By its very nature, television is all about what’s new, sweeping audiences to exciting new locations and enthralling us with their original narrative storylines.
As a nostalgia-loving culture, we all tend to look back fondly at certain TV shows, whether it’s rewatching old reruns of The Office on Comedy Central or geeking out about Star Trek whenever we head to Comic-Con. But for the most part, viewers are always looking ahead to the new show everyone’s talking about at work or gabbing about in between classes, preventing us from acknowledging the numerous other great shows that have come out in the past few decades.
As much as we all love Prime’s Fallout series or HBO’s ongoing House of the Dragon, it’s also worth remembering how many other well-loved shows have since fallen out of favor among contemporary audiences, from rowdy 2000s-era sitcoms to epic historical drama series.
In theory, a dark comedy series about a family of morticians seems to write itself. When it came to the final product, however, Six Feet Under somehow managed to exceed expectations, creating a series unlike any other to air on HBO. Holding audiences’ interests throughout the 2000s, Six Feet Under probed into the deeper matters of average human existence, from unfulfilled romantic relationships to difficulties in bonding with estranged siblings. But as Six Feet Under continuously emphasized, each of us is given a very limited window to make the most of our time on Earth, allowing us to (hopefully) approach each day as though it were our last.
A few short years before Game of Thrones captured international attention for its political nuance, Rome delighted viewers with its complex themes, intelligent writing, and thematic analysis of power and precarious political institutions. A rip-roaring study of Ancient Rome at the height of its military might, Rome detailed how the world’s mightiest empire eventually caved in on itself, giving way to violent factional disputes, corruption, and authoritative tyrants. Like its spiritual successor in Game of Thrones, it’s a drama series that’s bound to appeal to every viewers’ interests, presenting each of its historical figures as morally gray characters rather than stone-faced heroes from ancient mythology.
The ‘90s marked a golden age of phenomenal TV series, especially when it came to family-friendly sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends, or Frasier. With how many great shows came about in the decade, it’s inevitable that certain series like 3rd Rock from the Sun might be overshadowed by its larger, more successful contemporaries. In spite of its meager audience today, however, 3rd Rock from the Sun still holds up as a consistently humorous sci-fi comedy series. Focusing on an alien expeditionary group’s attempts to integrate into human society, 3rd Rock from the Sun held up a mirror to the puzzling behavior that characterizes daily life, ensuring plenty of hilarity from one episode to the next.
Before he was the criminal kingpin Walter White in AMC’s critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston hammed it up as the absent-minded father Hal in the 2000s-era sitcom, Malcolm in the Middle. Following the dysfunctional family members of a low-income household in the suburbs, Malcolm in the Middle distanced itself from the down-to-earth nature of most sitcoms before it, doubling down on its off-the-walls humor in lieu of more cathartic sequences. Whether focusing on the mischievous antics of Malcolm and his siblings or the chaotic misadventures of Hal and his wife Lois, Malcolm in the Middle never had a dull or unoriginal moment in its seven-season-long run, boasting plenty of surprises in each of its 151 episodes.
Even considering its polarizing ending, few shows have captivated audiences to the same extent as Lost. The premiere series of the 2000s, Lost combined an unorthodox narrative approach with Twilight Zone-levels of twists and turns, solving some of its long-standing mysteries even as it continued building new ones. Prioritizing characterization above all else, Lost’s nonlinear episodic chronology, flawed heroes, relatable villains, and taut blend between sci-fi, fantasy, and drama makes it a show as enjoyable now as it was two decades ago on ABC.
For those in the know, “fringe science” encapsulates branches of scientific study that are purely speculative or incapable of being proven true (IE, subjects like ESP, parallel universes, or alien civilizations). Adopting that idea as the basis for an entire TV series, Fringe involves a group of paranormal researchers using experimental investigation methods to solve otherwise unexplainable supernatural cases. Borrowing elements of Lost and combining it with the procedural format of The X-Files, Fringe made for an endlessly creative TV series on par with Twin Peaks, propelling itself forward with its palpable mysteries and unique scientific concepts.
The late 1990s and early 2000s ushered in a wave of memorable sci-fi series, whether in the form of cult-favorite space Westerns series like Firefly or inventive sci-fi dramas like Battlestar Galactica. Nestled into this mix of worthwhile sci-fi shows is the 1999 space opera series, Farscape. Following a ragtag group of interstellar travelers fleeing from a totalitarian government, Farscape harked back to the sci-fi splendor of Star Trek or Star Wars, utilizing ideas related to authority, independence, deep-space exploration, and the abundant mysteries of the universe. To this day, diehard fans continue to mention the series in the same breath as Star Trek: The Next Generation or Battlestar Galactica in terms of its depth and atmospheric storytelling, which is significant praise in and of itself.
