Saturday, September 22, 2012

90's Fashion...I mean TV

My friend Sara inspired this post, well her birthday party did. It's a 90's party happening today. We are supposed to wear clothes from that decade and being a procrastinator I still have no idea what I'm wearing. I'm having a hard time thinking of the 90's as a fashionable era but, that may be due to the fact that I wore some horrible clothing back then. I actually had a nightmare recently after thinking about this before bed...it was the last minute and I still hadn't picked an outfit, the only option I had was to wear this pair of green overall shorts than I owned back in my TLC phase. Yikes!

So I am clueless about the fashion of the 90's but, I remember 90's television all too well. I say that like it's bad thing and of course it isn't, it's just that all of my memories of 90's television are making it almost impossible to finish this post which is, in case you couldn't tell, about the shows I loved back in the day, which was a Wednesday. I could just write about them all but, this would be incredibly long so I've decided to do this award show style and pick one show from each category.


Disclaimer: I don't know if each is my favorite, picking favorites gives me agita. They are just the ones I have something interesting to say about and I know I'm leaving things out. 

Sketch Comedy Show 
The nominees: Saturday Night Live, The Tracey Ullman Show, In Living Color, The State, The Kids in the Hall, MADtv, Roundhouse, All That

And the winner is...The Tracey Ullman Show (1987-1990)

Julie Kavner & Dan Castellaneta
(AKA Marge & Homer Simpson)

Finding sketch comedy at a young age sealed the deal, I was destined to be a comedy nerd. One woman in particular got that ball rolling, Tracey Ullman. I was probably too young for this show (I'm 33) but, I was too young for a lot of my favorite childhood shows/movies. (I loved Hunter before I was in double digits and my favorite movie at the age of 3 was Poltergeist). I loved this show and I'm sure any inappropriate jokes went over my head anyway but, even if I didn't get references or innuendos, the delivery of those jokes were enough to crack me up. I wish I remembered more specifics about this show but, it's been 22 years and unlike some of the other shows listed it's not as accessible. The impact it had on me is the reason it's Singled Out. Also, in addition to being hilarious, this show gave me hipster dibs on The Simpsons. I really did know about them before they were cool.

(This has inspired an outfit idea: I could wear a bathrobe to Sara's party and tell all of her guests to go home!)



Soap Opera
The nominees: All My Children, One Life to Live, Swans Crossing

And the winner is...Swans Crossing (1992)


With a 90210 promo, full of nostalgia.

I had to pick this because no one remembers it. This was a soap opera for teenagers that only lasted for one season. It has been a long time but, I remember Sydney was the scheming, self-centered, snob who was played very convincingly by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Garrett, played by Shane McDermott, was the hot guy, and I was in love with him. I want to find every episode and watch them now but, I do have a party to go to.

Family/Teen Show
The nominees: Full House, Step by Step, Family Matters, Clarissa Explains It All!, Keenan & Kel, Boy Meets World, Fresh Prince of Bel Air

And the winner is...Clarissa Explains It All (1991-1994)

This promo does a good job of explaining it all.

You've got the theme song stuck in your head now don't you? I do. Clarissa Darling was my idol. I wanted her clothes, her best friend and especially her computer. She was like an older, blonde, Punky Brewster and let me tell you, I was obsessed with Punky Brewster so that is quite the compliment. I once went to school dressed as Punky and it was nowhere near Halloween. Back to Clarissa though, I loved this show. I don't remember being used to shows that broke the fourth wall. I really enjoyed this format and I still do (yes, even when Oswin did it in Asylum of the Daleks). I decided to research a few months ago whether or not it was realistic that a kid in the early 90's could do all that she did with graphics and video game creation on a PC but, I couldn't find conclusive evidence either way so I gave up. I don't really care, it was awesome.

Cartoon
The nominees are: Rugrats, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, Spaceghost Coast to Coast, South Park, Beavis and Butthead, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Animaniacs, Angry Beavers, Dr. Katz Professional Therapist, Ren & Stimpy, Duck Tales, Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers, Pinky and the Brain, and more...

And the winner is...Rugrats (1991 -2004)

Daleks!

This was the hardest decision of all. I really loved all of the nominees for different reasons but, Rugrats stands out as a show I shared with my little sister and my kids. Plus, the creators seem to have been Doctor Who fans as evidenced by the Daleks in the clip above from s02e01 - Toy Palace which, includes a time machine as well and there's always Tommy's screwdriver. Rugrats was one of those cartoons that had something for everyone, in my opinion. It was an animated version of Look Who's Talking from the kids' point of view. Angelica reminded me of my little sister, who messed with my kids as if she were their big sister (she's only 4 years older than my daughter and 7 years older than my son). She told my son he came from the pound but, then again I did tell our Other Sister that she was adopted and her real name was Amelia not Amy. Sisters are great!

Drama
The nominees: ER, The Wonder Years, Judging Amy, New York Undercover

And the winner is...ER (1994-2009)

You very well might cry, I did.

I know what you're thinking, I should have picked The Wonder Years and I agree that was a fabulous show but, I loved ER and I have a great story about it. First, I know that the clip above wasn't from the 90's but, I couldn't find any clips from the episode I'll be talking about and hey, it's River Song! Dr. Greene's death was so sad and that clip might make you tear up even if you don't know who he was but, onto my story. While I was in labor with my first child, I was watching TV because the contractions were really nothing at that moment. ER was on when the Doctor came in to check on me and she got distracted by the CPR being performed on the show, criticizing the TV Dr. for not using enough force. The anesthesiologist was also distracted by a crazy guy with a gun during the same episode, exclaiming, as he was about to give me an epidural, "Just knock the gun out his hand!" to someone standing behind the perpetrator.

Game Show
The nominees: Family Double Dare, What Would you Do, Love Connection, Concentration, Nick Arcade, The Price is Right, Remote Control, Singled Out

And the winner is...Classic Concentration (1987-1991)


Not only is this a full episode, it includes all of the commercials!

I was so good at this game. I owned the board game and when I found out my neighbor had a Classic Concentration PC game, I wouldn't stop playing it, ignoring the kids I was supposed to be playing with. That was a bit rude of me, I realize that now. I loved this game so much, I think I'm going to try to find that game online now...I mean I'm going to make dip and put together an outfit to wear to Sara's party, yeah that's it.

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