean, if. If you

want to go over a little bit of the news of those

first four or five years. Yeah, the first five.

So 90 to 94 in 90s television news. Well, one

thing that you're going to see here in the 90s

is obviously the expansion of TV in general,

because we have a ton of new channels that are

making their beginnings in the 90s. So that's

part of it. Obviously, the biggest change, which

I know it was kind of in existence before, but

the biggest thing that happened in the 90s was

Fox becoming a major player. And that is very

symbolic of the types of shows that we get in.

the 90s because Fox is what started to break

the mold and put out content that the other networks

would have never put out. Other channels that

started here in the first five years or so we

had E Entertainment Television, The Family Channel,

Comedy Central, Court TV which would eventually

become True TV, The Sci -Fi Channel, Food Network,

Encore Stars, FX, The Game Show Network, and

Turner Classic Movies all started in those first

five years of the 90s. So, any comment on those

before I say more news? Do you know which year

specifically FX started? That would have been

94. Wow. According to... Now, some of that stuff

starts in different names and different things,

but as far as FX, broadcasting its first show

was 94. Wow. Okay, so it broadcasted its first

show or its first movie? First program, regardless

of what it was. Okay, because, yeah, it would

have taken them then eight years? Yeah, from

what'd you say? You said 1994. So yeah, it would

have taken them eight years or so to start their

original programming, because in 2002, The Shield

debuted March 8th, I believe it's March 8th,

2002. Why I have that date bored into my mind

is because that, and obviously this is not 2000s

and television, that'll be later, but like that

first episode just blew me away. Right, right.

Anyway, but yeah, so some of these other ones

like I remember E in the 90s kind of like it

was What's his name Steve with Jules? Yeah? Then

you had the Henson guy John Henson yeah on there

I guess he was might have been on Comedy Central,

but sci -fi channel, too I remember that because

it was a you know that was with the rearing of

Transformers episodes Sci -fi channel that was

one of the first ways I could catch it after

the 80s But definitely interesting on some of

these some of these channels Another thing that

kind of happened in this first five years and

kind of is another symbolic thing of the 90s

was this seemed to be like the first time that

networks were really trying to advertise or promote

programming blocks. As far as stuff like you

know TGIF or you know different blocks They all

they all came up with different names for a set

of days or for certain channels You know, that's

why we had like the Seinfeld mad about you Frasier

type thing, you know later on we get it with

friends and Seinfeld etc. So, I mean they did

different stuff like that And along with that

how about some kids programming not cartoons,

but kids programming the premiere of snick in

1992 Gotta love the old -school snick cuz Smith

crap That was where good Clarissa yeah explains

it all eatin Pete and hey, dude, and you hated

Pete and Pete We did that episode on the telecast

years ago now you hated Pete and Pete. It's no

hate I don't care what you say that theme song

is that theme song is still cool as hell Hey,

Sandy, and we can definitely I won't agree with

that, but we can definitely agree on are you

afraid of the dark? That was that was a cool.

Maybe maybe you're not gonna I liked it better

when Deadpoll society did it Another another

thing that happened and you can blame the 90s

on I guess is the death of the Saturday morning

cartoons Which doesn't have a lot to do we're

not talking about cartoons today But what happened

in place of that was all of the programming surrounding

stuff like saved by the bell California dreams

and all of those other teen Shows that were did

starting to debut on Saturday mornings on the

network. So that is some directly related to

the 1992 -93 area. You talk about the channel

blocking and things like that and blocks of content.

I still to this day remember, obviously we all

remember, TGIF was ABC's, thank God it's Friday.

