It's tough to believe that 25 years ago was 1997, which to some, feels like only yesterday. Indeed, the late '90s are now a quarter of a century ago. It was also a time when plenty of quality TV shows were introduced to fans. Some of them latest for many seasons, some even still on the air today.
Many the shows that are turning 25 in 2022 have become engrained in pop culture history, spawning spin-offs, references, and iconic characters that fans still reference to this day.
South Park (1997-Present)
Premiering in August 1997, South Park remains on the air to this day, renewed through to 2027. The satirical animated sitcom about four young boys and their lives in their hometown of South Park, airs on Comedy Central with a series of movies that premiered on Paramount+.
The show, ranked by sources like TV Guide as one of the Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time, has spawned memorable characters like Stanley, Kenny, and Eric Cartman. While it's dark and profane, South Park has also been praised for its comedic, albeit disturbing, take on some of the hottest topical stories. For example, the show did plenty of episodes, and even a special, centered around COVID, with the tone captured beautifully through the best South Park post-COVID quotes.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Making household names of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan. David Boreanz, and Michelle Trachtenberg, the supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of many vampire-themed shows, but it influenced plenty that came after it.
Airing on The WB, the show has since created an entire franchise around its pop culture fame, which includes books, comics, and even video games. For its time, Buffy was also part of a new wave of shows that introduced strong female lead characters.
Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
After being on the air for 10 seasons and the passage of 15 years since its finale season, Stargate SG-1 remains one of the most known military sci-fi adventure shows. It began on Showtime than moved to Sci Fi Channel. The story continued the timeline of the movie with a special ops team exploring the galaxy.
Stargate SG-1 garnered a loyal legion of fans who took in every morsel and detail of every character, anaylzing everything they could. The fact that the show has been named among some of the greats, including Doctor Who, Star Trek, and The X-Files, proves that it's one of the best to helm from that year.
King Of The Hill (1997-2010)
King of the Hill ended after 13 seasons on Fox, but a revival is in development, according to Collider, which will include a time jump though it doesn't yet have a confirmed launch date nor network or streaming service.
Named by Time as one of the top 100 greatest shows of all time, King of the Hill was one of several animated sitcoms that launched in the '90s and became huge hits. It followed a typical American family living in Texas and dealing with their average day-to-day lives in the most realistic, blue-collar way possible. While the Hill family was central to the story, fans also loved supporting characters like the annoying neighbor and friend Dale, who is easily one of the funniest male TV sitcom characters.
Oz (1997-2003)
Oz has the distinction of being the first one-hour dramatic show to be produced by a premium network, HBO. As fans know, a year later in 1998, HBO solidified its place as a producer of quality television when it launched Sex And the City, which turned out to be a decade-defining series.
Oz was set in a fictional men's prison in an experimental unit known as "Emerald City" where the concept of rehabilitation and teaching responsibility was the focus. The hope was to reform criminals instead of punish them. While Oz had a shorter run than some of the other shows on the list, it had an impressive list of actors playing main characters, including Ernie Hudson, Harold Perrineau, Rita Moreno, J.K. Simmons, and Adewale Akinnuote-Agbaje, to name a few.
Ally McBeal (1997-2002)
Anyone who watched the legal comedy drama Ally McBeal on Fox back in the day gets references to things like the dancing baby. Calista Flockhart starred as a single lawyer working in a law firm and dealing with all the drama and hilarity in her personal life and that of her co-workers. It was one of those legal dramas that was more about the characters' personal lives than the cases they were dealing with.
The Emmy-winning series, which had a star-studded cast that also included Robert Downey Jr. in later seasons and even Jon Bon Jovi in a recurring role, could be another to see a revival, according to TVLine.
Daria (1997-2002)
Women who were coming of age in the '90s knows of, and possibly even related to, the title character in Daria. The adult animated series that aired on MTV centered around the title character, a smart, cynical teenager dealing with the typical trials and tribulations of high school life.
A spin-off of another widely popular adult animated sitcom, Beavis and Butt-Head (Daria was a recurring character on that show), Daria was created by Mike Judge, who was also the creative force behind King of the Hill. The Telegraph named Daria one of the best female cartoon characters on television. Daria is also considered one of the best sitcoms of the 1990s, according to Reddit.
Dharma & Greg (1997-2002)
Before Jenna Elfman was fighting zombies on Fear the Walking Dead, she starred in this ABC sitcom alongside Thomas Gibson about a couple who get married after just one date. The series then chronicled their new life together, made particularly interesting given that the pair could not be more different from one another. Dharma was a free-spirited yoga instructor and dog trainer while Greg was a very prim and proper conservative lawyer.
The multi-Emmy-winning series, one of many from Chuck Lorre, likely inspired many other "odd couple" themed sitcoms that came after it. Fans loved in particular how the show was able to demonstrate unexpected love and the ability to learn from someone very different.
Just Shoot Me! (1997-2003)
Just Shoot Me! followed staff working at a fictional magazine called Blush, which bore similarities to the real-life Vogue magazine. It starred the late George Segal as magazine owner and publisher Jack, Wendie Malick as fashion editor and former model Nina, and David Spade as Dennis Finch, Jack's executive assistant.
Airing on NBC, the sitcom is one of the most underrated of that decade, largely because it was competing with iconic shows like Frasier, Seinfeld, and Friends. Just Shoot Me! is easily one of the forgotten '90s sitcoms that deserves a revival.
The Practice (1997-2004)
The Practice lasted eight seasons on ABC, but the stories continued through the spin-off series Boston Legal that starred William Shatner and James Spader and went on to run for another five seasons. A legal drama, The Practice followed partners at a Boston law firm, their cases, personal lives, and the moral and ethical conundrums they often faced.
With shows like L.A. Law having ruled the legal drama roost up until that point, creator David E. Kelley told The Los Angeles Times that he designed The Practice to be a rebuttal, of sorts, to how shows like L.A. Law romanticized the legal process.
Smart Guy (1997-1999)
One of the smartest child geniuses on television, T.J. from the sitcom Smart Guy was so smart, he skipped fourth grade and went straight to high school. There, he annoyed his two older siblings who were not so excited to have their pre-teen younger brother in the same class.
The concept, of course, has reappeared on television time and time again through shows like Young Sheldon. But many forget about Smart Guy. It only aired on The WB for three seasons, but was a beloved show entire families could watch together.