What are the Top 3 TV Shows that define your (personal) youth?
Please try your best to narrow it down to THREE! Can you recall which shows on TV feel synonymous with your youth? Can be your childhood phase, your adolescent phase, etc. - whatever you define as your youth!
For me: Jackie Chan Adventures, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Pokemon
147
Comments126
Earlier:
Later on:
ReBoot! That brings back memories!
Animaniacs
Gargoyles
Doctor Who (Classic)
Dragonball Z introduced me to anime which became a life long enjoyment.
Clarissa explains it all exposed me (a guy) to more female lead content and I learned a bit more about other perspectives.
Captain Planet introduced me to the idea that we'll never really stop pollution because super heros aren't real lol
tell me you're mid 40's without telling me.
Yessir
Thundercats HOOooo!!!
This is actually a pretty hard question. At first I couldn't think of any show but the more I thought about it the more came to my mind.
I narrowed it down to these three:
Not because I'm so old but because they where first aired in my home country in the early and mid nineties when I was at my granny's place a lot of afternoons.
Later I moved town, kinda lost touch to my grandma and wasn't really there when she got very old and then died.
Looking back it's really sad that I wasn't there for someone who spend a whole lot of my childhood with me and in fact was always there for me.
Thanks for sharing your memory. I hope you are able to cherish the memories you had together.
As a kid.
As a teenager.
I didn't include The Simpsons since growing up in the 90s, that's a given.
Knight Rider, The A-Team, MacGyver
Honorable mentions to Dukes of Hazzard, The Fall Guy, Magnum, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, TJ Hooker, Manimal, Automan etc
What a time to be a kid
Being the generation that grew up as kids of Vietnam vets was a trip. You had these dudes with BA Baracus looking like he was ready to fuck some fool up to pity them. After that, you had the privileged White middle-upper class family of the Brady Bunch being all corny af, saying shit like, "Gee whiz, Mom! That's positively fantastic!" There were eight people living comfortably off of one wage with a housekeeper.
Imagine that today. The A-Team would be four Afghan and Iraq vets all tatted up working out of a desert-colored F150 Raptor hunting down pedos. One of them would be called Ricky Recon with the signature phrase, "It's time for some group therapy!" They'd also have a lady with them that would be the reasonable one. Every episode would include one line where someone bitches about the VA. The next show would be Modern Family.
I felt the exact same way about the X Files while I watched it too! It was on my personal honorable mentions ✅
Are you me?
I’m going to strongly assume you’re about 40 in that case haha
Sliders
The Tomorrow People
Family Ties
Honestly, I read a lot more than I watched tv. There are tons of books that shaped me, but I had to struggle to remember the shows that helped me along.
I imagine I'll ask about books in another post soon then, but it looks like it will be a tough one for you! In the meantime, you can think on it 😉
Thanks for sharing!
Teleport, Lisa, teleport!
There has to be a way to watch it now, right? Goddamn that's some nostalgia.
Edit: Sweet Lord... https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8vAvnjHeJNtA1zwSGVzv13XxBrdfefBL&si=VUFgCXX3Wp1WkArq
Ahhhh this is amazing!
Three's Company
Pee-Wee's Playhouse
Beavis and Butt-head
Cheers
Doug
X-Men
Tales from the Crypt
Monsters
Tales from the Darkside
Tales from the Crypt, what a throwback!
Man. Daria was so good! I still watch it occasionally.
Ed, Edd, n' Eddy
Spongebob
Power Rangers
Buffy
Stargate SG1
Rugrats
star trek TOS. original twilight zone. doctor who.
Looks like the montages creator here is an early millennial.
Avatar the Last Airbender
Power rangers
Scooby doo
All from different eras of my childhood I think, some existing in more than one but I obsessed over all of them
Battlestar Galactica (original) Buck Rogers Dukes of Hazard
Honorable mentions McGuyver A-team
Star Trek
The Waltons
Happy Days
Yes, I’m old!
Well these are the answers I'm hoping for! Thanks for sharing a window into an essential part of you and your youth!
Dragon ball z Ren n stimpy Beavis and butthead
The Simpsons
The Magic School Bus
Friends
Honorable mention to Sailor Moon
Thomas and Friends Spongebob Ed Edd n' Eddy
Star Trek
The A-Team
MacGyver
In chronological order from kid to teen:
Scooby Doo
Duck Tails
The Wonder Years
Aww I loved scooby and the wonder years
Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, the Lone Ranger.