Must See TV is either Thursday or Tuesday or

whatever night NBC decided to have it on. It

usually ended up being a Thursday night on Must

See TV. Don't remember what Fox had as a slogan,

but there was a few of them that you go back

and try to find some of them But there was a

there was quite a few that tried to do like little

things where it was like oh This is our set of

shows that are somewhat like they were all somewhat

similar in like at least genre or something of

that nature How about the I just had to throw

this in because it has somewhat of a loose connection

to other stuff We like here at the network, but

the first got milk ad ever aired in 1993 and

guess who it was directed by James Hetfield Michael

Bay. Oh wow He directed the first got milk Commercial

in 1993. So I had to throw that in there. Um

last couple things here. Another thing that you

can pinpoint to the 90s How about the beginning

of reality television the real world 1992? Yep

That's when that started and then the only other

things I have real quick for you are Kind of

the transition in the late -night game because

Johnny Carson has his last appearance on his

show in 1992 And then we have of course the likes

of Jay Leno and David Letterman and that type

of stuff taking over So that was a big thing

when it comes to late -night TV in the 90s and

now There's only Two sets of hosts that I remember

the most. Okay. Yeah, Jay Leno sure great whatever

but the two sets of hosts where it's the host

and then his sidekick or whatever partner you

want to call is Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon

and David Letterman with Paul Schafer. Yeah,

everybody else like Like that whole schtick of

the sidekick guy or the musician like okay Jimmy

Fallon today has his his roots band and whatever

else and I don't know what Kimmel has I have

no idea what what what Colbert has on the late

show now but like that whole stick of the sidekick

and then the band or the sidekick with the band

it kind of died with Johnny I mean Jay didn't

really have that it was all about Jay it wasn't

really like I know he had a band leader person

that he kind of turned to but like the only person

that kept that up until he left or until it switched

over to Colbert, it was Letterman. Like Letterman

and Schaeffer were the last great TV late night

team. Right. But the big difference was obviously

the fact that forever it was just Johnny Carson.

It seemed like that was just the name. And now

all of a sudden we had we had all of these different

people because Conan started to show and Leno

and Letterman and all these different people

started getting the game. So it really changed.

It was no longer everybody sitting down to watch.

You know after the kids go to bed everybody's

watching Johnny Carson before they go to bed

now you had choices and different selection Which

is a symbol of the 90s because with the more

expanding channels you start to have a lot more

choices Last thing here for this half the the

debut obviously of Monday Night Raw And Monday

night show in 93 and 95 so it really kind of

changed the the entertainment as far as wrestling

goes when it came to What was available on TV

to watch? Celebrated 25 years just recently this

this past January. Yeah, and that coincided again

with another another kind of like passing of

the torch because not only did Monday Night Raw

debut in 1993 92 Was the last appearance on TV

of honor the giant before he died in I think

was a WCW event of some sort So it's kind of

like that old school leading into the new school

when it came to wrestling on TV as well All right,

what were you watching in the 90s? No, to be

fair, I tried to be as good as I could as far

as not including stuff that I watched in repeats

or on syndication in later years. So I'm not

going to say that I watched certain things, even

though I have since then. I tried to think about

exactly what I was watching back then, and that

was fairly easy because I watched almost all

of these programs with my mom. It'll look that

big It's just a trigger the nitrates in that

barrel go off the whole building will blow These

ties are made of plastic. They've got a little

melting point. How much time we got? Well, enough

time to defuse it. Well, how about a boat? I

said we run like hell. Dang. Dang? until I was

old enough and made the transition probably about

95 ish because by that point I was in my teens

14 somewhere around there and that's when I remember

and that's when I remember being in our basement

watching TV by myself which gave me more of a

choice to watch stuff that maybe my mom wouldn't

approve of including Monday Night Raw anyways

but in the beginning of the 90s the kind of this

family shows that we watched together we watched

a whole lot of murder she wrote I was glued to

MacGyver, like everybody should know. The Young

Riders was a western show that we kind of watched.

