{"id":956172,"date":"2026-05-13T03:19:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/956172\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:19:21","slug":"5-90s-tv-shows-with-100-episodes-that-are-worth-watching-from-start-to-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/956172\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ’90s TV Shows With 100+ Episodes That Are Worth Watching From Start to Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although there are a lot of iconic shows from the \u201890s, only a few of the decade\u2019s long-lasting dramas, sitcoms<\/a>, sci-fi<\/a> shows, and horror<\/a> series are worth watching all the way through. The \u201890s was an incredible time for TV, with scholars of the medium crediting the era with the birth of the Second Golden Age of Television. Groundbreaking cable shows like Tales from the Crypt, The Sopranos, Sex in the City, and Band of Brothers pushed the envelope in terms of what could be depicted on the small screen.<\/p>\n

At the same time, shows like The West Wing<\/a>, The X-Files<\/a>, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer <\/a>saw network TV procedurals bring a new level of narrative complexity to their overarching plot lines. Dropping the largely episodic approach of earlier network TV shows (outside of daytime soaps), these shows pushed the boundaries in terms of television storytelling style, boasting long, complex, multi-faceted plots instead of simplistic standalone storylines.<\/p>\n

The West Wing<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While creator Aaron Sorkin\u2019s writing style has been parodied to death in the years since The West Wing ended<\/a> and the show\u2019s alternately idealistic and cynical view of politics is unfortunately outdated, this ensemble drama remains a must-watch for anyone seeking a crash course in US TV history of the \u201890s. Starring Martin Sheen as the Democratic President Josiah Bartlet, The West Wing centred on the president\u2019s Executive Branch.<\/p>\n

With a historically great cast that included Rob Lowe, Bradley Whitford, Moira Kelly, Dule Hill, Stockard Channing, Allison Janney, and John Spencer, among many, many more, The West Wing was famous for its complex, mile-a-minute dialogue and the show\u2019s unusual filming style. Long \u201cWalk and talk\u201d Steadicam shots allowed the show\u2019s dialogue to flow seamlessly from character to character, room to room, and scene to scene, creating an effortlessly dramatic, gripping political drama that remains incredibly influential today.<\/p>\n

The X-Files<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Without The West Wing, viewers would likely never have gotten later shows like Veep, House of Cards, and Sorkin\u2019s own show The Newsroom. However, when it comes to which long-running \u201890s show had the biggest impact on TV history, there is no contest among the series listed here. Following the example laid out by the more offbeat Twin Peaks, the genuinely creepy police procedural The X-Files<\/a> combined the classic tropes of buddy cop shows with supernatural elements to create an entire new sub genre of TV.<\/p>\n

In the decades that followed, everything from Supernatural to Evil, to The Outsider, to Grimm, to Lucifer, to Fringe, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which will be mentioned soon), would borrow from this innovative approach. While the endless list of shows that were influenced by this groundbreaking mix of genre storytelling and police procedural formatting could have made The X-Files feel old hat, its memorably creepy villains and the incredible chemistry between its leads ensure the show avoided this fate and remains a must-watch.<\/p>\n

Seinfeld<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are well over one hundred episodes of Seinfeld and, considering the show\u2019s premise, this is a pretty impressive achievement on its own. The West Wing focused on the most powerful person in the world, while Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files featured apocalyptic plots to end the world itself, whereas Seinfeld was just a show about a group of misfit friends doing very little in New York. Despite this, the iconic sitcom is one of the decade\u2019s most re-watchable shows, and its gang of amoral antiheroes are among the best sitcom characters of all time.<\/p>\n

Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/p>\n

\"Buffy<\/p>\n

While Seinfeld\u2019s central crew certainly inspired It\u2019s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Happy Endings among other shows, it is even easier to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer\u2018s influence\u00a0on contemporary pop culture<\/a>. The fun, feminist horror comedy fantasy mashup K-pop Demon Hunters wouldn\u2019t exist without this \u201890s classic, which pitted the titular ordinary teenage high school girl against legions of undead vampires, demons, and ancient evils. While Sarah Michelle Gellar\u2019s central performance was uniquely strong, it is Buffy the Vampire Slayer\u2019s self-aware dialogue that makes the show a must-watch almost 30 years later.<\/p>\n

Friends<\/p>\n

\"Chandler,<\/p>\n

Although the writing is great, the main characters of Friends<\/a> are the real reason the show became a global phenomenon during the \u201890s and remained incredibly popular until its series finale. As much as everything from New Girl to How I Met Your Mother to The Big Bang Theory might have borrowed from its familiar setup, almost no subsequent sitcom could command the same sort of incredible chemistry as Joey, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Ross, and Phoebe shared throughout the ten seasons of Friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although there are a lot of iconic shows from the \u201890s, only a few of the decade\u2019s long-lasting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":956173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3937],"tags":[7943,77,6171,34928,4167,6960,69635,74902,266947,33003,382,16,15],"class_list":["post-956172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-buffy-the-vampire-slayer","tag-entertainment","tag-friends","tag-horror-genre","tag-list-feature","tag-sci-fi","tag-seinfeld","tag-sitcoms","tag-the-west-wing","tag-the-x-files","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116565113911388445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}