Living in the 90s: Part 2, T.V.

I was always an outside kid but in my house growing up we did have cable. My siblings would gather around the TV. My mom exposed us to her favorite shows like I LOVE Lucy, from her generation, but she also liked Roseanne and Seinfeld. But there were definitely shows that were popular 90’s shows that we watched. 

My favorite shows were That 70’s Show, The Simpsons, Friends, and Freaks and Geeks. It is crazy to think that shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy are still airing new episodes today. The Simpsons aired the first episode on December 17, 1989 (almost 35 years ago!) and Family Guy on January 31, 1999 (25 years ago). 

Other contenders for teen shows were things like Saved By the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Boy Meets World. These were shows that everyone knew even if they didn’t watch them all the time. Boy Meets World was like the average kid so you connected to it that way. Cory and Topanga (the main characters) had real-life issues and emotions happening so it was relatable. Shows on TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) were stuff that real-life families might experience. It was like reality but not the wild reality shows you see today. “Real life” shows now are all about shock value. 

MTV was also super popular but not like it is now. Now it is reality shows and less about the music (stupid). It used to be all about music and seeing the artists play LIVE or their music videos. You would watch the music videos on the TV before YouTube was even around (there was no way of looking them up whenever you wanted). We didn’t have the convenience or option to listen to a song or watch a music video whenever we wanted, so we tuned into MTV. 

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Through music videos, artists could show their feelings or thoughts about the music. It helped them put out the emotion in the song. Music video countdowns were HUGE. You could track what songs were on the Billboard Charts and actually follow the count down. We all felt more connected to the artists and the music. This allowed us to invest our time and attention into what was hip. Even today you want to be in the “know” and this was how we could be in the “know” (not no). 
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I think overall TV in the 90’s was better. You might not have been able to access it as easily but there wasn’t all the fluff. You knew the handful of shows and when they were on. You didn’t have to navigate through all the crap stuff.

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