My mom really loved the emergency show Rescue

911. They kind of did real life, you know, stories

about what that was going on. We watched a lot

of Quantum Leap, The Cosby Show, a ton of Star

Trek The Next Generation, and then the only other

one I'd probably put in there. Would be the father

Dowling mysteries. It was like a mystery show

kind of lay in the vein of like Colombo Perry

Mason that type of stuff and it was a but it

was a nun in a And I don't know if he was a priest

but it was it was two people in a church that

were solving mysteries It was the most bizarre

show but but we watched that and then a little

bit of full house, too That was for the first

half of 90s. Yeah See, I don't know if I can

talk about first half second half But again first

half of the 90s the first five years Like you

said there's gonna be some holdover from the

a like, you know from the 80s and things like

that Like you already said Cosby show stuff like

that MacGyver Better say that fall guy. I think

fall guy didn't last that long into the 90s,

but if he did it all But for me, it's more about

like what happened within the 90s like as like

the shows were kept debuting like Say what you

will I don't care. I I own this and I don't give

a shit what anybody thinks I was a fiend for

Melrose place See that well represents the transition

from watching those shows with my mom like when

I'm like nine ten eleven ish to when I'm like,

you know in the 12 13 14 15 when I start watching

shows on my own because that's when I started

to get into My so -called life party of five

New York undercover You know a little bit of

Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place that type

of stuff So that's really when I kind of started

watching more I guess not adult stuff but more

stuff that wasn't just family -oriented Yeah

for the 90s I was between ages 10 and 19 from

90 to 99 so Like everything just kind of it didn't

it doesn't run together but it kind of does at

the same time it's right one of those flip -floppy

things like all the new shows that were debuting

and things like that plus all the you know some

of these holdovers like like I mentioned before

Sequest DSV debuting in 90 993 you know We've

had Star Trek. That's that's great. Other than

Jacques Cousteau. I don't really remember any

other military type show or whatever Being set

underwater being on a submarine kind of a thing

and that's what was so cool about DSV Right.

Well, like I said, it only lasted like two or

three seasons You know, like I said, Beverly

Hills 90210 Melrose Place party of five better

not forget that one Sadly it only lasted one

season time of your life Sadly that was a train

wreck You're gonna cover was a show that I really

liked that didn't get much buzz either but and

that was the same type of the time that we were

watching stuff like as a family more of the I

was watching dr. Quinn medicine woman with my

mom. Um, we watched friends as a family We watched

a lot of ER and Chicago Pope Okay, so I We differ

on a lot of things if you've listened to us for

the past nine ten years folks you'll know that

Kevin and I our opinions are vastly in the opposite

directions of each other most of the time so

I've said this to you before and I've said this

on shows before I Usually pick one or the other.

I don't end up watching but like Transformers

and GI Joe I started watching Transformers first.

I've seen G .I. Joe, I've seen the old G .I.

Joe cartoon episodes plenty of times. I know

what it is. I know who the voice actors are,

things like that. But I've never actually gone

through and watched every single episode of the

G .I. Joe cartoon. Whereas Transformers, I watched

it all. We can fix that. Well, yeah, eventually

we will. Over on Tooncast. But anyway, point

is, is that It's a choice for me. If I'm presented

with two things, I will pick one and I will ignore

the other completely half the time. Friends versus

Seinfeld. This could be a GCR Wars episode, okay?

The only episode of Friends that I absolutely

remember is the one where they go see the Hootie

and the Blowfish concert. The rest of it, I don't

care about the characters. I don't care about

the show itself. I just don't. I was more...

mad about you than I was friends. My point here

is I picked Seinfeld over Friends because I felt

Seinfeld was funnier than Friends is. I just

felt like they were completely different types

of shows. They didn't occupy the same space for

me because Friends was much more about the younger,

single, you know, people trying to figure things

out where Seinfeld always felt like more mature

and even though they might have been some of

the same ages, it felt like an older group for

some reason. The ones that occupied the same

space for me would have been Chicago Hope and

ER and I was a much bigger fan right off the

bat of Chicago Hope. Mainly because it had Mandy

Patinkin and Adam Arkin in there, as well as

a lot of other people. This had Thomas Gibson,

Hector Elizondo, Mark Harmon. So it had a lot

of good people, but I really loved Manny Patinkin.

So I was a much bigger fan of Chicago Hope. It

just didn't last as long as ER. So ER was the

one that everybody remembers. But it was that

new kind of hospital drama show that we hadn't

had before. And they've tried to repeat that

so many times with different shows about firefighters,

medical people, et cetera, et cetera. They're

still doing it today without the success that

ER had. It's kind of interesting. Okay. Yeah.

ER had very much success, but ER was more for

our parents than it was for us in my mind. Yeah.

