The 40 most popular 1990s TV shows, ranked. Click any show for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999 · US
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.


Beverly Hills, 90210
1990 · US
Follow the lives of a group of teenagers living in the upscale, star-studded community of Beverly Hills, California and attending the fictitious West Beverly Hills High School and, subsequently, the fictitious California University after graduation.


Family Guy
1999 · US
Sick, twisted, politically incorrect and Freakin' Sweet animated series featuring the adventures of the dysfunctional Griffin family. Bumbling Peter and long-suffering Lois have three kids. Stewie (a brilliant but sadistic baby bent on killing his mother and taking over the world), Meg (the oldest, and is the most unpopular girl in town) and Chris (the middle kid, he's not very bright but has a passion for movies). The final member of the family is Brian - a talking dog and much more than a pet, he keeps Stewie in check whilst sipping Martinis and sorting through his own life issues.


Felicity
1998 · US
Felicity Porter, a sensitive and intelligent girl from the San Francisco Bay Area, decides to give up a slot at Stanford University's pre-med program to follow her long time crush to college in New York City. Things get even more complicated when she meets her dorm's resident advisor and they fall in love.


Arthur
1996 · US
The show revolves around the lives of 8-year-old Arthur Read, an anthropomorphic aardvark, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.


Friends
1994 · US
Six young people from New York City, on their own and struggling to survive in the real world, find the companionship, comfort and support they get from each other to be the perfect antidote to the pressures of life.


Raw
1993 · US
A regularly scheduled, live, year-round program featuring some of the biggest WWE Superstars.


The Daily Show
1996 · US
The World's Fakest News Team tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and pop culture.


Young Hearts
1995 · BR
Malhação is a Brazilian television series for the teenage audience. The soap started in 1995, and was set in a fictional Gym Club called Malhação on Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. Through the years the location varied slightly. Although the name of the soap remains the same, it is now set in the Múltipla Escolha High School.


C.I.D.
1998 · IN
A team of dedicated men and women in the Crime Investigation Department will risk everything to solve Mumbai's toughest, most complicated crimes.


Late Show with David Letterman
1993 · US
David Letterman uses mature humor to appeal to his audience in this weeknight series, which gets its music from a house band led by Paul Shaffer. Among the show's most-famous segments are the Top Ten List and Stupid Pet Tricks, the latter of which subsequently led to an additional recurring segment called Stupid Human Tricks.


Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden
1990 · NL
Goede tijden, slechte tijden, also known as GTST, is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, revolving around the lives of the families Alberts, Sanders, De Jong, Van Houten and Bouwhuis. It all takes place in the fictional town of Meerdijk.


Law & Order
1990 · US
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.


One Piece
1999 · JP
Years ago, the fearsome Pirate King, Gol D. Roger was executed leaving a huge pile of treasure and the famous "One Piece" behind. Whoever claims the "One Piece" will be named the new King of the Pirates. Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who consumed a "Devil Fruit," decides to follow in the footsteps of his idol, the pirate Shanks, and find the One Piece. It helps, of course, that his body has the properties of rubber and that he's surrounded by a bevy of skilled fighters and thieves to help him along the way. Luffy will do anything to get the One Piece and become King of the Pirates!


South Park
1997 · US
Follow the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado.


Chibi Maruko-chan
1990 · JP
Meet Maruko, a sweet schoolgirl with a hefty dose of curiosity (and occasional laziness!). She sails through life in a cozy town alongside her loving parents, grandparents, and sister. Maruko has a band of loyal friends, including her closest pal, Tama-chan, but her playful and doting grandpa is at the heart of it all. Life is never dull in this charming series.


DAS!
1991 · DE
Every evening at 6:45 p.m. sharp, a prominent guest takes a seat on the red sofa—and DAS! provides daily updates on what's hot in the north.


Volle Kanne
1999 · DE
No overview available


Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
1992 · DE
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten is a long-running German television soap opera, first broadcast on RTL in 1992. The programme concerns the lives of a fictional neighborhood in Germany's capital city Berlin. Over the years the soap opera tends to have an overhaul of young people in their late teens and early twenties; targeting a young viewership.


Morgenmagazin
1992 · DE
No overview available


Inkigayo
1998 · KR
The program is a weekly music show that features and introduces viewers to the most popular artists in Korea. Every week, they ask viewers to vote and select the most popular song of the week.


