90s nostlalgia

July 29, 2022 6:45 AM

I need some TLC via 90s tv shows and films. I already have the first three seasons of Friends on in the background while I sort out life issues. I recently rewatched One Fine Day and, yes, I need something exactly like that. I don't what it is about the warm lighting or the sound quality that makes me feel peaceful. Help this 90s kid.

PS: 80s films work too.
PPS: Books work as well. I loved Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys as a kid. I know they aren't from the 90s but they take me straight back to my 90s! :)

posted by bigyellowtaxi to Society & Culture (23 answers total)

Golden Girls obvs.
posted by 10ch at 6:53 AM on July 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I'm not sure it holds up all that well at this point, but Picket Fences was a favorite of mine from the early 90s. If you like Sci-Fi, Babylon 5 is very 90s and still has some great moments.
posted by Candleman at 7:05 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air holds up better than you'd expect.
posted by metasarah at 7:16 AM on July 29, 2022

Looks like Dawson's Creek and Party of Five are both on Hulu. Those are quintessential 90s TV to me. Totally cheeseball, but pure 90s entertainment.
posted by rikschell at 7:20 AM on July 29, 2022

You might enjoy spending some time with My 90s TV
posted by Ted Maul at 7:21 AM on July 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

I recommend the following very-flawed but cozy 90's movies: The Holiday, The Cutting Edge, Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings & a Funeral, The Best Man, and Sliding Doors. I also have a soft spot for A Knight's Tale but ymmv.
posted by nkknkk at 7:21 AM on July 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Hope Floats.
posted by Sassyfras at 7:25 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: EVER AFTER, one of my favorite 90s films although it's not set in the '90s but it has '90s girl Drew Barrymore! Anjelica Huston being eeeeevil and glaring in giant period costumes! Really it's just great and cozy and I recall it as having that warm '90s glow to it.

other contenders:
Never Been Kissed (more Drew Barrymore)
You've Got Mail
Runaway Bride
Now and Then
posted by castlebravo at 7:39 AM on July 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

If you like genre shows, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine holds up reasonably well. Buffy the Vampire Slayer also, especially for the slaying in her stylish-but-affordable 90s boots (and the rest of the outfits too). Maybe also Charmed but I haven't re-watched that.
posted by Athanassiel at 7:56 AM on July 29, 2022

Best answer: I recently watched the first few seasons of ER which were pretty great and extremely 90s in a way I found very comforting.
posted by hepta at 8:23 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Practical Magic!
posted by knotty knots at 8:23 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

My so called life, Felicity, Clueless, Love Jones
posted by sulaine at 8:24 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

In the late '80s and early '90s, the YA shelves in my local library held books by, amongst others, Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, Paula Danziger, Lois Duncan, Norma Fox Mazer and Paul Zindel, if any of those ring the right sort of bells...?
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:26 AM on July 29, 2022

Run the decade:

1989 - Steel Magnolias
1992 - A League of Their Own
1993 - Addams Family Values
1995 - Clueless
1996 - First Wives Club
1997 - Romy & Michele's High School Reunion
1998 - Slums of Beverly Hills
1999 - Drop Dead Gorgeous
2000 - Bring it On
2001 - Legally Blonde

(And yes I know not all of these were set in the 90s but they featured the queens of the 90s so don't @ me. Also I skipped a couple years so filled them in with an early and late pull.)
posted by phunniemee at 8:38 AM on July 29, 2022 [7 favorites]

Blossom is streaming on Hulu. I'd argue that it doesn't get more 90s than that.
posted by donajo at 9:41 AM on July 29, 2022

“It Could Happen to You” with Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda is so good and recently scratched this itch for me! “Only You” is another good one.
posted by lovableiago at 9:53 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Since you mentioned lighting, I recently watched a scene from Stanley Tucci's Big Night on Youtube for reasons, and it really struck me how 90s the lighting on that movie was. I mean that as a compliment.

As it happens, I maintain lists of movies and TV shows that I'd like to rewatch and/or buy at some point, which, on account of my age (41) means they're nearly all from the late 80s through the early 00s. Many have already been mentioned. This'll be pretty long but hopefully helpful:

TV SHOWS

Seinfeld
Full House
The Golden Girls
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Everybody Loves Raymond
Saved by the Bell
Will and Grace
The West Wing
The X-Files
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The A-Team
Magnum PI
Little House on the Prairie

I also have the Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, and Bewitched on the list. Although they're not from the 90s, they were frequently syndicated and so I spent a lot of time watching them in the 90s.

MOVIES

Airborne
Airheads
The American President
American Psycho
Animal House
A Beautiful Mind
Big
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Boyz n da Hood
Breakfast Club
But I'm a Cheerleader
Cast Away
Christmas Vacation
Clerks
Clueless
Dazed and Confused
Dead Poets Society
Dirty Dancing
Father of the Bride
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
First Wives Club
Friday
Go
Goodfellas
Good Morning Vietnam
Good Will Hunting
Groundhog Day
Grumpy Old Men
Happy Gilmore
Heathers
Higher Learning
Home Alone
Hoosiers
Independence Day
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
La Bamba
Last Days of Disco
Last of the Mohicans
Lost in Translation
Major League
The Matrix
Metropolitan
Mighty Ducks
Napoleon Dynamite
The Natural
Office Space
PCU
The Perfect Storm
Point Break
Pulp Fiction
Rain Man
Rudy
Sandlot
Scent of a Woman
School Ties
Silence of the Lambs
Singles
Sleepers
The Social Network
Son in Law
Spaceballs
Speed
Stand by Me
That Thing You Do
Three Kings
A Time to Kill
Tommy Boy
Top Gun
Untouchables
The Usual Suspects
White Men Can't Jump
Encino Man
Wayne's World
Dave
Cool Runnings
Swingers
American Pie
Dude Where's My Car
Remember the Titans
American Beauty
posted by kevinbelt at 9:58 AM on July 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

I've been rewatching Gilmore Girls (trailer complete with 90s voiceover) on Netflix, and it's a great combination of 90s/early 00s nostalgia and small town life and minor drama. Lots of great music and witty conversation.
posted by hydra77 at 10:33 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: How has My So Called Life not been mentioned yet ?!?!
(Edit: I scrolled down too fast. But I submit that offering as The Most 90s Show Ever)
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:48 AM on July 29, 2022

Best answer: I'm not saying that anyone should watch it, but it's hard to get more 1990s than Seventh Heaven.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:18 PM on July 29, 2022

I second the recommendation for The Sandlot. It's a movie made in the 90s about the 50s or 60s.

NBC's Thursday night line up - you mention Friends but there was also Mad About You. The first three or four seasons are great. I also loved Newsradio but it's not as rewatchable for me due to the presence of Joe Rogan in the cast.

ABC's TGIF line up - Boy Meets World, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Full House,
posted by Constance Mirabella at 7:45 PM on July 29, 2022

Living Single on Hulu
posted by eyeball at 10:00 PM on July 29, 2022

Best answer: This is a little different, but if you read The Babysitters Club as a kid, the recent Netflix show is a great version. It's set in modern day but captures the essence of each character. Each episode is based on one of the original books, and somehow manages to be true to the story and also modern in a refreshing way. It's technically a kids show but it's a complete delight.
posted by radioamy at 3:06 PM on August 1, 2022