I don't know if I go on Hulu. The only reason

why I keep plugging Hulu and Netflix's things,

because I remember TV shows, but like ER right

now, all of it is on Hulu. All 10 seasons or

however many seasons there was. You know, you

say that... the medical stuff and the police

stuff and the law stuff. Yeah, it is all still

going on today. You know why? Because Dick Wolf

got out of the law and order game, and he went

to Chicago PD, Fire, and Med. And I don't care

what anybody says. I have yet to watch Med, but

Fire and PD are some of the best modern day cop

and firefighting shows I've seen. Like, I would

put those up against anybody. any other show

it's just there's just so much what else was

i watching and you're watching the nash bridges

and walker texas ranger oh my god like i know

again i don't care like i'll leave it admit to

the other one that nobody really remembers martial

law with samo hong like those three shows were

the cbs friday night lineup at one point or another

yeah um you know finally okay so Ten or eleven

or however many years ago. No, it was 2001. Oh

god. It's longer than that It's cheese. So there's

a little website folks that started in 2001 I

actually interviewed these these people that

run the website. It's called TV shows on DVD

I interviewed them for their great team anniversary.

Absolutely great website. Love that website TV

shows on DVD calm Ever since they launched their

website there has been a petition there has been

something there has been whatever to get nineteen

ninety fours viper on dvd visual entertainment

fire v e i finally frigging did it and i've been

dying to get my hands on that dvd set i would

i'll mall it i'll well just be like a bullet

china shop somebody holds that up to me anything

gets in my way i will run the fuck over that

that dvd because i love the viper viper was essentially

almost the new Knight Rider without it being

a talking car because there was no Knight Rider

in the 90s. I don't care where anyone says there

was no Knight Rider in the 90s. That team shit

doesn't exist. That movie. TV movie. No, the

TV movie is fine. Knight Rider 2000 TV movie

is fine. Knight Rider 2010 TV movie had nothing

to do with Knight Rider. It was just the name.

But there was a TV series called Team Knight

Rider. 1997. I also do remember catching a few

of these other shows only because they aired

either right before or right after Monday Night

Raw. And that was the likes of, I think, Jag,

La Femme Nikita, Hercules, and Xena the Warrior

Princess. Maybe not all on the same channel,

but they were either happening right before or

right after Raw on different channels, Pacific

Blue. Those are all types of things that I would

catch just because they came on either before

or after that. Pacific Blue. I loved it. It's

Fight Cops. I love that show. I love Pacific

Blue. Oh my God. That and Silk Stockings. Oh

yeah, Silk Stockings. With Rob Estes. I remember

that simply because there was a point in 94 where

I was in the hospital for about a week. Reasons

why doesn't need to be it doesn't need to be

I don't remember but anyway I was in the hospital

for about a week in 1994 and I would end up watching

USA up all night Stockings would be the one show

that they show it like one two three or four

in the morning Yep, we'd be also I wasn't watching

as much TV in the late 90s because kind of that

party of five You know my so -called life section

kind of 95 96 97 that I kind of got out of TV

for a minute because I was more towards like

a junior senior high school freshman in college

so I didn't watch a lot of it but there definitely

was a shift in the types of sitcoms again and

a lot of popular ones that other people did watch

even though I didn't watch them so you know late

90s gave you the stuff like I'm gonna just wrote

run down a roster of them we have third rock

from the Sun seventh heaven everybody loves Raymond

spin city suddenly Susan just shoot me You had

Dharma and Greg, Sex and the City, Dawson's Creek,

That 70s Show, King of Queens, Will and Grace,

Felicity Charmed, and Judging Amy, some of those

types of shows. I never really watched any of

those, but I know a lot of them are popular.

