Image via NBC
Published May 24, 2026, 8:02 PM EDT
Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV.
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The 1990s was arguably one of the best decades for sitcoms, bringing some of the most iconic ones to the small screen, many of which continue to be popular today in syndication and on streaming. It's tough to pare it down to the ones that had the most influence, but a handful of them could be considered masterpieces.
All these sitcoms are still relevant today, even decades later. They're all worth a re-watch, and some have even spawned sequel series and spinoffs; one is even still on the air! One thing they all have in common, however, is that they delighted fans in the '90s and made their cast members household names.
10 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' (1990–1996)
Image via NBCA perfect blend of humor and heart, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a story all about how Will Smith (played by Smith himself) moves from Philadelphia to Bel-Air to live with his aunt, uncle, and their kids. His mom wants him to have a better life off the streets. The culture shock is at the center as Will is thrust into a lifestyle far more regimented and extravagant than he's used to. But the story is also about the Banks family learning a little about loosening up from Will.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is at its heart a fish-out-of-water story that focuses on delivering laughs, but it also tackles serious topical issues like race, class, and familial discord. With emotional scenes like Will and Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) getting pulled over when driving a high-end car, and their very different interpretations of the situation, to Will opening up about the abandonment by his father, the timeless '90s sitcom was a mainstay of the primetime TV line-up through the first half of the decade.
9 'Friends' (1994–2004)
Not only one of the most iconic sitcoms of the '90s, but also one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, Friends paved the way for many that have come since. It introduced the world to the concept of five single friends living in the big city and navigating the everyday challenges of adulting, from careers to relationships. It wasn't the first, with many noting that Living Single came out first. But there's no denying that Friends blew up to a level only a handful of sitcoms ever do, and has one of the greatest TV sitcom ensembles.
With every member of the main cast becoming massive stars and continuing to work in the business (save for the late Matthew Perry) and the show welcoming lots of high-profile guest stars through its run like Brad Pitt, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate, Bruce Willis, and Reese Witherspoon, Friends is the type of show that people re-watch today, some of a new generation just getting acquainted with, and the humor doesn't age.
8 'Seinfeld' (1989–1998)
Image via NBCAnother of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, Seinfeld was like getting a bird's-eye view into the mundane daily doings of a group of friends in New York. It sounds boring, but Seinfeld was anything but, because the clever writing and incredible acting mean even the silliest conversations about nothing of note are somehow made hilarious.
Introducing the world to memorable characters, one-liners, and pop culture references, Seinfeld is unmatched by anything else today, but for Larry David's next project, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Seinfeld is a show that can be studied, a masterclass in witty and tight writing that draws you into a story when there aren't really any meaningful stories to it at all.
7 'Saved by the Bell' (1989–1993)
Image via NBCA teen sitcom that defined a generation, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who grew up in the '90s and didn't watch Saved by the Bell, or at least is familiar with it. Set in a fictional California high school, the stories center around a group of friends led by the mischievous Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar). Each episode usually involves some type of hijinks, the defining aspect being that Zack freezes what's going on to talk to the camera, breaking the fourth wall.
Saved by the Bell didn’t just handle humor, however. The show introduced episodes that touch on serious topics like drug use, homelessness, women's rights, and more. In the same vein as others among the best teen shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Degrassi Junior High, the series set out to both entertain teens and educate them with relatable stories and moral lessons.
6 'Roseanne' (1988–1997)
Image via ABCRoseanne changed the game, finally depicting a lower-middle-class average American family on television. The Conners weren't polished, didn't have a lavish home, and their kids were rebellious in a way that was real and authentic. The sitcom presented real-world issues like financial struggles, medical bills, and employment challenges, never sugarcoating anything for the sake of entertainment. It was refreshing.
Ranked by outlets like TV Guide as being among the greatest shows of all time, Roseanne might have had one of the worst TV show endings of that decade. But it pushed the envelope for what a traditional sitcom could be and inspired many others that have since further explored the idea of less-than-perfect families, from Malcolm in the Middle to Shameless.
Collider Exclusive · TV Medicine Quiz Which Fictional Hospital Would You Work Best In? The Pitt · ER · Grey's Anatomy · House · Scrubs
Five hospitals. Five completely different ways medicine goes sideways on television — brutal, chaotic, romantic, brilliant, and ridiculous. Only one of them is the ward your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out exactly where you belong.
🚨The Pitt
🏥ER
💉Grey's
🔬House
🩺Scrubs
FIND YOUR HOSPITAL →
01
A critical patient comes through the door. What's your first instinct? Medicine under pressure reveals who you actually are.
AStay completely present — block everything else out and work through it step by step, right now. BTriage fast and delegate — get the right people on the right problems immediately. CTrust my gut and move — I work best when I stop overthinking and just act. DAsk the question everyone else is ignoring — what's the thing that doesn't fit? ETake a breath, make a joke to cut the tension, and then get to work — panic helps no one.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Why did you go into medicine in the first place? The honest answer says more about you than the one you'd give in an interview.