I'm not THAT old, but New Zealand didn't have television until late in the day, so we got cheap, years-old US kids' shows. I was ten before our region got TV and it was a few years after that when we got our own set. The first TV I ever watched was coverage of what must have been one of the early Saturn rocket launches. We went to my older sister's boyfriend's house to watch it. Very exciting!
I liked Lone Ranger best. "Hi ho Silver, and awaaaay!"
The first three that come to mind are:
Hey Arnold
My So-Called Life
Captain Planet
Star Trek: TNG
Batman: The Animated Series
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
The Simpsons
Power Rangers
Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
These are from young child up to late teens/20s
Can we be friends?
:)
Beverly hills, X-Files, Friends
Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream of Jeannie, Mission Impossible
How It's Made (with the witty British voice over)
Myth Busters
Big Bigger Biggest
I would lay in front of the Discovery Channel for hours while playing with Lego. Wouldn't you know it, I grew up to be an engineer!
The Ren & Stimpy Show
Saved by the Bell
You Can't Do That on Television
(But really, so many more.)
Cyberchase
ZOOM!
Zoboomafoo
Spongebob
DragonBall Z
Ed, Edd, n Eddy
Oh man these were on my list to narrow down from too! So good!
Only three is hard, probably:
Seinfeld, the last point is Seinfeld
I've actually never watched Seinfeld but it might as well be
Buffy the vampire slayer
Friends
And Dinosaurs
Hilarious, because it appears as though none of you were alive in my youth... My parents were too damned smart to let me watch the "Boob Tube". Turns out they had wicked foresightedness - now you have hundreds of streams and almost all of it $hit.
So this is what I did see: Howdy Doody, only at my friend's house Captain Kangaroo which I could watch when I was sick That Was The Week That Was (TW3) which I could watch because it was intelligent, political satire.
I'm no worse for the deprivation, and probably better.
Yeah, you do seem great.
MacGyver
The Secret City
Mr. Wizard
Great question. I could list dozens of shows that were favorites, or have special meaning to me, or that I watched the most, or ones that had a more longterm impact on who I am. But, specifically about impacting my world as a young person, I'll say these three.
Honorable mentions: Looney Tunes, Cheers, MASH, Family Ties, The Young Ones, Doctor Who, You Can't Do That on Television, Ren and Stimpy.
I appreciate the feedback. It's nice to think about these formative things sometimes. Glad you were able to dig deep for this one! Thanks for sharing!
Shows from my youth I’ve watched with my kid: The Muppets Full House Animaniacs
Samurai Pizza Cats
Star Wars The Clone Wars
Power Rangers
Who do you call when you want some pepperoni?
They're stakin' out crime, and you know that ain't baloney.
Batman: TAS
X-Men
WWF Monday Night Raw
Angry Beavers
Family Guy
SpongeBob SquarePants
Me and my brother would watch the first two for hours. I don’t know how many times we went through all of the seasons of Family Guy he had on dvd
I once got made to write "I will not say 'Reeeeee!' anymore" 50 times on a sheet of paper by my mother.
Scooby Doo Courage the Cowardly Dog Invader Zim
SpongeBob trumps all of these, but that's like a free bingo spot for 90s kids
Hello, you are me
Edit:
#DESTROY US ALL!
Rocko's Modern Life
Ren and Stimpy
Spider-man: The Animated Series
Are You Afraid of the Dark? Animaniacs Rugrats
SpongeBob, obviously
The Simpsons.
Stargate SG-1.
Star Trek Deep Space 9.
Byker Grove
Art Attack
Fawlty Towers
Wow I've not heard of a single one of these! I'll have to look into them.
Clearly you aren't British.
And on top of that, unfortunately I've only come across British TV in my college years. Even then, the shows I watched seemed to be of the same theme: WILTY, QI, 8 out of 10 cats, Mock the Week, and the like. Though I have seen Black Adder, which was great.
We do love a panel show, they can be great.
I tend to cleave to comedies more than much else, but if you're interested in more Black Adder esque things I can recommend the following:
Red Dwarf - old sci-fi sitcom about losers in space.
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace - an old drama in a hospital built on a rift to hell.
Green Wing - early 2000s comedy set in a hospital.
Toast of London - sit com following Toast, a pompous actor who feels he is better than the voice over work he earns his income from.
Fleabag - dramedy show based off of a stand up routine about being a horrible fleabag of a woman.
We Are Lady Parts - comedy following Amina, who is about to join a Muslim girl punk band.