I remember watching bits and pieces of Judging

Amy. After Mad About You left, or went off air

after seven years or so, Dharma and Greg was

the new Mad About You for me. Yeah. Dharma and

Greg, I watched that. I can watch that show forwards

and backwards and in between. I know that that's

another one of those shows that I absolutely

love and know to the back of my hand. When I

told my wife Karen, I said, you know darman greg

did make a comeback she's like really when what

i said they had a guest appearance on the ninth

season opener of two and a half men which is

after the after charlie and the tiger blood and

all that bullshit right You also got that wave

of more science fiction and fantasy to kind of

take the void of next generation and deep space

nine kind of leaving because you had stuff like

sliders you had One second here. You had a couple

other Star Trek variations. Obviously you have

Buffy Like I said, you have Stargate SG -1 Earth

final conflict you have far scape Roswell angel

things like that that were kind of coming up

to Watched Buffy for about the first three seasons

once they went through the graduation of high

school at the end of season three That was like

at the point when angel left to go do his own

show Angel is another one forwards and backwards

like Buffy I I'd love to be I'd love to go back

and then try again on that but like angel I've

watched all five seasons of that like just all

the time like yeah makes no no never mind at

all i love that show absolutely love that show

yeah for sure there's just so much in the 90s

folks we're not even covering all of it uh the

other big thing in the 90s was the tv water cooler

talk when you would hear about people going into

work and being around an actual water cooler

not just sitting down and talking but i remember

various places that my uncles other family members

of work they would say oh yeah we were doing

the tv water cooler talk and we were talking

about whatever we watched last night kind of

a thing yeah i know one of the biggest tv water

cooler shows that didn't happen right away but

happened at the end of the decade almost in 1999

the sopranos yeah definitely definitely my god

Yeah, the end of the 90s definitely saw a few

big shows like West Wing Sopranos That type of

stuff that really became kind of more of a sign

of the things to come not really representative

of the 90s so much But something that started

at the 90s, but was way more representative of

probably the next decade But some other big huge

water cooler talk revolved around series finales

And we have some big series finales over the

course of the decade like I already mentioned

Dallas going off the air the last episode of

Dallas Johnny Carson's last episode 1993 you

had the last episode of Cheers which was huge

event Some little bit smaller with the last episode

of next generation in 94 the last episode of

Seinfeld and in 98 some of these were like record

-breaking type of viewerships So like the whole

Seinfeld thing Dharma and Greg made fun of it

They're like it's the last episode of Seinfeld.

Let's go to Ghirardelli Square cuz ain't nobody

gonna everybody's gonna be out inside watching

Seinfeld They're doing some some game thing right

right right the the crux of the episode was her

friend Jane I guess her friend Jane have this

game where whoever has sex with whomever like

their partner boyfriend husband whatever in the

weirdest strangest place gets this like duck

statue thing and and Greg's like we're getting

that duck back let's go to Ghirardelli Square

no one's gonna be there everybody's gonna be

watching that Seinfeld finale thing yeah basically

that's definitely funny As far as some news from

those last five years kind of give you some of

that too You know more shows not turning up like

the History Channel WB slash UPN TV land also

96 is is noted as the year where 1 billion people

owned TVs around the world. I think it was So

1 billion people with TVs in their house, which

was obviously not something that you could say

in the 70s 60s You know that type of stuff. So

Yeah Also, obviously one of the big TV events

that we all were huddled around the TV were more,

I guess, news related, but the O .J. Chase thing

that happened in 94. I remember being in school,

obviously, when that was going down and watching

that in band class. And then, of course, the

trial took place over the next year. So there

was a lot of TV as far as that and kind of like

those more current events that were being shown

on some of these channels. Also saw the end of

an era because 90s saw the end of the likes of

like Geraldo and Phil Donahue and some of those

types of people Kind of ushering into a new new

blood and new breed of people when it comes to

those talk type shows Yeah, I still remember

1996 from Chicago Jerry Springer live. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, you had like Rosie O'Donnell

Jerry Springer All the judge shows that were

taking over people's court and stuff like that.

