what do u prefer, the early 90's shows?? (seinfeld, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, step by step, full house, fraiser...etc.)
or the late 90's?? (Ally Mcbeal, Felicity, Dawson's Creek, Friends...etc.)

I prefer the early 90's

Juan

Can't beat the early 90's. ;)

I think TV in general peaked around 1994. In fact, because shows have a certain "run" time, the feel of the '80s lasted the furthest in TV terms.

Full House was on until 1995. The Cosby Show and Saved By the Bell clocked in several years too.

But as far as "90s" '90s shows go, I do prefer The Simpsons/Seinfeld/Friends/Home Improvement-styled shows more. Starting in 1998 or so, it began being more like the reality TV we see today. I never could get attached to a show like Ally McBeal, etc.

Early-mid '90s....The Nanny, Seinfeld, the early Simpsons when it was still among the best late-20th century pop culture achievements...I think the late '90s feel lasted into the early-mid 2000s because Friends, Ally McBeal, Sex and the City, Will and Grace, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Moesha, went until then. The 2000s hasn't really produced any distinctive half-hour shows, it's all been hour long shows like particularly Six Feet Under or to a lesser degree Desperate Housewives that I've liked, but there's just been Six Feet Under that I would actually rewatch. I really identify more with pop culture from either the '70s or the '90s than any other decades, I'm not a big fan of mid-2000s pop culture, which is what I suppose I should be liking. The Golden Girls is really the only '80s show I'm that fond of, either. I credit reality TV for fudgeing up network TV...because now they just put on sheesh and assume people will watch it...but I assume that the falling ratings and popularity for reality TV means that it will become significantly more out of fashion in the next five or six years. That, and we need more decent real sitcoms.

^ You know, I've noticed movies and TV shows tend to be alot longer these days (the average movie tended to be 80-100 minutes, whereas I think Harry Potter and LOTR ushered in the "3 hour concept" movie).

I wonder if that's one reason sitcoms and typical half hour shows have been on the decline for several years now. Tons of sitcoms have come out, but they don't usually make it past the 1-2 initial seasons.

Maybe this is just a slow decade for it. Now that I think about it, the 80's (well, up until 1987-ish) was sort of an "in between" time for hugely popular sitcoms too (after the ones in the 60's and 70's, and before the 90's).

That would explain the slowness in sitcoms this decade and the revival of one-hour dramas since the 1980s as the main form of fictional TV, with the "20-year nostalgia rule." The '60s didn't really have alot of exceptional traditional sitcoms, either. The popular ones were pretty gimmicky, like The Beverly Hillbilllies, The Brady Bunch, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, etc.

^ You know, I've noticed movies and TV shows tend to be alot longer these days (the average movie tended to be 80-100 minutes, whereas I think Harry Potter and LOTR ushered in the "3 hour concept" movie).

I wonder if that's one reason sitcoms and typical half hour shows have been on the decline for several years now. Tons of sitcoms have come out, but they don't usually make it past the 1-2 initial seasons.

Maybe this is just a slow decade for it. Now that I think about it, the 80's (well, up until 1987-ish) was sort of an "in between" time for hugely popular sitcoms too (after the ones in the 60's and 70's, and before the 90's).


Hey man, what's happening?

Anyway though, I think the reason sitcoms are dying out is because reality is so much cheaper to make.  Also, since people have a lot more to do today with computers and such then they did even in the Nineties many people will only watch their favorite shows, or shows you "have to watch" which is often how it is with Reality.  The '90s held over a lot of '80s TV and fashion, which is why Gen Yers born in the late '80s mistake even 1992 and 1993 for the 1980s so much.

Another trend I see is "movie-shows" that popped up in the fall of 2004 with "LOST" and "Desperate Housewives".  I really hope these shows keep going.

To answer the thread question, all '90s TV is pretty good, but early '90s (esp. 1990-'93) is best.  However the late 1990s had some good shows too, like "Third Rock from the Sun".  I didn't like how gory and violent TV was during the late '90s (1994 on, but especially 1997 up).  It seems like after 1996 or 1997 every show had to have an "edge" to it, whereas the early 1990s shows were generally much tamer. Unfortunately, I remember the late '90s most.

I don't know if you'd call Frasier or the Simpsons 'early 90s'. Aside from the fact they lasted well into this decade (the Simpsons, of course, are still going) many of the later episodes have a different 'feel' to the earlier episodes, especially the Simpsons, where the script is tighter, and there isn't so much of a 'moral.' If you're familiar with the show (few are not) you'll no what I mean. Reality TV, I think, is just a reflection of a trend to more and more over-produced drivel...I usually stick to quiz shows, documentaries and movies and, of course, sport, which (let's hope) never changes.

Nice comments

Also:

Early 90's (Beverly Hills 90210, Wings, Home Improvement)

Late 90's: don't u think, that sitcoms from the late 90's are...vanish...and gone??, when i watch Sony Entertainment Television...they never pass on the air a late 90's sitcom...only the early 90's.


Keep posting

Juan

Nothing dies out permanently, though...I think they'll come back. Reality TV is declining in popularity. I think Sex and the City was sort of an important moment in sitcom history, because it was a combo sitcom and drama, with sitcom-like plots but ongoing TV drama or soap opera storylines. It was VERY influential in 2000s TV.

Early 90's shows definately.  The golden days of TV with great shows like Wings and Evening Shade

I'd say early 90's but I really haven't seen too many shows that started in the late 90's except for say Everybody loves Raymond and 3rd rock from the sun. But still the early to mid-90's had great shows so I'll give it to them ;)