ABecause I wanted to be where it matters most — right at the edge, when someone's life is actually on the line. BBecause I wanted to help people — genuinely, one patient at a time, in a system that makes it hard. CBecause I was drawn to the intensity of it — the stakes, the drama, the feeling of being fully alive. DBecause medicine is the most interesting puzzle there is — and I needed a problem worth solving. EBecause I wanted to make a difference — and also, honestly, I didn't know what else to do with my life.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What do you actually want from the people you work with? Who you want beside you under pressure is who you are.
ACompetence and calm — I need people who don't fall apart when things get bad. BTrust and reliability — I want to know that when I pass something off, it's handled. CConnection — I want colleagues who become family, even if that gets complicated. DIntelligence and the willingness to be challenged — I have no interest in people who just agree with me. EFriendship — people I actually like spending twelve hours a day with, because those hours are going to happen either way.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
You lose a patient you fought hard to save. How do you carry it? Every doctor who's worked a long shift has had to answer this question.
AI carry it. All of it. I don't look for ways to put it down — that weight is part of doing this work honestly. BI process it and move — you have to, or the next patient suffers for the one you just lost. CI feel it deeply and lean on the people around me — I don't think you're supposed to handle that alone. DI go back over every decision — not to punish myself, but because I need to understand what I missed. EI grieve it genuinely, find some way to laugh about something unrelated, and try to be kind to myself — imperfectly.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How would your colleagues describe the way you work? Your reputation on the floor is usually more accurate than your self-image.
AIntense and completely present — no small talk during a shift, but exactly who you want there. BSteady and dependable — not the flashiest in the room but never the one who drops something. CPassionate and occasionally chaotic — brilliant on the hard cases, prone to drama everywhere else. DBrilliant and difficult — right more often than anyone else, and everyone knows it, including me. EWarm and self-deprecating — not the most intimidating presence, but genuinely good at this and easy to like.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
How do you feel about hospital protocol and procedure? Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.
AProtocol is the floor, not the ceiling — I follow it until the patient needs something it can't provide. BI respect it — the system is broken in places, but the structure is there for a reason and I work within it. CI follow it until my instincts tell me not to — and my instincts are usually right, even when they cause problems. DRules are for people who haven't thought hard enough about when to break them. EI try to follow it and mostly do — with a few memorable exceptions that still come up in meetings.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What does this job cost you personally? Nobody works in medicine without paying a price. What's yours?
AEverything outside these walls — I've given this job my full attention and the rest of my life has gone around it. BMy idealism, mostly — I came in believing the system could be fixed and I've made a complicated peace with that. CStability — my personal life has been as chaotic as the OR, and that's not entirely a coincidence. DMy relationships — I am not easy to know, and the people who've tried to would probably agree. EMy sense of gravity — I use humour as a coping mechanism, which not everyone appreciates in a hospital.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
At the end of a long shift, what keeps you coming back? The answer to this question is the most honest thing about you.
AThe fact that it's real — that nothing else I could be doing would matter this much, right now, today. BThe patients — individual human beings who needed something and got it because I was there. CThe people I work with — I have walked through impossible things with these people and I'd do it again. DThe next unsolved case — there's always another puzzle, and I'm not done yet. EBecause despite everything — the exhaustion, the loss, the absurdity — I actually love this job.
REVEAL MY HOSPITAL →
Your Assignment Has Been Made You Belong In…
Your answers have pointed to one fictional hospital above all others. This is the ward your instincts, your temperament, and your particular brand of dysfunction were built for.
The Pitt
You are built for the most unsparing version of emergency medicine television has ever shown — one that puts you inside a single fifteen-hour shift and doesn't let you look away.
- You need your work to be real, not romanticised — meaning over drama, honesty over aesthetics.
- You find purpose inside the work itself, not in the chaos surrounding it.
- You've made peace with the fact that this job takes from you constantly, and gives back in ways that are harder to name.
- Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center demands exactly that kind of person — and you would not want to be anywhere else.
ER
You are the person who keeps the whole floor running — not the most brilliant in the room, but possibly the most essential.
- You show up, do the work, absorb the losses, and come back the next day without needing the job to be anything other than what it is.
- You care about patients as individual human beings, not as cases to solve or dramas to live through.
- You believe in the system even when it fails you — and you understand that emergency medicine is about holding the line just long enough.
- ER is television about endurance. You have it.
Grey's Anatomy
You came to medicine with your whole self — your ambition, your emotions, your relationships, your history — and you have never quite managed to leave any of it at the door.
- You feel things fully and form deep attachments to the people you work with.