The View
1997 · US
ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, currently featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro discussing the most exciting events of the day. Hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment are all part of The View.


Ally McBeal
1997 · US
Ally McBeal is a young lawyer working at the Boston law firm Cage and Fish. Ally's lives and loves are eccentric, humorous, dramatic with an incredibly overactive imagination that's working overtime!


Hollywood Squares
1998 · US
On September 14, 1998, a Hollywood Squares revival debuted with Tom Bergeron as its host. In addition to her production duties, Whoopi Goldberg served as the permanent center square, with series head writer Bruce Vilanch, Gilbert Gottfried, Martin Mull, and Caroline Rhea as regular panelists and Brad Garrett, Bobcat Goldthwait, Jeffrey Tambor, George Wallace, Kathy Griffin and various others as semi-regular panelists. Shadoe Stevens returned to announce, although he was not given a square on the panel as he had been when John Davidson was host.


Midsomer Murders
1997 · UK
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.


Ninja Boy Rantaro
1993 · JP
Rantarō, Shinbei and Kirimaru are ninja apprentices in the Ninja Gakuen, where first grade ones are called "Nintamas". They must learn everything a ninja must know, but as for our heroes, money, food or playing are more interesting. The series show the everyday adventures of our heroes.


Pokémon
1997 · JP
Join Ash accompanied by his partner Pikachu, as he travels through many regions, meets new friends and faces new challenges on his quest to become a Pokémon Master.


Detective Conan
1996 · JP
The son of a world famous mystery writer, Jimmy Kudo, has achieved his own notoriety by assisting the local police as a student detective. He has always been able to solve the most difficult of criminal cases using his wits and power of reason.


Family Affairs
1997 · UK
Focuses on the lives of residents in the fictional London suburb of Charnham.


The X-Files
1993 · US
The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.


Passions
1999 · US
Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008. Passions follows the lives and loves, and various romantic and paranormal adventures of the residents of Harmony. Story-lines center around the interactions among members of its multi-racial core families — the African American Russells, white Cranes and Bennetts, and half-Mexican half-Irish Lopez-Fitzgeralds — as well as the supernatural including town witch Tabitha Lenox. Created by writer James E. Reilly and produced by NBC Studios, the series was subsequently picked up by direct broadcast satellite service DirecTV, which broadcast new episodes airing on its exclusive channel The 101. In December 2007, DirecTV decided not to renew its contract for the series, and the studio was unable to sell the show elsewhere. The final episode aired on DirecTV on August 7, 2008.


Die Harald Schmidt Show
1995 · DE
The Harald Schmidt Show is a German late night talk show hosted on Sky Deutschland by comedian Harald Schmidt. The show first aired from 5 December 1995 to 23 December 2003 on Sat.1. Schmidt then moved his show to Das Erste as Harald Schmidt and Schmidt & Pocher, but he returned to Sat.1 on 13 September 2011. After cancellation on Sat.1, the show continued on Sky Deutschland in September 2012.


Leute heute
1997 · DE
No overview available


Among Friends
1998 · HU
Miklós introduces viewers into the world of Money and Charm.


Stargate SG-1
1997 · US
The story of Stargate SG-1 begins about a year after the events of the feature film, when the United States government learns that an ancient alien device called the Stargate can access a network of such devices on a multitude of planets. SG-1 is an elite Air Force special operations team, one of more than two dozen teams from Earth who explore the galaxy and defend against alien threats such as the Goa'uld, Replicators, and the Ori.


Frasier
1993 · US
After many years spent at the “Cheers” bar, Frasier moves back home to Seattle to work as a radio psychiatrist after his policeman father gets shot in the hip on duty.


Egoli: Place of Gold
1992 · ZA
A South African television soap opera created by Franz Marx which revolves around the daily ups, downs, trials and tribulations of a handful of families in and around Johannesburg (which is often referred to as eGoli - the City of Gold)


The Sopranos
1999 · US
The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. Those difficulties are often highlighted through his ongoing professional relationship with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The show features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and his cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti.


The West Wing
1999 · US
The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the nation's capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humor and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life.


Holby City
1999 · UK
Drama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.
1990s television was the last era of true mass audiences, when a network sitcom or a season finale could be a shared national event.