So you had a big shift in that Realm of things

too. So a lot of stuff that started in the 90s

It really has carried through whether it was

just you know into the next decade or even still

today a lot of that stuff You know reality TV

Monday Night Raw and that type of stuff the late

night Programming the the daytime talk shows

and stuff like that A lot of that was kind of

the precedent was set in the 90s whether you

like it or not 90s is just explosive with I'm

not saying it's good or bad I'm just saying a

lot of it can draw back at the roots to the 90s

whether you like it or not you're gonna like

some of it not like some of it but a lot of it

was happening in the night especially I guess

the biggest thing in the world of TV is just

the channel lineup that changed in the 90s you

know you went from having a very limited number

of channels to what we have today which is a

thousand channels it seems like and then all

the different things that go along with that

you know eventually you have the death of network

television basically pretty much yeah like i

just this is a i don't know well at the time

when this episode was recorded it'd be a few

weeks ago but at the time this airs maybe a month

or two ago i was going through our channel lineup

on on Xfinity and i came across I haven't seen

it on an actual television since the 90s. I came

across episodes of Knight Rider on the El Rey

Network. And it was not in Spanish. It was in

its traditional English. And I'm like, damn,

wow, cool. But you look at things like, and say

what you want about it, people. I don't care.

I like what I like, and if you don't like it,

fine. I don't really give a shit. You look at

the Hallmark channel and like Hallmark movies

and mysteries, like almost all day during the

day, Hallmark movies and mysteries channel is

like monk marathons, which obviously monk wasn't

in the 90s, he was in the 2000s, but like monk

marathons or diagnosis murder marathons or murder

she wrote. I cannot count how many times in the

last six months that I've looked at Hallmark

or Hallmark movies and mysteries channels and

they've been murder she wrote. Speaking of which

Raymond Berg who played Perry Mason he died in

93 so that was the last one of his actual TV

specials and that had been something that was

a staple on TV for a long time because he was

doing those shows when he was young and then

he came back and was doing them when he was in

the you know in the wheelchair etc so that was

a big thing too I wanted to just real quick I

didn't mention them in what I was watching back

then but these are shows that I watched more

so on reruns or in syndication afterwards and

we haven't really mentioned a lot of them yet

so I wanted to just throw them out and kind of

get your Quick take on it, but you know obviously

stuff like that had a big Longevity as far as

reruns go stuff like wings Fresh Prince of Bel

Air home improvement Boy Meets World And some

of those that I wanted to just make sure we mentioned

Boy meets world boy meets world got the shaft

on the top 100 countdown and only it only got

to number 50 So Steve and I are doing a very

limited Series podcaster meets world where we

talk about all of boy meets world in a single

single podcast series So we'll be doing that

later this year coming up. We've got the first

two episodes recorded of that at this point nice

So yeah, I love I boy meets world is another

one. I when when Disney premiered girl Meets

World, the sequel series to that, and they got

the rights to do syndication for Boy Meets World.

I was watching those episodes on the Disney Channel,

and now it's on Hulu, and I've got the DVD. around

here somewhere but like that show is by far one

of if not the best 90s family television shows

I've ever like that to me rivals family television

shows today if there are any family television

I am I thought something that would be interesting

too would be to look at what shows you think

best represent the decade overall if I was to

make like I don't know let's say just like a

top 10 list or something like that of like shows

that just are pure 90s represent the 90s are

like a time capsule of what was going on in that

decade I would definitely include like Boy Meets

World would be one I would include Home Improvement

I would include Fresh Prince I would include

Friends and Seinfeld just for what they were

and then after that it would probably be Beverly

Hills 90210 Maybe like a five. No, I don't know

if I would include that just because it's more

of a niche thing I loved it, but I don't know

how much everybody else did maybe like a ER mad

about you something like that That is really

like the if you're talking 90s like that's what

comes to your head. Oh, yeah I mean, you know

even the whole TGIF lineup boy meets world was

a part of that later But like, you know, like

he's at home improvement But the TGIF lineup

was boy meets world family matters step by step

Oh, I forgot Family Matters. Yeah, good one.

You know, Family Matters... We also didn't mention

dinosaurs yet. Yeah, dinosaurs. Oh my god. I

am friends with Earl. Like, Stuart Plankton.

I'm sorry, Stuart, if I got your name wrong.

I'm sorry if I pronounced that wrong. But essentially,

yeah, that's an interview I'd kill for, because

I want to hear old Earl. But like, yeah, all

that stuff is now on Hulu. And like, I'm like...

