Reviva as Melhores Comédias dos Anos 90: 10 Séries que Continuam a Encantar Hoje

The ’90s were a fantastic decade for sitcoms, with the genre thriving on both network television and cable. But with so many of the best TV shows from the ’90s taking up the spotlight, there are countless quality series that have since fallen into complete obscurity. Many of these forgotten shows are sitcoms, with even series that ran for multiple seasons or starring future big names losing their wider recognition. In other cases, shows that were under-appreciated with contemporary audiences have only slid further outside of pop culture memory over the passage of time.

Whether it’s hit shows from the ’90s that nobody talks about today or brief comedic gems, there are plenty of sitcoms that need more attention. From family driven comedies to coming-of-age hilarity, there is an obscure ’90s sitcom for everyone. And given some of these shows all-to-short runs, many of them are easy to binge over a long lazy weekend. These are 10 forgotten ’90s sitcoms that are still worth watching today, each fully deserving of modern reappraisal and well worth checking out and revisiting.

Fresh off writing on “Late Night with David Letterman,” comedian Chris Elliott co-created and starred in the ’90 series “Get a Life.” Elliott plays Chris Peterson, a 30-something man who still works as a paperboy and lives with his parents in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota. Peterson is excessively bone-headed, with the levels of his buffoonery frequently dialed up to surreal and slapstick effect. In the second and final season, Peterson moves into the garage of former cop Gus Borden (Brian Doyle-Murray), who becomes his new comic foil.

“Get a Life” pushed boundaries for American network television at the dawn of the ’90s, rethinking what was possible for the sitcom format. There was a pronounced dark sense of humor and little continuity between episodes, with Peterson dying at the conclusion of more than one episode. Similarly, the characters around Peterson have their own outlandish qualities, often depicted as a skewering of common suburban archetypes. Far ahead of its time, “Get a Life” was a daring subversion of the entire sitcom format to create something wholly original and reflecting Elliott’s brand of humor.

“Saturday Night Live” alum Jon Lovitz took center stage for the animated sitcom “The Critic” as its titular professional film reviewer. Lovitz plays Jay Sherman, a 30-something critic living in New York City who frequently offers withering, mean-spirited critiques of movies. In contrast to his acerbic television persona, Sherman is actually a more sensitive and gentle figure in his private life. In between his televised reviews, Sherman contends with life as a divorcee and single father, punctuated with plenty of slice-of-life humor from living in the city.

Running for two seasons from 1994 to 1995, “The Critic” didn’t click with audiences like fellow adult animated sitcom “The Simpsons” had. Series creators Al Jean and Mike Reiss were showrunners on “The Simpsons” at the time and even staged a crossover between the two shows. Despite its brief run, the show has built up a cult classic following but never quite to the level that it deserved. Led by what is arguably a career-best performance from Lovitz, “The Critic” brought its own pop culture-oriented animated fun.

Whether it was “Roseanne” or “Married… with Children,” a lot of popular family-based sitcoms subverted wholesome depictions of suburban domesticity. This trend continued with 1995’s “Unhappily Ever After,” which ran for five seasons until 1999 on The WB. The series centers on the thoroughly dysfunctional Malloy family, who live in the greater Los Angeles area, each with their own obvious character flaws. The show revolves around heavy-drinking patriarch Jack (Geoff Pierson) and his daughter Tiffany (Nikki Cox) as they contend with their respective inner demons and other wacky members of the family.

“Unhappily Ever After” brings in one of the most ludicrously toxic nuclear families in ’90s sitcom history with the malcontented Malloys. This is frequently done with tongue firmly in-cheek, most notably in examples like Jack hallucinating an imaginary friend voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait. Additionally, the characters often break the fourth wall to directly call out common genre tropes and provide commentary on plot developments.

The show also brings together an impressive ensemble cast, including Kevin Connolly and Justin Berfield before both would find greater success elsewhere. An early staple in The WB’s original programming lineup, “Unhappily Ever After” continues to deconstruct the modern family sitcom genre.

After being a mainstay on “The Cosby Show,” the late Malcolm-Jamal Warner co-headlined his own sitcom, “Malcolm & Eddie.” Warner plays the reserved and considerate Malcolm McGee, a young man in his 20s living in Kansas City. McGee’s roommate is tow truck business owner Eddie Sherman (Eddie Griffin), who is a much more energetic and impulsive personality. After winning a large sum of money, the roommates decide to buy the entire building where their apartment is located, including the bar under them, which they decide to run together.

“Malcolm & Eddie” is an early showcase for Eddie Griffin’s comedic talents, contrasting well opposite Warner’s straight man comic persona. The series’ premise itself isn’t particularly original, starting out as another mismatched roommate duo before expanding to burgeoning joint business narrative. Fortunately, the lead duo make the whole thing work and the series stands arguably as Warner’s best adult role. The show ran for four seasons, from 1996 to 2000, helping UPN find its place in a progressively crowded television space shortly after the basic cable network’s launch.

The 1997 sitcom “Dharma & Greg” opened with a romantically unorthodox premise that informed the entire series. Despite their clear differences, Dharma Finkelstein (Jenna Elfman) and Greg Montgomery (Thomas Gibson) decide to impulsively get married on their first date. Whereas Dharma and her parents are extremely free-spirited, Greg and his parents come from a tight-laced conservative background. The fledgling couple’s relationship is tested as they get to actually know each other and overcome their polemical perspectives.

