While many ‘90s sitcoms, like Roseanne, Will & Grace, and Saved By The Bell, have been, or will be, resurrected in some fashion, there are many from that decade that wouldn’t translate for this new generation. At least not in their original forms.
The ‘90s were a much different time. This was pre-social media, and long before everyone was walking around with smartphones in their pockets. It was a time when six friends would sit together in a coffee shop and just talk and innocent first kisses were shared on the playground, not in a virtual world.
Some shows wouldn’t translate because many of the main plots wouldn’t make sense in our digital age. And in other cases, our more politically correct and socially aware society would push back against them. Here are 10 that wouldn’t fly today.
Family Matters
Even though Family Matters was a hilarious sitcom about a middle-class African American family in Chicago, there’s one reason it might not fly today: the fact that the annoying neighbor Steve Urkel, who quickly became the star of the series, was labeled, well, a nerd.
With so many kids today being self-conscious about their image and feeling as though they don’t fit in, a show that pokes fun at a young boy who wears unfashionable clothing and is socially awkward might not sit well with society. Especially when his alter ego Stephan is considered to be the more appealing version of him.
Married…With Children
The main reason this sitcom would not fly today is that the patriarch, Al Bundy, was incredibly chauvinistic. Every episode included him poking fun at his neighbor Marcy, suggesting she was unattractive, and cruelly insulting overweight women.
Al had some of the best one-liners, but his comments were rude, crude, and crossed lines about weight that today’s society would never allow. There would likely be an outcry about his treatment of women. And a version of the show with Al as a nice guy who didn’t insult anyone just wouldn’t be the same.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Even though there have been talks of a reinvention of this popular sitcom, it could not fly with the same premise. A young man from West Philadelphia is sent to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle in Bel-Air after getting into a fight on a basketball court?
Viewers would chastise the mom for giving up her son, even though it was for a better life. And the light the series sheds on the dichotomy between upper and lower-to-middle class families might be all too real and topical for this era to stomach.
Friends
The premise of Friends has been copied over and over again through series like That ‘70s Show, Happy Endings, and How I Met Your Mother. Some were more successful than others. But Friends, as it existed back then, couldn’t fly today.
First, many of the mishaps wouldn’t have happened because, well, cell phones. The gang could have found out more details about all of the interesting characters they dated via social media. Not to mention that six 20-something-year-old friends hanging out in a coffee shop every day would now likely just consist of them working on their phones, taking pics of their lattes, and composing selfies.
That ‘70s Show
A recent meme noted that, if a version of That ‘70s Show came out today, it would have to be based on the ‘90s if it were to follow the same timeline. That’s pretty eye-opening!
Now that we have hit the 2020s, the 1970s are a distant, distant past. Consider that a show about the '70s for young folks today would be like a show about the 1940s back in the '90s. The series might work given some of the similarities to the way we live today – ‘70s music, fashion, and even hippie culture, are becoming popular again. But kids hanging out in their friend’s basement for hours on end just doesn’t happen anymore. Not to mention the issue today’s viewers might have with the portrayal of Fez, the foreign exchange student.
NewsRadio
Maybe if the show were renamed NewsPodcast, it might fit with the current generation. But NewsRadio was all about the staff at an AM news radio station in New York City. Sure, radio still exists today. But does anyone want to see the behind-the-scenes of an AM radio show? Not really.
As noted, if the title were adjusted to include the word podcast and it was a series that looked at the team, individual, or pair behind a popular podcast show, it might actually work.
Smart Guy
This one simply wouldn’t fly today because the premise is already being handled through the series Young Sheldon, a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory that tells the story of a young Sheldon Cooper.
Smart Guy, which aired from 1997 to 1999, centered around a child genius named T.J. Henderson, who skips several grades to go from fourth to 10th grade in high school. This puts him in the same school as his two older siblings, Yvette and Marcus. Sheldon, meanwhile, has done the same, as he is in the same classes as his older brother Georgie. Been there, done that.
Home Improvement
No one would believe that a show like Home Improvement, which Tim Taylor starred in, would still be on the air and successful today in an age when home renovation shows are big, bold, and outlandish. Would we really watch a man named Tim the Toolman Taylor discuss how to build or fix simple things in the home?
The family aspect of the series would still ring true, as Tim and his wife worked to raise their three children. But Tim’s occupation would have to change. Perhaps instead of a home improvement show, he made videos for YouTube from his garage and was an influencer among the handyman crowd?
Who’s the Boss?
The idea of a male live-in housekeeper for a high-powered executive single mother is no longer considered unusual, or, at least not as weird as it might have seemed back in 1984 when this series, which aired through to 1992, premiered.
In the current landscape where female executives and working mothers are celebrated and gender role reversals can be the norm, most viewers would shrug their shoulders at the premise of the show. It would no doubt get an underwhelming “So what?” instead of the gasps it received way back when.
Xena: Warrior Princess
Okay, so this series could totally fly today. However, it wouldn’t be considered as progressive as it was back then. The fantasy series, which gained a cult following, focused on Xena, a famous warrior looking to redeem herself from past sins by using her fighting skills to help others who are in need.
It wasn’t common to see a strong female leading a sitcom as a fierce warrior back then, with the exception of Wonder Woman. What’s more, the series had homosexual undertones, sometimes suggesting that there was a romantic relationship between Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle. In today’s world, that relationship might be more explicitly stated.