Outside of Steve and I doing Boy Meets World...

But like before we started doing that even though

we had already had the idea to do it when Hulu

announced their own TGiH, thank god it's Hulu

thing, because hello, whatever. I'm like, oh,

Family Matters. What everyone remembers about

Family Matters isn't really what it is, but it

isn't. That first season, it takes about 11 episodes

for Urkel to really invade the Winslow home.

The first seven episodes of that show are all

about just Carl, Harriet, Laura. Eddie, I forget

what the little kid's name is, the mother -in

-law, the sister, Rachel, and her baby. I forgot

how far in it took them to say, oh hey, here's

Steve Urkel, he's gonna be the most annoying

thing ever, but here, watch this. It takes a

long time, and I forgot about that, how far in

that got. I also have one last piece of trivia

for you Mike before before we wrap this up I

was I couldn't find a great source and I'd have

to do a lot of work to do it my on my own But

I was gonna try to find out the shows that had

the most number of episodes that aired within

the decade Like only episodes that aired within

the 90s counted but instead I had to just kind

of go overall episode counts from shows that

Had any episodes that appeared in the 90s So

I'm gonna run down here the top 10 most episodes

from shows that at least debuts or had episodes

that aired in the 90s so at number 10 you have

Murphy Brown, which was 247 episodes long, a

lot of them in the 90s. Married with Children,

258 episodes. Next up would be NYPD Blue, 261.

Then you have a tie between Murder, She Wrote

and Frasier, both had 264 episodes. Then Cheers,

275 episodes. This one might throw some people.

Beverly Hills, 90210, 293 episodes. I don't know

if that's including the reboot or not. It has

to be, but then you had ER. 331 episodes and

No surprise who the top two are law and order

special victim units 423 episodes law and order

456 Yeah, so a lot of episodes from those shows

and most of them at least a good portion of them

appeared in the 90s Yeah, absolutely It was good.

It was a good decade. I still think if you were

depressed press me I would take the 80s over

the 90s, but it's still a good decade Yep, yeah,

you're right Beverly Hills 90210 had 304 total

it ran from October 4th 90 to May 17th 2000 so

I mean Technically what you said 293 is right.

Yeah, I might have had some specials that weren't

included or something of that nature I think

it did Yeah, it did have specials it had Behind

the zip code behind the scenes Christmas special

best moments. Yeah, so a few other it had 11

different things But that's crazy that that's

up there with like ER Cheers Frazier law and

order but like I remember specifically when TV

shows on DVD broke the the story of the law and

order DVD complete series said it's something

like 20 discs or something or 400 456 episodes

No, I think it's more probably a 40 disk or something

like that. Yeah, I think it's more than that

law and order Yeah, I think it's more than that

Yeah, it's way more than that it's uh I think

it's like a hundred and four. I think I'm trying

to find the actual article where For the the

the actual complete series thing where it says

how many yeah, it's um Yeah, four hundred and

four discs. Don't ask me. Yeah, 104 discs for

the it was a 20th anniversary edition or something

or other Yeah, the other the other transition

that we kind of start to see to not not a hundred

percent Did not symbolic of the 90s, but 1999

is when we see the first episode of who wants

to be a millionaire And kind of that trend we

also saw the 90s sees the end of stuff like star

search and kind of sets the stage for Having

a void that obviously stuff like American Idol

would eventually fill So and oh the Mickey Mouse

Club. Don't forget about that that happened in

the 90s with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake

and all that stuff So and Ryan Gosling So that

was 93 when that happened. Yep Absolutely a lot

of good stuff Lot of good stuff. There are some

90s TV comebacks. I lump Boy Meets World as a

comeback with Girl Meets World because it's a

sequel series. It's not just a rebooted series.

It's taking Cory and Topanga and all the classic

Boy Meets World characters and, you know, them

as adults and having their own kids kind of thing.

