Freaks and Geeks
More on the theme of teenage drama, Paul Feig’s one-season comedy-drama doesn’t disguise its teen content in any monster fighting or mystery – it’s simply a coming of age series about a bunch of kids fighting bullies, growing confidence and standing up for who they are. It has a stellar cast with actors such as Linda Cardellini, Jason Segel, James Franco and Seth Rogen, all of whom’s careers have flourished since. In a way, it very much paved the way for shows like Sex Education, Awkward or, if you ignore the singing, even Glee.
Friends
Can you believe that all these shows were on air around the same time? Despite the obvious 90s fashion and gadgets like old brick mobile phones and pagers connecting them, Friends in particular has a completely different vibe to it for me than the others. It could just be that I grew up watching Friends with my family, so it has always been in my life, whereas I only discovered the other series in the last three-to-five years. Or, it could be the fact that Friends is a completely different genre to the others – proudly sitting in the sitcom category and being incredibly successful at that as well. The show is one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, so much so, that the theme of a ‘show-without-conflict’ comedy series, following the life of a friendship group consisting of five-to-six people, has been utilised time and again, notably (and most successfully) in How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Friends is a timeless classic that has influenced popular culture since the 90s, with characteristics like the iconic haircut ‘The Rachel’, or Joey’s catchphrase “How you doin’?” all universally known references. You’re either going to love it or hate it, but if you haven’t seen Friends at least once in your life, you’re missing out.
The 90s was a trend-setting era for many reasons. Its fashion is coming back in, its music has never left, and as we can see, its television is worth a second chance as well.
Words by Regina Tóth