6.)Hercules The Legendary Journey/Xena: The Warrior Princess
I put these two shows together because I don’t remember enough of each one to warrant their own entries. What I do remember is that I used to watch them all the time, especially when they were airing a marathon of any kind. Lucy Lawless, who seems to be aging very gracefully, earned her spot on my list of early celebrity crushes.
I’m patiently waiting for Netflix to pick up either series so I can see if they were actually as good as I barely remember. I will never forget Xena’s “boomerang”(it’s a chakram I know) or her battle cry though.
7.)7th Heaven
Being raised in a Christian home, watching 7th Heaven together as a family was practically an unspoken tradition in the household. My mom, dad, sister, and I would stop what we were doing to sit and watch 7th Heaven when a new episode came on, and we’d end up taping (remember those?) the episode for whoever was unfortunate to miss the episode.
Talk about watching a television family grow up, I think 7th Heaven finally came to end some time around my junior year in high school. It had gotten to the point that even the youngest child, Ruthie, was almost 18 years old when the series aired its last season. It would be cool to say that my family continued to faithfully watch the show until it finished, but truthfully I think my sister was the only one with the dedication to see it all the way through to the end.
8.)The Steve Harvey Show
One of my earliest memories of this show, was my mom carefully watching it along with my sister and I for several episodes. What you have to understand is that in my early years of growing up, I wasn’t allowed to watch shows like Martin, Blossom, Married with Children or even Moesha, because my parents felt like they were either too crass or dealt with themes that my sister and I shouldn’t be exposed to. Given Steve Harvey’s foul-mouthed reputation at that time, she was waiting to see if the Steve Harvey Show was anything like Martin, in which case we would be banned from watching it like the rest. Fortunately, it was tame enough in subject matter to get her approval, and we watched it from there on out. In a nutshell, the comedy show about the comedian it was named after was funny. R.I.P. Merlin “Romeo” Santana.
9.)Family Matters
If 7th Heaven was the Monday night show at the Grant household, then Family Matters was the Friday night show. Anyone remember TGIF on ABC? (Feeling older by the second right?)
The story of Steve Urkel and his interactions with the Winslow family was a constant source of entertainment for years at our house, creating several memorable moments along the way. Family Matters is one of the few shows on this list that I sat and watched all the way through, even faithfully catching up on reruns (the show starting airing the year I was born) and while it must suck for Jaleel White to be forever remembered as “the guy who played Steve Urkel” he’s also “the guy who played Stefan Urquelle” as well as being the first on-screen television nerd to successfully leave the friend zone.
10.)The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
What mid nineties-early 2000’s list would be complete without mentioning Fresh Prince? It’s one of greatest television products of nineties and even current TV networks seem intent on running reruns of this show with no clear end in sight. It was where families worldwide witnessed the transition of Will Smith the rapper to Will Smith the actor, all while getting season after season of quality. Like most things in the nineties, the series may have lasted well past its expiration date but it gave out so many gems during its stronger seasons that it doesn’t even matter. It also has one of the most quotable lyrics for a TV show ever.
