looking back at the 90s

January 17, 2021 7:12 PM

I'm currently going back and listening to the Slow Burn season about the Clinton impeachment, and it's scratching an itch I've had occasionally. I'd like to find some other media that scratches that itch.

Over the past couple of years, I've come across a handful of things that look back at news stories from the 90s. This season of Slow Burn about Clinton, another season about Biggie and Tupac, the Waco and Looming Tower miniseries, the OJ Made in America documentary, etc. I find this sort of thing pretty interesting because I was old enough when they happened to know they were newsworthy, but I was young enough (and the media landscape was so different from now) that I didn't get the full picture back then. It's nice to go back and fill in some gaps, while simultaneously basking in the 90s nostalgia of my early teen years.

I'm generally interested in stuff from around 1992 to around 1998 - the LA riots to the African embassy bombings or so. Before 1992 just doesn't have the same nostalgia factor. So like, I enjoyed Straight Outta Compton, but too much of the plot occurs in the 80s, before the period I want. My interest is also primary in the US. I started watching Narcos, but I was only vaguely aware of Pablo Escobar in the 90s, and so it didn't give me the satisfaction of revisiting. By 1998, though, I was in college, reading the Economist, and a full-on news junkie.

The obvious answer is The Last Dance, which I did watch. I'm not a basketball fan, though. The first few episodes placing the story in its setting were good, but as it focused more narrowly over the remaining episodes, I lost interest.

I'm open to podcasts, films/TV, and longer-form Youtube videos. Not as interested in text. No preference as to documentary vs dramatization. The key thing is the level of 90s detail, and the memories it would would stir up. By necessity, the stories would have to be prominent enough for a teenager in Ohio to have known about, but complex enough to support a season-long podcast or feature-length documentary.

Nothing about Kurt Cobain, though, please. I've spent way too much time on that already.

posted by kevinbelt to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

You're Wrong About is a fantastic podcast the delves into all sorts of misremembered and misunderstood 90's history. Their OJ Simpson series is wonderful, and isn't even finished yet -- it started some time in 2019 I think.
posted by selfmedicating at 7:17 PM on January 17, 2021 [16 favorites]

You may already be saturated with Clinton material, but the Hulu doc series Hillary scratched the same itch for me - not all takes place in the 90s, but a lot does, and it was fascinating to see a different perspective on the things that had been in the background as I was a kid.
posted by rogerroger at 7:19 PM on January 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ha, I did just start listening to You're Wrong About. I listened to the one about Courtney Love (I told you, I spend way too much time on that stuff), and it's a good suggestion.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:22 PM on January 17, 2021

June 17, 1994 (a 30 for 30 film for ESPN)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:25 PM on January 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

I found the CNN series The 90s (they've done series for other decades as well) quite interesting and might scratch your itch. I found their 70s and 80s series really helpful (I was born in the 80s so pretty much missed this stuff entirely) and it cleared up a lot of things that they never bothered to teach us in school (apparently history stopped at 1969 because I don't remember any teachers even bothering to explain things like Watergate or Iran-Contra to us).

Each episode focuses on a different facet, so one is on TV, on is on music, one is on The New World Order, etc. It looks like it's currently available to stream on HBOMax but the CNN website has clips and other stuff (quizzes, lists, and whatnot) available here.
posted by NotTheRedBaron at 7:43 PM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

The season of Manhunt about the Unabomber.

The movie Richard Jewell. (Ironically, I've only watched a few episodes of the season of Manhunt about Richard Jewell but I don't like it as much.)

I, Tonya

Wag the Dog
posted by phunniemee at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2021

Very late 90s, but The West Wing scratches this itch for me.
The flip phones and chunky office equipment make it seem older than that, don't ask me why.
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 12:10 AM on January 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

The History of the 90s podcast checks many of these boxes.
posted by legendarygirlfriend at 12:44 AM on January 18, 2021

The film Spotlight is set in 2001 and really hits most of your points. It's very evocative of the late 90's transitioning onto the "news" centry when previously hushed-up occurrences are being brought to light.
posted by mightshould at 3:20 AM on January 18, 2021

Rachel Maddow's podcast series Bagman is from an earlier era. It's about Spiro Agnew, Nixon's VP. Its excellent. Just recently out in book form. Scan down here.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:58 AM on January 18, 2021

LA92 is a documentary with just clips of the event. I found it on YouTube, but it is also available on Netflix. There is no narration, just clips put together to tell the story. It is just brilliant and riveting, especially if you lived through the event like I did. Highly recommended.
posted by effluvia at 5:11 AM on January 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

The War Room, about Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, and A Perfect Candidate, about Oliver North's 1994 Senate campaign, are excellent documentaries.
posted by box at 5:58 AM on January 18, 2021

We really enjoyed mid90s, which is fictional but the feel and the music and the teenagers were just right for three mid40s folks of varying levels of hooliganism in their teens. However, it's not an easy watch - drugs, family abuse, etc - so heads up on that.
posted by joycehealy at 7:04 AM on January 18, 2021

Not sure if this fits the bill since you weren't into The Last Dance, but I watched ESPN's Long Gone Summer a few months ago and absolutely loved it (and I'm only a casual baseball fan). It's about the 1998 Sammy Sosa-Mark McGwire home run record competition. Since you wanted things that a teenager in Ohio would recall - as a tween in Ohio during the late 90s, it certainly was something that I have dim recollections of from the time.
posted by mostly vowels at 8:00 AM on January 18, 2021

We just watched Heaven’s Gate: The Cult Of Cults on HBO Max and I think you'd really dig it.
posted by jabes at 8:18 AM on January 19, 2021