Uh, Roseanne is coming back. Will and Grace came

back. Fuller House. Fuller Girls. Yeah, Full

House into Fuller House. Beverly Hills 90210

just a few years ago. Yeah. Had a somewhat of

a comeback. yeah Melrose plays and both of those

kind of sucked pretty much like I'm just waiting

for them to kill party of five again I don't

think that'll happen but well you never know

I mean what's um what's Matthew Fox doing right

now he can play grandpa Charlie like he's done

a lot of movies recently Definitely been some

some well we're getting into that time period

where we've already kind of have been there where

we've transitioned from 80s nostalgia to 90s

nostalgia because now they're trying to target

all the You know kids of the 90s that are now

adults because it used to be you know We'd get

all the 80s properties rebooted and stuff like

that. So now we're into the 90s So it's interesting

to see which ones are being picked from to to

try comebacks or different versions of it So

wait for a new save by the bell I watched an

episode of Saved by the Bell last week. That

is not a lie. Hey, I listen to the college years

theme song all the time. That's not a lie. Yeah,

Saved by the Bell, Screech in jail. Like that's

basically the next series. I want a legit series,

not something that Screech tries to pawn off

as reality. I honestly don't think we're going

to get. Like cuz Mark Paul Gosselaar, you know

I don't think we'd get it from those people.

I just mean like a reboot of that show Yeah,

but you look at like those those actors like

Mark Paul Gosselaar has gone to other things

He was actually on several seasons of NYPD blue

and it's later things Tiffany Thiessen she's

done many things mainly played Elizabeth Burke

and white collar on USA Mario Lopez. I mean that

guy that dudes everywhere like he's on extra.

He's on this he's on that um i think the only

one we haven't really seen anything from recently

at all is probably because of her showgirls days

is jesse yeah because you know oh we kind of

got a reboot of king of queens yeah um the the

one where they're they're not actually married

they're just best friends or something kevin

can wait or something or other no i can't No,

not you, dumbass. You know what I mean. So yeah.

So this has been a little longer than 30 minutes,

folks, but I mean, 10 years of - It always is

with me. 30 minutes is kind of hard. Not bad,

guys. Eh, it's alright. Your pizza's free. It's

free content, so it's like, you know. 30 minutes

or your content's free. Okay, your content's

free. It's free anyway. Just wait till we talk

about cartoons, guys. yeah I really have to muggle

me all of this then I'll talk about theme songs

all day and night oh yeah I think I mean we can

still do that but I think we're probably gonna

do something separate for 90s theme songs whether

it's TV or there we go I can I can prep for that

I'll give you a top 50 list I don't need top

50. Thank you. All right, folks. I think we're

gonna get the heck out of here Let us know in

the comments what some of your favorite 90 shows

are how many times you've gone back and watched

those shows and If you want to see any of them

make it come back today or not I want to know

if anybody actually remembers New York undercover

or father Dallen mysteries Let me know if you

do I remember it, I remember, it was Makai Pfeiffer,

right? Yeah. Yeah, I remember that. Barely, but

I do remember it, I remember it being a thing.

But yeah, so you can reach me at TFG1Mike on

Twitter, where can the people find you online,

sir? Of course, more importantly, it is Optimus

Solo. More unimportantly you mean you can follow

at geek cast radio on Twitter You can also go

to the website geek cast radio comm find us on

Facebook Facebook comm slash geek cast radio

network interact with us let us know about your

TV habits in the 90s folks or now and We will

catch you next time here on geek cast radio the

90s Spotlight where we talk about cartoons of

the 90s for now I am TF2 and Mike with optimus

solo and it was not my kai fiverr Yes, it was

wasn't it? No, it was Malik Yoba. Oh, that's

right Before somebody corrects us. Yeah, probably.

Well, there you go. Thank you for listening until

next time Another cough this last one ended up

in the drink spike look at you. Just turn around

and walk away You're a... Spike! You're a bloody

puppet! You're a wee little puppet man. Hey,

that's enough. Angel, what the hell happened

to you? You look ridiculous. Get out of here,

Spike. Oh my God, Angel, you're a... Shut up!

What are you people looking at well You're looking

at the wee little puppet man Yes, I'm a puppet

doesn't mean you don't have work to do Harmony

get my call list Spike needs a car you were the

puppet