- Your personal and professional lives are permanently, chaotically entangled — and that entanglement drives both your greatest disasters and your most remarkable saves.
- You understand that extraordinary medicine often happens at the intersection of clinical skill and profound human connection.
- It's messy at Grey Sloan. You would not have it any other way.
House
You are drawn to the problem above everything else — the symptom that doesn't fit, the diagnosis hiding underneath the obvious one.
- You're not primarily motivated by the patient as a person — though you are capable of caring, even if you'd deny it.
- You work best when the stakes are highest and the standard answer is wrong.
- Princeton-Plainsboro exists to house one extraordinary, impossible mind — and everyone around that mind is there because they're smart enough to keep up.
- The only way forward here is to think harder than everyone else in the room. That is exactly what you do.
Scrubs
You understand that medicine is tragic and absurd in almost equal measure — and that the only sane response is to hold both of those things at the same time.
- You are warm, self-aware, and funnier than most people in your field.
- You use humour to get through terrible moments — and at Sacred Heart, that's not a flaw, it's a survival strategy.
- You lean on the people around you and let them lean back. The laughter and the grief are genuinely inseparable here.
- Scrubs is a show about learning to become someone worthy of the job. You are still very much in the middle of that process — which is exactly right.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5 'The Simpsons' (1989–Present)
Image via FOXStill going strong nearly four decades later, The Simpsons is the longest-running animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and longest-running American scripted primetime series, and for good reason. The animated Simpsons family never ages, but the stories always stay relevant to the times, giving The Simpsons the opportunity to effectively last forever.
While the show is humorous at its core, it's also biting social commentary for more mature viewers who pick up on the subtle cues. The show has spawned comic books, toys, video games, and more, becoming a juggernaut of a franchise beyond just the weekly half-hour show. The Simpsons was the first adult animated sitcom to hit it big, ushering in a whole new generation of the genre.
4 'Frasier' (1993–2004)
Image via NBCA spinoff that became as popular as the show from which it is spawned, if not more popular, Frasier centers around the character of Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), a frequent bar patron on the show Cheers. He's a psychiatrist with his own radio show, navigating a move back to Seattle while dealing with divorce, and reconnecting with his elderly father and younger brother.
Frasier is one of those shows that was a comfort to watch every week during the primetime hours. You know every episode would deliver laughs and heart. With compelling continuing themes like Frasier's brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and his secret love for their father's caregiver Daphne (Jane Leeves), and Frasier's friendship with his producer Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin), it's no surprise the series earned a record (at the time) 37 Emmy Awards.
3 'The King of Queens' (1998–2007)
Image via CBSDoug (Kevin James) is a UPS driver, and his wife Carrie (Leah Remini) is a legal secretary. They're getting by in a middle-class lifestyle, Carrie's elderly father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller), is living in their basement. The King of Queens delivers plenty of funny storylines about marriage and its challenges, along with elder care, as the couple often find themselves having to defuse situations caused by the scheming Arthur.
The sitcom aired for nine seasons, one of those shows you just knew was always on, whether it was new episodes or reruns, and you could watch from any point and thoroughly enjoy. There was a chemistry between James and Remini that's tough to replicate, convincing as a married couple who love one another deeply but have also grown annoyed by one another's quirks. Stiller, meanwhile, levels up the comedy in every scene he's in.
2 'Mr. Bean' (1990–1995)
Image via Tiger Aspect ProductionsThis British sitcom stars Rowan Atkinson as the title character, a bumbling, child-like man who goes about his daily life trying to solve problems but ends up causing them in the end. Relying heavily on physical comedy and inspired by silent films, Mr. Bean changed the game for what a sitcom could look like. It has easy international appeal since there's little actual dialogue, so the humor translates through mannerisms, facial expressions, and on-screen action, transcending languages.
Spawning an animated series along with movies, Mr. Bean is now a household name. But it's the show, based on a character that Atkinson developed while in college, that started it all. Today, Mr. Bean is one of the most well-known comedic TV characters in history, a character synonymous with Atkinson, peeking through in every role he plays.
1 'Full House' (1987–1995)
Image via ABCOne of the most wholesome sitcoms to ever grace the small screen, Full House is also among the first to flip the concept of the traditional family on its head. Following the tragic death of his wife, Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) welcomes his handsome, playboy musician brother-in-law and goofy comedian best friend into his home to help him raise his three girls. Like a deer in headlights, none of them are prepared to do this alone, but their distinct personalities somehow work well together to give these girls a proper upbringing. And they all mature in the process themselves, too.
A wonderful ensemble cast, Full House is one of the best family sitcoms, a feel-good series you can and want to watch with the whole family. There are silly storylines, running gags, and poignant moments of reflection all mixed into one. The unique idea of three grown men raising three girls adds a fish-out-of-water element and allows for humorous moments as both sides learn along the way.
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