“Dharma & Greg” takes the tried-and-true “Odd Couple” domestic dynamic and repositions it as a marriage between its leads. At first glance, this seems like a superficial premise but the show makes it work and continues to yield comedic potential for five seasons. A lot of that comes from Elfman’s effervescent charm carrying a lot of the show’s humor in contrast to Gibson’s more appropriately straightlaced performance. A successful show that doesn’t get mentioned much anymore despite being co-created by the prolific Chuck Lorre, “Dharma & Greg” was a reliably funny relationship sitcom.

Before he was Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds headlined the forgotten ’90s sitcom “Two Guys and Girl,” which premiered in 1998. Originally titled “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place,” the show was initially set in and around a Boston pizza parlor. Reynolds plays Berg, a perpetual slacker who works at the restaurant and attends college with his roommate Pete Dunville (Richard Ruccolo). The titular trifecta is completed by Sharon Carter (Traylor Howard), who also lives with the duo while completing her own collegiate studies and starting her professional career.

Even years before becoming a Hollywood icon, Reynolds brings plenty of his usual wry charm to “Two Guys and a Girl.” Joining him in the second season is fellow fan-favorite Canadian actor Nathan Fillion playing Sharon’s love interest Johnny Donnelly. A thoroughly likable cast propels the show for its four-season run, though it doesn’t get much recognition now beyond its inclusion of Reynolds and Fillion. An early showcase for its stars’ clear talent, “Two Guys and a Girl” is a must-watch for fans of its lead actors.

“Sister, Sister” was practically a staple of ’90s television, with the show following twin sister stars Tia and Tamera Mowry. What isn’t as well-remembered is the 1997 sitcom “Smart Guy” starring the Mowry sisters’ younger brother Tahj Mowry. The show revolves around boy genius T.J. Henderson (Mowry), who is placed in high school after his intelligence lets him skip several grades. T.J. tries to fit in with an older cohort of classmates, including his teenage older brother Marcus (Jason Weaver), with whom he has a complex relationship.

“Smart Guy” ran for three seasons from 1997 to 1999, exactly half the length of “Sister, Sister,” with the two shows even crossing over. Tahj Mowry proves to be just as much of a comedic natural as his two older sisters, playing precocious, brainy, and vulnerable all at once. The show also had a natural premise that didn’t overstay its welcome like the twin gimmick that “Sister, Sister” was built around. The overlooked Mowry-led ’90s sitcom, “Smart Guy” deserves as much recognition as its sister series, pun very much intended.

At the start of the ’90s, Damon Wayans and his family helped redefine television comedy with “In Living Color” on Fox. Towards the end of the decade, Wayans returned to Fox to headline his own sitcom “Damon” in 1998. Wayans stars as Damon Thomas, a smooth and single undercover police detective, joined by David Alan Grier playing his married older brother Bernard. The show explores the differences between the two brothers and their places in their personal lives and careers.

Despite boasting Wayans as a co-creator and executive producer, “Damon” only ran for a single season and was ultimately cancelled after a 13-episode run. This came even with the show boasting Wayans and Grier front and center and playing off of each other quite well in another solid collaboration between them. Wayans returned to television starring in the much more family-friendly sitcom “My Wife and Kids” three years later in contrast to his raunchier comedic projects. Coming after co-creating and starring in one of Fox’s most iconic shows of the 90s, Wayans’ “Damon” always faced a high bar, leading it to be an underrated project.

Before they starred in “Monk” and “How I Met Your Mother,” respectively, Tony Shalhoub and Neil Patrick Harris headlined the 1999 sitcom “Stark Raving Mad.” Shalhoub plays best-selling eccentric horror novelist Ian Stark while Harris plays Stark’s newly promoted young editor Henry McNeeley. Stark enjoys pulling pranks and, given McNeeley’s visible anxieties, OCD, and wide range of fears, the hapless editor becomes a frequent target of this mischief. The two must learn to work together as Stark prepares his next book, with McNeeley’s girlfriend Tess Farraday (Dorie Burton) often being drawn into their antics.

Shalhoub and Harris make for an unlikely comic duo but, somehow, the sitcom pairing works, at least for one season of “Stark Raving Mad.” Despite the series’ brief run, the two actors gel together relatively quickly, with their rapport only growing deeper across the show’s 22 episodes. Ironically, Harris’ character foreshadows the similarly OCD-diagnosed character Shalhoub would later play to widespread success on “Monk.” A literary twist on an odd couple dynamic, “Stark Raving Mad” had a lot of potential before its untimely end.

Filmmaker Edgar Wright’s first major collaboration with frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was for the 1999 British comedy “Spaced.” The show centers on 20-somethings Tim Bisley (Pegg) and Daisy Steiner (Jessica Stevenson), who pose as a couple to qualify for an apartment rental. As the two get used to living together, they experience oddly surreal adventures, often accompanied by their friends, including Mike Watt (Nick Frost). However, the duo find their dynamic strained as they try to maintain their ruse, affecting their combined friend group.

Running for only 14 episodes, “Spaced” is one of the best shows to binge-watch in a matter of days. Series creator Pegg and Stevenson’s storytelling strengths are a parade of pop culture references informing many of the gags, including the inspirational basis for what would become the 2004 horror comedy “Shaun of the Dead.” This often manifests in daydreams and other flights of fancy that bring the comedy into other genres to great effect. Even as much of the creative team and cast’s profile has grown, “Spaced” remains an overlooked classic in British television.