Friday Night Dinner - comedy based around a weekly family dinner.
Black Books - sitcom in a book shop.
Many thanks! I'm intrigued by a lot of these haha
Enjoy. They're all classics in their own way (or will be in 10 years time).
Oh, not a comedy but Inside Number 9 is some of the best TV ever made. Well worth watching, too. Amazing tight stories unrelated except by show runners and the number 9.
Star Trek the Next Generation
Night Court
X-files
Star Trek: TNG
Reboot
X-files
For me personally
The Simpsons Courage the Cowardly Dog What's with Andy
Transformers
MacGyver
Star Trek TNG
Dr. Who
HR Puffenstuff when I was tiny, I remember it freaking me out
Star Trek the Next Generation
Gilligan's island
I dream of Jeannie
Perry Mason
Fun fact: both Jeannie and The Skipper (too) were extras on episodes of Perry Mason.
From the picture: only Ducktales and Scooby Doo
Overall: probably Scooby, Cosby Show, and Dukes of Hazzard
Sailor Moon, Pokémon, Spongebob Squarepants.
Young:
Older:
(I'd add ATLA, but I didn't watch it until after it was completed and I was in college.)
If only your third was a 4 letter acronym too. 🙃
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Deep Space Nine
Nova
Considering I forgot about it and got back into it, bringing back memories, first slot definitely goes to Franklin.
I'd definitely say second would have to go to a show like Ed Edd n Eddy since I used to watch way too much of it, I think...
And third would absolutely be a toss up since I watched way too many cartoons growing up. So I'd probably have to go with Death Note since it's the first anime I recognized as anime instead of just a cartoon back when I was in freshman year highschool.
Edit:
Someone mentioned Invader Zim and that would definitely be a contender because that show made me start to like weird and sometimes disturbing things. Here's looking at you, Dark Harvest. Also saw an Angry Beavers mention. Definitely a close 3rd since beavers are my favorite animal thanks to that show and Franklin.
Death Note was a great anime! And also one of the earlier anime I came across - but I was just older than "youth" when I saw it.
You mean the a-a-r-d-v-a-r-k? Arthur?
I sure do ha
Club Dorothée Passe-Partout Les chevaliers du Zodiac
Pokemon Scooby-Doo Demon king daimao
While the first two are probably fairly generic choices. The last one is the first anime i watched ( i dont count pokemon as anime ) when i was a teeneager ( naturaly it is a crazy schol fantasy harem anime , they were kinda trending at that time and they mostly sucked , similar to iseaki today . This one is probably no exception but i kinda look at it with rose tinted glasses and i havent watched it for a long time . ). Mostly because crunchyroll was an app on ps4 and i installed it and at that time everything was for free after a week. And boy o boy that was a start of journey through a very very deep black hole that im still very deep in.
Darkening Duck Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers And another one for Samurai Pizza Cats
Danger Mouse (Repeats of the Original)
Doctor Who (Pertwee and Baker)
Black Adder (all of it, remember being about 12 and my parents telling me to come and watch it with them)
Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, Seinfeld (and Big Bang Theory as young adult)
Avatar the last Airbender
Star Trek TNG
Lizzie McGuire Show
Transformers, GIJoe, He-Man
In order, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Pokemon, Digimon
Tom and Jerry, BAMZOOKi, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Saved by the Bell, You Can't Do That on Television, and Nick Arcade. Honorable mention to SK8-TV.
Saved by The Bell, Friends, Naruto
Marsupilami
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
Beakman's World
The Simpsons was sacred in my house, we watched every new episode as a family, and taped them all on VHS to re-watch. I can quote from the first 12 seasons endlessly.
Seinfeld was my introduction to stand-up comedy, which has become a life-long passion and a personally fulfilling hobby. I liked the show, but I loved watching his stand-up bits.
Friends was a show I would watch with my mom whenever I helped her in the kitchen. I was always hanging out in the kitchen, and Friends was a staple on TV at the time. I connected very much with Chandler.
South Park was the show my older brother watched, and I only ever got to catch once in a while, but the show was groundbreaking in its concept and execution. While being vulgar, it also succinctly expressed complicated ideas that resonate with me still to this day (When Randy talks to Stan about marijuana is one of them).
Good Luck Charlie, Lab Rats, My Little Pony.
*somebody mentioned Duck Tales (80s version)... gah now I can't choose what to replace.
Rugrats is on that image twice. Once with the show title, the other with just a picture of Cynthia.
Nice eye.